Quick safety check before you begin. Required: safety glasses, gloves, and the truck level on a lift or on jack stands with the wheels chocked, wheels off. Recommended: a dial indicator with a magnetic base, a micrometer, a ruler and a torque wrench. This page is a measurement procedure, not a repair walkthrough. It does not tell you whether your brakes are safe or unsafe — it gives you Toyota's numbers and Toyota's order of checks. If a measurement falls outside them, or you are unsure of a reading, hand it to a professional.
| Front pad lining | Standard 11.3 mm (0.445 in.) · minimum 1.0 mm (0.0394 in.), measured with a ruler |
|---|---|
| Front disc thickness | Standard 32.0 mm (1.26 in.) · minimum 29.0 mm (1.14 in.), measured with a micrometer |
| Front disc runout, maximum | 0.05 mm (0.00197 in.), on a dial indicator 10 mm (0.394 in.) from the outer edge of the disc |
| Hub nuts for the runout check | The disc is installed with the 6 hub nuts at 112 N·m before runout is measured. Measured off the truck, the reading means nothing. |
| Rear pad lining, for contrast | Standard 10.0 mm (0.394 in.) · minimum 1.0 mm (0.0394 in.) |
| Rear disc thickness, for contrast | Standard 18.0 mm (0.709 in.) · minimum 16.0 mm (0.630 in.) |
| Rear disc runout, maximum | 0.20 mm (0.00787 in.) — four times the front's allowance |
| Inspection interval | "Inspect pads and discs for excessive wear at mileage interval or every 6 months, whichever comes first. Measure thickness and disc runout every 30,000 miles or 36 months." |
| Caliper and cylinder bolt torque | Deliberately not published here. It appears once in our copy of the manual with no second source to cross-check, and a torque you apply to a brake caliper has to be right. Use the figure in the manual for your own year and trim. |
Park level, on a lift or on jack stands with the wheels chocked, and remove the front wheel. Toyota's procedure is the same for the left and right sides. Safety glasses and gloves on.
Before any measurement, Toyota looks at the hardware: check the cylinder bore and piston for rust or scoring. If necessary, the disc brake cylinder assembly is replaced. This is step 1 of the inspection, ahead of every number below.
Standard thickness is 11.3 mm (0.445 in.) and the minimum is 1.0 mm (0.0394 in.). Toyota's instruction is a number, not a judgement: if the pad lining thickness is less than the minimum, replace the pad.
Standard thickness is 32.0 mm (1.26 in.) and the minimum is 29.0 mm (1.14 in.). If the disc thickness is less than the minimum, replace the disc. Note that no thickness-variation figure appears in this manual, so we do not publish one.
Install the disc with the 6 hub nuts, torqued to 112 N·m, before you touch the dial indicator. Then measure the disc runout 10 mm (0.394 in.) from the outer edge of the disc. Maximum front disc runout is 0.05 mm (0.00197 in.). The rear limit on the same truck is 0.20 mm, four times looser, which is why the front is the end an owner feels.
This is the step the internet skips. Toyota's words: if the disc runout is more than the maximum, check the bearing play in the axial direction and the axle hub runout. If the bearing play and axle hub runout are normal, adjust the disc runout or grind the disc using an "On-car" brake lathe. On-car, on the truck's own hub — not a bench cut. When the check is finished, remove the 6 hub nuts and the disc.
Place matchmarks on the disc and axle hub if you plan to reuse the disc, and align them on the way back. When replacing the disc with a new one, select the installation position where the disc has the smallest runout. Toyota's notice on assembly: there should be no oil or grease on the friction surfaces of the front disc brake pads and the front disc. Torque every fastener to the figure in the manual for your own year and trim.
We work on Toyotas at scheduled events across Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. If a measurement comes out wrong, or you would rather someone with a dial indicator called it, talk to us before you buy parts.
Find your exact tune →Neither answer comes from a feeling. Toyota's inspection gives four numbers for the front: pad lining 11.3 mm standard and 1.0 mm minimum, disc thickness 32.0 mm standard and 29.0 mm minimum, and 0.05 mm maximum runout measured with the disc bolted to the hub. Measure yours against those before deciding anything. If a number is out, the manual's next step is the bearing and the hub, not a parts order.
The Toyota repair manual does not use the word warped anywhere in this inspection. It measures runout, and when runout is over the maximum it sends you to check the bearing play in the axial direction and the axle hub runout before the disc is blamed. Only when those are normal does it adjust the runout or grind the disc, and it specifies an "On-car" brake lathe.
0.05 mm (0.00197 in.), measured with a dial indicator 10 mm (0.394 in.) from the outer edge, with the disc installed on the hub with its 6 nuts at 112 N·m. The rear limit is 0.20 mm (0.00787 in.), four times looser.
The manual gives the two figures and does not explain the difference. What it means in practice is that the front tolerates four times less runout before it is out of spec, which is consistent with the front being where owners report feeling it. That last part is our observation, not Toyota's.
Toyota's normal-service schedule says to inspect pads and discs for excessive wear at the mileage interval or every 6 months, whichever comes first, and to measure thickness and disc runout every 30,000 miles or 36 months.
Because we could only source it once, with nothing to cross-check it against, and a torque you apply to a brake caliper has to be right. This page is a diagnosis procedure and does not need it. Use the figure printed in the manual for your own year and trim.
Thicknesses, runout limits, torques and the order of the checks are from the Toyota repair manual for the 2010 4Runner 4WD 4.0L V6 (1GR-FE). The title covers 2010–2024; pad and disc dimensions are the figures most likely to move with a later trim or supplier change, so confirm the specs for your own year and trim before you act on them. Nothing here tells you whether your brakes are safe to drive on. If a measurement is outside Toyota's numbers, or you are not confident in a reading, take it to a professional. Tuned Yota does not sell brake pads or discs.