MattRX

Ordered in some rotors and pads for both my 2002 Highlander and our 2014 RX at the same time. My Highlander has the 2nd gen Highlander (2008-2013) rear brakes which are similar to the 3rd gen RX350 (2010-2015) rear brakes, so I thought I'd compare them. There have been discussions about this in other posts, but I wanted to have actual pictures and proof of why you can only use the 2nd gen Highlander rotors and not the 3rd gen RX350 rear rotors on the rear hubs of our cars. As for the calipers themselves, you can either use the 2008-2013 Highlander ones OR the 2010-2015 RX ones, the only catch is you have to use 2008-2013 Highlander rotors only on our cars. Me and Felix have discussed in other posts the differences between the two calipers, but basically the 3rd gen RX caliper is a lot more common, was used on many other cars (14-19 HL, 11-20 Sienna), and the pad selection is a lot bigger. The one downside is that the pad hardware is more complicated.



Rotors:

Both rotors have a diameter of 309mm and a thickness of 10mm, but the differences are in the hats of the rotors themselves. The HL one has a length of 60mm from the top of the hat to the braking surface (Same as 2004-2009 RX), the 3rd RX one is noticeably shorter at 51.7mm. The hat diameter is 190mm on the HL, which is identical to our RX and will allow you to retain the parking brake, the 3rd gen RX one is 210, which means that your parking brake could never even come close to engaging even if you tried adjusting it. The 2nd gen HL has a bit more swept area despite the smaller rear brake pad height - 42mm, vs about 40mm for the 3rd gen RX. Both rotors have the same amount of stud and hub surface sticking out when mounted on the knuckle, but the 3rd gen RX rotor brake surface sits noticeably higher off the hub due to the much shorter hat. This means you will not be able to properly mount a caliper to the hub as well if you run the newer RX rotor.

For fun, I also decided to weigh both rotors. The Highlander one is a little heavier at 13.12 lbs vs. 12.95 lbs for the 3rd gen RX


3rd gen RX (Left), 2nd gen HL (Right)










Highlander rotor




3rd gen RX rotor (Look at the dust shield to gauge how much further out it sits)




3rd gen RX caliper fitting over a 2nd gen Highlander rotor










Pads:

The pads are not interchangeable between the two rotors, they are different. The 2nd gen HL D1325 only uses two hardware clips (one top, one bottom), whereas the RX D1391 ones have four. As we know, the RX pad is a little taller, but less wide vs. the Highlander one. The Highlander pad had 93.8mm width for pad material, and the RX had 85.5mm, the Highlander pad had 33.1mm of height vs. 36.8mm of height for the RX. Both pads are listed as having 10mm of pad material from Toyota, they both measured 9.3mm deep on my caliper. Both pads come in GH friction rating from Raybestos in their EHT line (Great pads, by the way!).



RX pad (top), Highlander pad (bottom)

Felix

Say matt, thats what I found a few yrs ago as I thought I'd have to swap out the backing plate, parking shoes, springs, ect to use the bigger diameter rotor. As the parking brake hat is bigger for the 3gen rx. Then you mentioned that the 2nd gen Hlander rotors use the smaller 2nd gen rx parking hat w/ the bigger diameter rotor after I already installed new Hawk pads/rotors for the rear a couple yrs ago. Now I see http://tirerack.com has 10% off Hawk rotors/pads thru July. So the rx vs the Highlander pads dictate the calipers....Longer narrower pad (Hilander) or the wider, shorter (RX) pad. Then you'll want to take into account of pad taper wear whether radius or longitude. IK that the gen3 front brake upgrade makes a huge difference, (twin piston calipers as well as 'bout a 1/3rd bigger pad surface area) Whats your thoughts on the rear upgrade? 10%, 25% or ? What is it 11.3'' vs 12.2'' diameter difference?

MattRX

You'd have to use 2008-2013 Highlander or 2009-2015 Venza rear backing plates, or chop them up like this guy did: https://www.toyotanation.com/threads...#post-14905277

Yep! 11.3" vs 12.2". Fronts felt like they were doing more with the dinky stock Camry rear brakes, it feels like there is a bit more leverage at the back and a bit less brake dive, probably from the extra 21mm of disc back there helps despite the caliper piston being the same size. It also is nice to finally ditch the annoying threaded sliding pins that love to seize up and snap off here in rusty land. The aluminum caliper on the newer brakes is super light too and very easy to carry. It's just a joy to work on vs. the stock ones more than anything