jpv7774

Finally got around to replacing my rotors and pads today. ordered OEM from Ebay as i recall about $250 shipped. Not many YouTube vids on this subject but the 2 that are on there are pretty darn good and helped a lot. I had warped front rotors and could feel pulsation when braking...was driving me nuts and ruining the fun of driving this awesome car. Bottom line....I think this is probably the easiest possible brake job that someone could attempt. This is a good DIY project.....HOWEVER... A few obatacles popped up for me,,,,

When I removed the pads I discovered they were CARQUEST pads and shims ...I bought OEM stuff so I wanted it done right and couldnt wait 2 days for Ebay or somewhere else. I ran up to local Lexus dealer and got screwed hard and they liked it. $100 for a set of shims.....8 beer can thin pieces of metal....Honestly it just makes me dislike the dealer.....I dont mind paying retail but thats ridiculous. Next issue is that it doesnt show what order to install the shims ...they are very slightly different on the tabs...directions would have been nice. Does anyone know if it matters how those shims get stacked on the pads? They are so close to identical I cant see how it would make a difference.

Anyway the caliper bolts were huge which was mice...19mm......a nice breaker bar and socket and no problem. The right side has a sensor that the left does not. Mine was missing the clip that holds it in place.

Drove the car afterwards......she is stopping nice and smooth so far...fingers crossed.

Does anyone know if it is a myth regarding torquing wheels on vs slamming them on as tight as u can with a star wrench? Can too tight warp a rotor? What foot pounds should the wheels be installed at? I have a torque wrench....Just didnt have the right socket for my wheels.

Thanks

hyperopt

Those hub nuts are torqued at 76ft#. Yes, torque those lug nuts using the correct value and torquing pattern. I hope those shims are gold plated; otherwise, they are not worth the $$$ that you had to cough out. That's ridiculous!

bmore430

Wow thats a crazy price for those shims. Are there really that many shims on the rear pads? I just did my fronts and it was only 1 or 2 shims per pad on there.

I would doubt it matters how you stack the shims

KING

iTrader: (1)

One more lesson learned. I respect the idea of you doing it clean and right, like it was supposed to be. Don't feel like it's money not well spent.

Know the feeling, man, it sucks. That's why it's better to prepare for the job step by step before diving in, you would find yourself saving a lot of money buying your items online.

lorenr

iTrader: (1)

Next time get the brake pads that have the shims as part of the pad. They are usually the better brake pads to boot. Stock shims are no longer needed. Shop around, you'll be surprised.

The dealers are really looking for someone with no knowledge or skills and will pay. There are tons of customers out there that meet their requirements. We are talking about people that are basically helpless and I totally agree with the dealer. If they were my customer they would pay a lot.

jpv7774

Wow.....76fps....that seems way light......but I will back them off I am an over tightener by nature...cant help it. But if I warp my new rotors I will be pissed.

Shims gold plated......well....they did have a goldish hue to them .....Not sure why the dealer couldnt just charge a 1000 % mark up and charge $40.00 for them.....I understand they have overhead but this kind of pricing scares business away for future purchases.......certainly scares me.

As for other shims doing the job......well....sure I guess there are many different options out there that will work. But what I do know is that aftermarket crap was on my car......and where the aftermarket crap was installed a part failed. Not sure if it was heat build up....improper torque....old age....who knows. Bt now the ole gal has OEM running gear again.......and thats what daddy like

As for how many shims are there in a kit.....freakin 4 per front wheel.....2 stacked inside and 2 stacked outside. Oh....for my $100 the lexus dealer included grease and a sensor clip!!!!! Winner!!!

jpv7774

Man those old rotors ruined my ride.....very happy to report after a day of driving around town the warped rotor feel is gone baby gone!!! I also purchased the 21mm 1/2" socket for my torque wrench and backed the torque down to 80lbs.......seems light....but I will keep an eye on them. 76 vs 80lbs...eh I dont care. When I removed the wheels they were at various degrees of tight......from my experience local shops dont take the time to properly torque your wheels ....since I know who last had my wheels off I will now ask them what there methods of torquing are.......

LS430inDE.

Awesome job! I know the wabbly pulsating warped feeling going to butter smooth! You are WISE to uncrank those lugs and torque them to proper (or close to proper) torque values. Trust the specs and the tools. Those torque values are going to be different from a F150 with steel wheels to a LS430 with sweet aluminum rims. It might be a little too late now, but when you had each wheel off the car, it would have been a great time to scrub the crap out of them (outside AND inside), and get them as clean and brake dust free as possible. Clean rims make a great car look even better! Nice job again.

Arcturus

This car seems to like OEM brake components and others have complained of vibration with non-OEM parts. That being said, I decided to go aftermarket and it's okay. I used Bendix pads all around and Bremsen rotors on the front and Brembo on the back. I think it was near $500 for new parts all around.

The brake wear indicators are only on the passenger side (one front, one rear). You can buy new ones if needed from Rock Auto at a fraction of the price of the dealer. One wear indicator at the dealer is almost the same price as a set of pads.

For the shims, the user rkw77080 will have a drawing of the shims from the factory manual - which go where. You can PM him.

Best is to torque the bolts to spec. You can do it by hand in a pinch, but if the torque is not the same on each bolt, you may create an out-of-true condition when the wheel / rotor spins. Good job on retorquing them.

Lexus dealers are mostly ripoffs. They service one brand only, which is relatively low volume so they will need to extract the maximum from customers to stay in business. There is usually pressure to upsell. However, there are some good ones and the one near my house isn't that bad. If cost is a concern, there a lot of options online (I like myLparts) and Rock Auto is good for aftermarket. For an older car, I don't mind putting aftermarket parts on it.

jpv7774

I dont think I would hesitate to go with ( quality ) aftermarket parts. I went OEM because I was having issues. If I wasnt having issues but it was time to replace I might have gone with aftermarket.

I am not sure if my old rotors were aftermarket of not....but the brake pads must have been added by the dealer who sold me the car....they were very thick....they were Car Quest pads. I assume he just did pads and left the old set of rotors .....my car has 140k on it....so the rotors were due ....

Now I have to start snooping around my rear brakes........no issues yet...but I am curious if I am rolling with carquest crap in the rear....

rkw77080

Brake vibration is due to imperfection on the rotor surfaces being transferred onto the brake pad. Without a shim, the brake piston and the backing of the brake pad rubs against each other (metal-to-metal) and squeal. A shim is made of harder metal which allows the piston to slide relative to the brake pad. In this case, most of the "sliding" occurs between the brake piston and the shim.

LS430 takes the anti-squeal to the next level by introducing an inner-shim. You would apply brake grease on both sides of the inner-shim to isolate vibration and heat. In this case, most of the "sliding" occurs between the outer-shim and inner-shim.

jpv7774

RKW....thank you for the diagram. Even with the diagram it doesnt answer my last question. My car had aftermarket pads installed w 1 aftermarket shim per pad. So I didnt remove OEM shims so I could just re install the same way that I removed.......I had to purchase my shims from Lexus dealer and the parts guy had no clue in what order the shims were to be installed.

The Youtube video I watched showed very clearly that there were 2 shims per pad...he showed proper grease technique as well. My only question is that the shims are ALMOST identical EXCEPT for a diagonal cut out on one of the shim tabs.........so does it matter which order the shims are installed on the pad? Again....they are almost identical....there must be a reason one of the shim tabs has a cut out and the other doesnt.

I hope my question makes some sense....

Thank you

rkw77080

The "diagonal cut" does not seem to serve any function because the repair manual does not show, and made no mention of it.

jpv7774

roger that.....thanks for taking the time to look it up

Jabberwock

Don't mean to hijack the post and great info provided on brake job on LS430 but I often see people complain about outrageous prices charged for dealer parts.

There is list price for a part and there are many levels of discount at which the part is sold. Many times the price you pay depends on how you ask for a discount. You can almost always get a discount on Lexus dealer parts by ordering on line. If you need a part right away from a local dealer you still might be able to get a discount by doing the following: Call the local parts department first before you physically go in (even if you are sitting in their parking lot). They will almost always give you a better (lower) price on the phone than a price quoted to a walk up customer. Why? - Because since you are not standing there you have some leverage. They want your business and they want you to come in. So make the call and first always ask the counter person to check to see if they have the part. Make nice but don't be swarmy while they do the search on their inventory. If they have the part in stock, tell them you are calling around for lowest price and ask them for their best price on the part. Once they give you their "best" price ask them if there is any way they could do better or if they can match a competitor or online OEM part price. Follow this process, very politely, in this order, and with professional courtesy and respect (regardless of the answer) and you might end up with a pretty decent discount. This works for me about 90% of the time.