zapola6

2001 LS 215,000 Miles, In March of 2014 I had a bad pulse, turned the front rotors and replaced pads, solved about 75% of the issues, replaced the rear rotors and pads and problem was solved.

I just put the best pads that I could get from AutoZone Lifetime Duralast CMAX or something like that and the best rear rotors that I could get from them as well. To this day I still have no pulsing and at least 50% pad life left. I think I was out under $200 including turning the front rotors. That was 21 months and 45,000 miles ago

Knowing what I know now and when I have to do it again, I don't think that I will do anything different than AutoZone or insert parts house name here. In hindsight what I spent has worked out just fine with no complaints, can't see me paying for the privilege to use OEM at 3 times the cost. But for those that chose to use OEM, I do understand and respect the decision.

StanVanDam

At 8 years in-service / 85000km, I had mild steering wheel wobble upon braking down from high speed. Replaced front 2 rotors with OEM (43512-50220) and they are still perfectly smooth 5.5yrs / 53000kms later.

There is no reason at all to replace rear rotors to correct a wobble in the front rotors and vice-versa.

In fact, sometimes you don't even need to replace the rotors to correct a wobble - simply rotating the rotor on the hub to index can get you to spec, and if not, using an on-car lathe after rotating to the position with the lowest runout will correct the wobble. The problem is that paying a shop to do those things costs more than installing brand new rotors by yourself, and machining rotors will not last as long as new rotors anyway.

At 13.5yrs in-service / 137000km, I had mild rear end wobble upon braking down from high speed. Replaced rear 2 rotors with Raybestos Advanced Technology (980199). Unlike other aftermarket rotors, Raybestos actually publishes their manufacturing specifications for lateral runout and thickness variation (0.002" and 0.0004", respectively). I tend to not trust products that make claims like "near perfect thickness variation!" or "99% efficiency" with no supporting quantitative data.

Again, no reason at all to replace the front rotors when the wobble is at the rear.

The service manual makes it very clear to replace the caliper bolts (90105-14151 front, 90105-14152 rear) if they are ever loosened. The bolts are coated with a one-time-use encapsulated thread compound to prevent them from loosening during operation, and the torque spec (81 ft.lbs front caliper, 58 ft.lbs rear) was designed with that in mind. I would assume that using a higher torque spec on an aluminum caliper could deform the threads, cause a stress fracture, and/or cause some other materials failure, so this must be why they use a thread-locker. Other car manufacturers use one-time caliper bolts as well, likely for the same reasons.

I reused all of the caliper bolts (as many DIYers and independent shops do), making sure they were very clean and that the threads on the inside of the caliper were clean as well, and added an extra 3-4 ft.lbs of torque to compensate for the lack of thread-locker (and accepting a marginally higher risk of aluminum stress failure).

BMW7_LS430

Do not use semi-metallic pads. I learned the hard way. Metal in those pads can eat into the rotors and create issues.
I used ceramic pads this time. Ceramic pads may get worn sooner but if you DIY then it doesn't matter much. Pads are cheap.

groomerz

I used the raybestos advanced rotors from amazon, they are painted black for rust protection, for pads used centric oem style from rockauto and it was a sumitomo box of pads inside a centric box , sumitomo is the mfg of the ls brake caliper and pads so I felt good, that was 3yrs ago , today i put my winter wheels on and peeked at pads . they are wearing nicely. a bit thicker than backing plate left, which means the are soft like the oem pads probably will get 25 k -30 k .

jpv7774

Man I am soooooo tempted to order the cheaper after market stuff......but what I save in the end...approx $80 dollars maybe $100 I think thats just not enough savings to go with the cheap stuff. I am still talking myself into OEM...havent ordered yet because I am still licking my wounds from ordering OEM door lock actuator.....will make decision soon.......will do one axle at a time.

Interesting that some of you have noted.....both front and back had to be done to get rid of the wobble...

TTBomB

iTrader: (2)

I had the wobble when braking and was able to identify that my front passenger router had a bunch of run out. If you can borrow a dial indicator that will tell you where your problem is. If you don't have access to one you can also do a visual test. If the run out is bad enough you may see it
.
Here is a way to check: remove wheel. Set-up a stationary item like a jack stand, cinder block etc. Mount a piece of solid wire or piece of coat hanger to it. Adjust it so it just touches the face of the router. Then spin the router slowly and watch the wire to see if there is movement as the router turns. If the wire is snug but not too tight (to the stationary object) it should move as it hits the high spot of the router. So when it comes back around to the low spot, the wire will not be away from the router.
Mine was bad enough that it was quite obvious that there was an issue. If you are getting the wobble my guess is that you will see the issue by doing the above.
I hope I explained it enough, if not ask and I will do my best to answer.
Good luck!

bmore430

I am in the same boat shopping for pads and rotors. For pads I went with the akebono pro-act set-up. i am in the process of ordering rotors and am in between:

1. Centric premium rear rotors on rear with slotted on front.

2. frozen rotors blanks on rear with slotted on front. frozen usea japanese brand mountain rotors for thier blanks and offers coating options.

Bocatrip

When I purchased my car almost 6 years ago, it had 98,000 miles and a horrific wobble when stepping on the brakes where the steering wheel was uncontrollable. There was 50% left on the pads, but I decided to turn the rotors and replace the pads. A few years or so later the wobble returned although no where as bad. I was told by a few sources that Lexus rotors do not do well with turning and usually need to be replaced. I have no pulsating on my brake pedal so the rear rotors are fine. I've learned to live with it (although quite annoying) for years now, but am thinking about finally replaciing my rotors to OEM. I have about 50% left on my pads after about 23,000 miles with all city driving. I jacked up my car today and while spinning my front right tire can hear the pads rubbing against the rotor when hitting the high spot. I also believe this might be a reason I'm getting some uneven noise from the front right side when traveling 50+ mph on the highway. At first I thought it was a wheel bearing but the noise is not even or loud. Our cars are notorious for warped rotors and don't do well without replacement. As far as replacing all fours when you have a steering wheel shake......that is total nonsense.

Brewmyown

I had all four of my OEM rotors turned at the parts store and put after market ceramic pads on maybe 30,000 - 40,000 miles ago. So far so good. I am going to be pulling the tires to rotate soon so I'll check on them and see how everything looks.

warminwisc

If they don't wabble do pads only I learned the hard way.

semar

I would get the rotors checked first to see if they are truly warped.
If they are straight, then the problem is in the pads - maybe not set right from the beginning or not bedded in properly.
Warped rotors can be a myth that bites you in the pocket

semar

I just googled Warped rotor myth
Lots of good info that might help solving your problem

groomerz

a friend of mine always says if your doing the work yourself and saving on labor buy the best product you can afford.

groomerz

Jack front end up on stands and have helper lightly apply brakes while you spin front wheels, if wheel spin appears to have a spot where it grabs more you found the bad rotor. sometimes you don't even need to apply brakes , just spin or turn wheels to see if there is a spot with more resistance to turn

tradosauru

True, but the best product does not always equal the most expensive product.