jhyphen

I have that same squeal it's pretty bad. I first noticed while backing up in my parking lot.
I thought it was somebody else as there were a few cars in motion at the time. I heard it while braking in reverse again yesterday.

bigblack06

iTrader: (20)

Ok here is the result, got a call from the rep. There is nothing they can do as the driver is safe and it is only a noise, so at this time there is no fix but they will continue to find a solution. In other words I'm stuck with this ****ing sound. This is amazing this really is a bad sound makes me not want to drive the car sometimes, I might try to fix them myself and then make Lexus pay for them if that works.

CLkicker

OP, What happened? Did you ever get the brakes fixed? I'm having the same issue. Lexus wanted to resurface my rotors and charge $234/rotor to do it.. Obviously I told them to F* off.

bigblack06

iTrader: (20)

Well the problem arised again on my trip back and they said I needed new rotors and said that may have been the problem I called bull**** as they would have said it when they looked the first time, but they installed them and made me pay for the pads only. In other words I still got screwed as they should have been covered under warranty but they really didn't.

Transient

I registered just to make this post hahah. I have the same issue. Happens occasionally when I back out or come to a stop.

bigblack06

iTrader: (20)

Yep this was the same problem, my suggestion is to bring it to dealer and make a case so its registered then keep complaining. The problem was they found no cure for the problem so apparently they are still working on one.

Kcook700

iTrader: (2)

That's weak, sorry to hear bigblack.

I had this same problem on my 3GS and never fully got this resolved. I was out of warranty on that car when it kicked in. I bought new brake pads and shim kit (from Sewell) and remember putting in the comment field "non-squeaking shim kit". The non-squeal kit include three shims per pad (an upgrade from two) and if I remember, two of them were coated with a rubbery material, probably teflon. I also coated them with anti squeal grease. After install I got rid of the noise, but it came back after about 10k miles but wasn't as bad.

I speculate the squeal is coming from the space between the caliper piston, the brake pad, and shims, causing it to vibrate while lightly braking. Since the 'upgraded' shim kit included one additional shim, there was less space to cause the vibration or squeal noise.

I haven't had to replace my brakes yet so I don't know what the brake components are, but I suspect Lexus to put out a similar shim kit upgrade that they did with the 3GS.

Kcook700

iTrader: (2)

BTW, I just checked Sewell parts, the 3GS and 4GS break shim kits are the same - GREAT! Also, check out the item description they put for the shim kits:

"Lexus brake shims offer are the combatant to loud noises from brakes. The inclusion of a brake shim between the brake pad and back plate (or piston) greatly reduces the likelihood of resonance instability or commonly referred to as 'brake squeal'. This type of squeal should not negatively affect brake stopping performance, but at times can be an annoyance to the vehicle passengers, passerby, pedestrians and others especially as your Lexus is designed for comfort and quiet. Recommended replacement -- at time of brake pad change. "

bigblack06

iTrader: (20)

Yeah I wish they actually tried to resolve this vs ignoring the customer.

DLKC

Here is my experience:

Took delivery of the 350 Luxury version on May 1, 2012.

-first month: already hearing some squeak, not too bad, so brakes were cleaned
-sixth month: still some squeak, same thing, brakes were cleaned during servicing
-one year old: getting a little unbearable so workshop did a check, changed the calipers
-one and a half year old: during servicing, mentioned that squeak has not improved, so workshop changed pads with a newer part number
-two weeks later: squeak sounded worse than before, returned to workshop, they changed the pads again to a newer part number, rotor was changed too. Squeaks were softer so I was bearing with it. At this stage, I kinda have given up
-two year old: during servicing, I mentioned that squeaks remained and I am tolerating it. The brakes were due for replacement( as I was driving the car pretty hard with strong braking), they changed the pads and caliper clip. Pads part number is the same as the previous one. Guess what, no more squeaks.

In my case, it seems to be a clip issue. Subsequently I spoke to the Service Engineer and he said the free play / tolerance of the previous clip could have caused the squeak. So in my case, the squeak issue is gone after two years.....I am a happy man.

bigblack06

iTrader: (20)

I had given up as well but I will try this and see what happens.

jhyphen

Well my brakes started squealing at every other application of the brake pedal so I brought it in and the squeal echoed through the service bay. They said it was my "pads" and installed "upgraded pads" free of charge since the pads were covered under TSB they said. I drove it from the dealer home last night and did not hear any squeal.

UPDATE: The pad replacement did not resolve problem. I pulled up into a drive thru and my car screamed bloody murder. Bringing it back in for a test drive.