Our new Fig’s Engineering 400mm rear brakes fill out our 20″ Volk TE37X wheels nicely. The OEM brakes looked pretty small in there.
Now the rear brakes don’t look tiny compared to the front 410mm rotors and six piston calipers! During the last 10,000 miles our front brake pads didn’t even wear one bit, or it was hard to tell, but our rear EBC pads wore about 2/3 of the way out. This isn’t EBC’s fault, it is a Tundra thing, the stock rear brakes have the pad volume of a compact car! The Fig’s system is gonna stop that cold!
With decently sized front and rear bake systems, our truck looks pretty mean even though it is a bit of a sleeper. No bro dozier for us!
When driving the truck, the pedal is even shorter and firmer than before. We think this is because the rear caliper has slightly less piston area than stock and the radial mounting helps pedal feel. A smaller piston area is ok because the caliper has much more leverage due to the much bigger rotor. Part of the better pedal feel is also due to the radial mounts being more in line with the rotor as well. With the shorter stroke and firmer pedal, brake feel is improved and the brakes are easier to modulate. The brake bias seems fine, the ABS action is correct, and the vehicle’s electronic nannies are working fine. The brakes are completely silent, this is good for street use as many floating rotors rattle. There is a complete absence of pad squeal.
We love how our 4-wheel Fig’s system feels and we now have the best possible brakes for the Tundra and probably the best brakes on any 1/2-ton truck made. Besides looking as cool as heck, we think if you drive fast and if you drive fast while towing, do a lot of off-roading and a lot of towing in general these brakes are a worthy addition to your truck. The Fig’s brakes with these pads are also remarkably dust-free with the wheels staying clean for a long time.
Our Tundra is a very interesting vehicle. The Icon suspension can be adjusted for a plush street ride or how we have it set up, for crip tarmac handling that, we are not kidding, rivals many sports sedans. It also jams off-road to where we have had it up to 80 mph in whoop de dos right up to the structural limits of the frame! It is big and unwieldy so it isn’t the best trail machine but for wide open desert or sweeping dirt roads, it rules. It also has plenty of power, brakes, and stability to tow trailers and have heavy loads in the back.
It literally is a desert runner, a sports car, a shop truck, and a workhorse hauler all in one. Our truck has been with us 14 years now but it’s tough to find a new truck that can even come close to bettering it. Any ideas?
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It’s worth mentioning how improved towing performance will be now as, even with a weight distribution hitch, the rear will still take more of that weight than the front and cause the front to let go even sooner in a panic stop situation.