Rear Brake Upgrades Incl. VENTED Rear Rotors! (2004-2009)

[MattRX]

After putting 2008-2013 Highlander rear rotors and calipers on my 2002 Highlander, I wanted to something a little more "special" for my 2008 RX350, as I plan on pushing big power out of it down the road.  First, I got some 2006-2014 IS350 rotors to test out a year or so back, and they fit perfectly!  This rotor sits on the hub flush with 8mm exposed like stock, and the wheel studs stick out by 21mm from the hat like stock as well.   Due to the rotor's hat being the same size, the factory parking brake performs flawlessly, and there is no dragging of the rotor, even with the wheels torqued down.  However, the project ended there when the IS350 caliper wouldn't bolt onto the knuckle.  The spacing was close, but I did not want to modify a cast iron caliper bracket for obvious reasons, so it has been on hold - until now!

I noticed that certain 2010-2015 RX350s in Europe have 309x18mm vented rear rotors available.  Importing these rotors would be a pain in the wallet, not to mention you have a poor selection to choose from and sacrifice the parking brake due to this RX350's larger hat.  Still, I had to confirm if a 3rd gen RX setup was even possible first by trying my 2014 RX350's rear calipers on my 2002 Highlander (this car needed the rear knuckles swapped to fit these brakes, you will also need a 08-13 Highlander or 09-15 Venza rear dust shield to avoid cutting).

 

10-15 RX350 rear caliper mounted up on a 08-13 Highlander rotor, you can see the 08-13 Highlander one hanging above it

 

Now that we know you can run 08-13 Highlander rear calipers or 10-15 RX350 / 14-19 Highlander rear calipers on a 08-13 Highlander rotor to maintain the factory parking brake, how about those special Euro calipers that let you run vented rotors? Well, I got some! 47830-48110 (Rear right) and 47850-48110 (Rear left).

 

Euro caliper up top, and normal 10-15 RX caliper down below - you can notice that the Euro caliper is slightly deeper to allow 8mm of gap for the vented rotor

 

These Euro calipers resemble a normal 10-15 RX caliper, take the same pads and all of the hardware, etc except for the sliding pins themselves.  Overall, a fantastic option when paired with 2010-2015 RX350 dual calipers for the front which I already have as well as the rotors.  Just need to install them once the car is road-worthy again.

 

 

 

 

 

Pros:

- These IS350 rotors are 310x18mm wide (vs. 288x10mm for stock & 309x10mm for 2nd gen Highlander) and are readily available with performance options too! 

- You can now run the 10-15 RX350 rear brake pad which supports a lot more pad choices incl. performance options because it is shared with the newer IS350

- The rear calipers (both 08-13 HL and 10-15 RX) have an aluminum body, so they are significantly more corrosion resistant and lighter than the stock ones

- No more annoying sliding pin / rubber boot design

 

Cons:

- You're adding more weight (~3 lbs) worth of rotor per corner

- You'll need 2008-2013 Highlander or 2009-2015 Venza rear dust shields

- The calipers and proprietary sliding pins are hard to find and can be expensive

 

 

 

That's it for now! Stay tuned for when I get them on the car

 

 

CROSS-POSTED:

https://www.toyotanation.com/threads/vented-rear-rotors.1717625/#post-14618695

https://www.toyotanation.com/threads/vented-rear-rotors.1717625/#post-14626078

[RX400h]

Thanks for sharing this, Matt!

[MattRX]

It worked!  Now I have some pretty nice brakes on the car!  Feels nice and punchy like the Highlander, plus the vented rears are cool for bragging rights and better cooling! Hahaha.  I'll do some tests down the road with temperature readings to compare with my Highlander's solid rear rotors.

 

RX350:

Before - 319x28mm front, 288x10 rear

After - 328x28mmn front (dual piston), 310x18mm rear (aluminum caliper)

 

Highlander:

328x28mm front (dual piston), 309x10mm rear (aluminum caliper)