[gcretro]

I have 2002 Gen5 XLE, 4 banger ... abt 75K miles.

Brakes are fine, no vibration etc. Just that it does not have the "bite". And parking brake is sort of weak.

Can I replace just the pads (with oem) and not the rotors?
If I do so what is the bed-in procedure?

I don't have a caliper guage to measure thickness. Rotors look good, no scouring etc.

And the rear rotors, I suppose those will ever wear below minimum thickness...out since they do little breaking.

 

[gdanaher]

Sure. This has been covered before, but for the purposes of a quick explanation, get a new set of pads, jack the car, pull the wheel, loosen the caliper and remove with old pads. Study and feel the rotor. It will have concentric grooving but hopefully not too severe. What is severe? Maybe someone has pictures here, but experience is the best judge. Look for heavy ridges on the outer edge. This will give you a hint at how worn they are. You can live with a light ridge. put the new pads in the caliper and reassemble. Drive around the block a couple times and stop 4 or 5 times. It will be close enough.

 

[JohnGD]

If the lack of bite is from anything other than thin brake pads heating up more, then you need to find the root cause for that lack of efficiency. You should also check the parking brake adjustment mechanism, sounds iffy here based on what you describe.

But if it's the result of pads running thin and therefore fade more easily, then just get new pads. I'd use Akebono ProAct ceramics. These have the FF friction rating (.35-.45 coefficient) instead of the cheaper EE rating (.25-.35) Akebono makes for Toyota. EE is not much more than steel-on-steel (read: no pads, ~.23 IIRC)

Who knows, maybe that's the reason.

 

[TRDGen5.5camry]

I have 2002 Gen5 XLE, 4 banger ... abt 75K miles.

Brakes are fine, no vibration etc. Just that it does not have the "bite". And parking brake is sort of weak.

Can I replace just the pads (with oem) and not the rotors?
If I do so what is the bed-in procedure?

I don't have a caliper guage to measure thickness. Rotors look good, no scouring etc.

And the rear rotors, I suppose those will ever wear below minimum thickness...out since they do little breaking.

Yes you can just change the pad and still keep the stock rotor but if you do this then you have to get the rotor resurface. Resurfacing the rotor will cost you maybe about $10 max each.

 

[Tremendous_Slouch]

Can I replace just the pads (with oem) and not the rotors?
If I do so what is the bed-in procedure?

I don't have a caliper guage to measure thickness. Rotors look good, no scouring etc.

And the rear rotors, I suppose those will ever wear below minimum thickness...out since they do little breaking.

If the rotors look good and there is no vibration, change the pads and usually thats it. One tip, spend $3 for some fine emery clothe and sand your rotors. Both sides. Sand up and down not round and round, this breaks the glaze. then clean them well with brake cleaner and rags. Theres no need for a micrometer to measure rotor wear, it will tell you when it need replacing by vibration or noise. In this case i simply replace them. Turning is simply not worth it money wise. New rotors are dirt cheap now so i just do that. (i work in a shop and the labor cost generally makes it a wash at best.)
The brakes are one system almost every automaker makes simple. If you have no leaks, vibration or noise and you know your pad depth, usually all is well. Spend the minimum on the brakes since dependability is taken for granted here. Causes for alarm, vibration, loss of fluid, change in pedal feel, idiot light.