South African sportivo brakes

[sporti]

I was in at one of my local Toyoat dealers this morning, the guy i spoke to seemed to be fairly switched on with regard to the matters I wanted to talk to him about....so, when he mentioned that my '03 sportivo required rotors and pads to be changed everty 40'000kms, it kinda came as a bit of a surprise.

One of the only real complaints I have with my car atm, I put down to the rotors being slightly warped, I could also be wrong in my diagnosis, but it seems to be the only thing I lean toward thinking.

When pulling up from any speed ( 60 - 80 - 110, whatever), if you brake lightly just to slow yourself, the steering wheel shakes quite noticibaly, the more pressure you apply to the pedal, the more the shaking disappears....if you brake hard(ish), theres no shaking at all.

So, 2 questions remain.

Can anyone either confirm or deny that they know of the whole "south african models use softer rotors and pads"?

&

Am I looking in the right direction for the cause of the steering wheel shaking when i brake?

Thanks in advance

Dave

[Dead]

I haven't needed to change my rotors at all. They're fine. 55,000km's on the clock now.

I had grinding noises coming from the front at times, however I put that down to heat. As soon as the 17 inch 6 spoke p1's when on, surprise surprise the grinding went away. The stocks rims don't really help the brakes breath.

Micky_tee also had issues with the warped rotors. If you do a search you should find some info.

[sporti]

Looks like I may have put this in the wrong section

Mods if you feel the need to move....

~points to my newbie status~ heh

[Rolla Boy]

Get your brakes checked out and measured up...

They will need to be machined due to the warpness of the rotor...

Machining will shave off around 1mm off either side of the disc so check the minimum thickness and see if you can lose another 2mm off the disc and still be above that minimum requirement...

Brake pads usually average around 40,000kms these days but the discs last a lot longer using genuine pads as they don't bite into the disc so much...

The South African Corolla's except Sportivo have **** brakes... The pads and discs wear out every 20,000kms if not earlier and thats front and rear... The Sportivo's use a different brake setup though...

[SuperDave]

Shaving 1mm off each side will cause brand new rotors to be stuffed, there is only 2mm in total to wear off. Machining rotors rarely fixes the problem as the damage is done and will return later, but it can delay the need for new rotors untill more money becomes available.

I have 92,000 km's on my original brake rotors and I am using some harsh brake pads and put some serious heat through them with no issues. Just like with the clutch adjustment issue, some people have problems while others don't. If you're still in warranty push, or try a few dealers, to have the rotors done under warrenty ;) I could have had it done, but found out only after warranty ended.

[selyaT]

The problem isnt the rotors, its the pads.

Get new rotors, put different pads in and u will be right

My pad of choice is Pagid.

[MT]

whoops that was me above

[T.J]

i havent had much issues with mine im comming up on 70,000 i got it just after the pads were changed at 40,000 ive got no shudder but my rotors are so glazed they have turned blue and they sound awful

my own fault though i do drive hard but my putting on 17's hasnt help me with that problem