Brake Judder

[mike xt-r]

Hi, I remember Anchorman had his front brake discs replaced on his Rav4.3 @ 170000 miles, but has anybody else has theirs replaced, or if you work for Toyota have you replaced any. I've began to feel a judder if braking hard from high speeds with a full car. The discs had several marks of the pads on them so I gave the brake a good workout and it has cleaned the discs up but the judder is still there only 12000 miles and the discs show no signs of any wear. thanks Mike

[rpaterson]

Have you checked the discs for run-out? If you strip the pads out then you can hold a screwdriver, or something, close to the outside edge of the disc. If you turn the disc by hand, you'll be able to see if the disc seems to 'wobble' or looks warped. Some people say that discs don't actually warp, some say that vented discs are more susceptible to warping.

Another thing to check would be your front suspension bushes and trackrod ends etc. Any play in these would result in an amount of movement.

[bothwell_buyer]

Hi, I remember Anchorman had his front brake discs replaced on his Rav4.3 @ 170000 miles, but has anybody else has theirs replaced, or if you work for Toyota have you replaced any. I've began to feel a judder if braking hard from high speeds with a full car. The discs had several marks of the pads on them so I gave the brake a good workout and it has cleaned the discs up but the judder is still there only 12000 miles and the discs show no signs of any wear. thanks Mike

If you look at the disc face and check to see if there are any marks like the outline of a pad on a face..... this gives a sign that there has been transfer of pad material to the disc itself. I was getting that after less than 2000 miles but once the car comes back after more serious modifications, I'm trying a different pad material. Discs generally don't warp - they start juddering when the pad material transfers onto the disc - a bit like welding high spots.

Light scouring with a mild abrasive can work so I'm told, but a light skim is more likely to fix it.

[Carlos999]

I've got the same problem with my 06 4.3 its done 23k. I took it in to the local dealer,the service manager took it out for a test drive and said it was due to a warped brake disc. He agreed to replace both front and rear discs and pads under warranty. When I took the car in I was informed that there was a problem getting the front discs he seemed to think that Toyota were having a problem with them and they were unable to give a delivery date. They replaced the rears and said they would call me when the fronts were in at least 4 weeks plus. As a matter of interest replacing the rears only has not cured the brake judder I'll let you know how I get on when the fronts are done.

Is anyone else waiting for front discs?

[NMaria]

My 4.3 has done just over 30k miles and it too started to develop brake judder recently, unfortunately while we were on holiday and towing a caravan. Very helpful dealership in Whitheaven (Myers and Bowman) offered to replace the front discs under warranty, having diagnosed warped discs. They ordered the discs and a few days later we took the car in, only to be told that the discs were on back order and they had no option but to skim the existing ones. Which they did, and the braking is MUCH improved. The old ones were not only warped (or had suffered a transfer of lining material, as Bothwell Buyer suggests), but had also become badly scored and only partly swept, which may have contributed to overheating and warping.

We are alarmed and disappointed at the failure of this safety-critical component at such low mileages. Interesting that there seems to be a problem in getting replacement discs from Toyota.

We also wondered whether the hard brake pads that are used nowadays - to cover the very long service intervals? - may be wearing the discs prematurely and are thinking about replacing the Toyota pads with softer aftermarket ones.

[mike xt-r]

Thanks to you all for you replys, as I said its only just started so I'll take it in to the dealer at Builth Wells and wait for new discs to arrive. I'll post the outcome. Still interested in seeing how many have had this problem so keep posting. Thanks again Mike