I appreciate your positive feedback.
Over the years, I’ve ALWAYS had better experience with OEM pads
That goes personal AND professional use
I may be wrong, but I suspect many of the professionals on this forum share my experiences, opinions and preferences, at least in this regard
And there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s also nothing wrong with trying something very, very reliable from a trusted source who is also a local professional.
Aren’t Toyota OEM pads essentially Akebono (?sp)?
I already post on my experience, one thing I will add is that I always check make/model specific forums. I have noticed that spark plugs are something that OEM seems to be the way to go. For brake parts, check the RAV4 forums and see what other owners have done.
@galant
Actually, I believe Toyota OEM pads are Sumitomo
Perhaps Steve will comment soon
Truth be known, every car made is pretty much an assortment of aftermarket parts. From the lowliest seals and gaskets to airbags to seats along with transmissions and engines or engine components.
The only thing the car maker is doing is stamping out sheet metal, shooting some paint on it, and then gluing all the parts from the loading dock together…
Totally agree.
Whether any of us prefers OEM pads or not, I think hcord has done his homework, and I support the decision of anyone who approaches their choice in such a manner.
Personally, I found my OEM pads on my '05 Scion to be terrible when wet. I switched to ceramic pads and found much better performance… totally without noise or problems of any kind. My son also switched his '06 Scion pads out to ceramics for the same reason, and he felt the same way… he liked the ceramic pads much better.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with trying a different pad as long as you do your homework to try to find out if the new manufacturer is legit, seek out other opinions, and ask a trusted shop or source.
We, myself included, wrote that we saw no magic in the way the OP’s chosen pads were manufactured, but that does not mean there’s’ anything wrong with them. And, who knows, they might be much better and the rest of us might be missing out on something really good. Personally, I hope hcord posts back and lets us know how he likes them. I, for one, am interested.
Look, we’re not offering advice on whether to drop the A-bomb here, we’re talking about brake pad selection. It’s a totally reversible decision of a really very minor nature.
I have no issue with the OP using aftermarket pads and have used just about everything on the planet with no problems. While working for dealerships of course, the OEM car maker factory pads are always used even if they did get spit out of the same machine the ones at the local parts houses got spat out of…
@ok4450
I’m sorry, but Autozone house brand brake pads do NOT come from the same factory as for Toyota, Nissan, etc. brake pads
We all know there are quite a few brake pad manufacturers. To say they’re all the same is greatly simplifying, and it’s wrong
Dealers, dealer reps, techs, etc…will always support oem…I’m fine with that because I know they all have a job that they wanna keep. GM is a classic example of how to lose your customers when you wanna go on the cheap end and not fessing up to it until someone really gets injured. I do my research because I drive my family in this vehicle and I would not take shortcuts or pay less to get a crappy brake pad and/or rotor believe me. I just think oem failed in my case and it’s time to try a high quality dependable aftermarket part that thousands have reviewed as one of the best.
I took my vehicle to the shop I rely on. They tell me there’s more than enough pad life available and there’s no reason to change it or do anything at this time.
VS
Toyota dealer who told me they wanted to replace all pads after claiming they were 1mm in the front, 2mm in the rear, only machine the front rotors and leave the rears alone…wow
My shop saved me hundreds of dollars today. They are the ones who swear by the aftermarket pads. They give their customers the option of using oem parts if requested and they prudent our both ways. They will tell you why they feel an aftermarket part is worth is based on the concern the customer brings forth.
Now can anyone tell me why an average person should trust their dealer after something like this? This is shocking, but it’s definitely not the first time.
@hcord13
No offense intended, but it seems to me the surest way to not “get a crappy brake pad and/or rotor” would be to buy the OEM brakes
And you wouldn’t have to do any research. Buy the brakes from the dealer and do it yourself, or bring it somewhere and tell them you want genuine factory brakes installed. Plenty of people do this and are happy
In my opinion, the OEM brakes did not fail you. Noise is not necessarily failure. Failure is when you step on the brakes and they’re not effective
Noise is an inconvenience and a nuisance, though
Understood, oem pads should not squeal period…condensation, rust, etc…why don’t the Centric pads squeal? Why do thousands of satisfied customers use this brand at this shop? Come on guy… no offense intended here either. Realize that there has always been and there will always be better performers than oem for reasons I’ve already outlined. No reason to keep going in circles here.
It sounds like you have a good shop. I’d listen to them and follow their recommendations. My guess is that’s exactly what you’re going to do… and that’s the smart thing.
It seems that dealers these days are trying to make up for years of poor sales, too many by squeezing whatever dollars out of the customers that they can con them into. There are way too many stories in this forum very similar to yours, someone stopping at a dealer for something basic and being told they need hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars worth of work, and then discovering they never really did. This happened to a close friend of mine recently.
Happy motoring.
I assume the shop you rely on showed you the pads on your Rav4. You simply cannot mistake a pad with 1mm left for a pad with “more than enough pad life available.” How many mm are left? Certainly someone who does his proper research would ask for that information.
Six pages of back and forth and now you are telling us you are not even going to change the brakes 
Well, that is one happy ending at least for now. Keep surfing the web and be prepared for when you need brakes. As mentioned, they are relatively easy DIY projects if you are into that kind of stuff.
3mm front, 3.5mm-4mm rear
I drove 50k miles in 6 years. Vehicle was brand new when I bought it.
If you can pull a wheel, you can easily inspect these pads yourself. Some wheels let you see the outer pad material through the spokes, but it’s always better to inspect all the pads because they can wear unevenly.