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That is what you need to do. Mine Likes look like hell also. The more time you spend on prep work, the better and longer lasting results you will have.
Ok, I've got some OEM 19s on the way. When I install those, I'll deal with the rotor caps. Lesson learned though. The next step up in the centric rotor series would have given me painted rotor hats and costed about $15-$20 more per rotor. Definitely worth it.
Ok, I've got some OEM 19s on the way. When I install those, I'll deal with the rotor caps. Lesson learned though. The next step up in the centric rotor series would have given me painted rotors and costed about $15-$20 more per rotor. Definitely worth it.
I just put Centric rotors from RockAuto on all 4 corners of my car - very high quality pieces and comparable prices to local low-quality crap (autozone, oreilly). Both the caps and the vents are nicely coated. I only have about 500 miles on them but so far, so good.
I just put Centric rotors from RockAuto on all 4 corners of my car - very high quality pieces and comparable prices to local low-quality crap (autozone, oreilly). Both the caps and the vents are nicely coated. I only have about 500 miles on them but so far, so good.
Sounds like you went with the 120.XXXX series. I went with the 121.XXXX series. Centric is a good company, based out of the LA area. I just chose their entry level rotor, figuring it would be fine...and it has been except for the epic display of rust on the disc hats. And in SoCal, where it rarely rains...except for an El Niño year, I would have probably been fine. The rotor hat appearance was like new, until the rain came.
Quick update: So a couple of weeks ago I pulled my pads out to try and sand them down a bit, I'm getting a grainy brake pedal. The sanding didn't really fix anything.
But before putting the pads back in, I wiped off the grease that I applied when I installed the pads originally, the stuff that came with my akebono pads (very thick paste like grease that I spread on very thin because I didn't have very much) and put on some CRC brake grease which is much more shiny and jelly like (sorry for my non mechanical terms). I put it on pretty liberally. But tried not to be excesive.
After about a week and a Sunday of heavy rains, I'm getting a pretty audible rattle/chatter when going over the smallest imperfections in the road. It's almost as if the pad is rattling around in there. And when I depress the brake pedal at low speeds, I can hear the click of the pistons hitting the back of the pads.
I thought it may have been a loose caliber bolt so today I pulled off all the wheels and checked the bolts and they are all tight. But I noticed the CRC grease I put on was pretty much gone, I couldn't see it on the pins or anywhere. Looked pretty dry. Is that the source of the rattling? I've been doing some reading and may folks are saying that the grease has dried and new grease is needed....seems like it would last more than a few weeks. I didn't purchase any new hardware from Lexus, reused the shims, pins, springs, etc but cleaned everything well and lubed with the grease.
This is a pic of the grease I put on the second time.
Quick update: So a couple of weeks ago I pulled my pads out to try and sand them down a bit, I'm getting a grainy brake pedal. The sanding didn't really fix anything.
But before putting the pads back in, I wiped off the grease that I applied when I installed the pads originally, the stuff that came with my akebono pads (very thick paste like grease that I spread on very thin because I didn't have very much) and put on some CRC brake grease which is much more shiny and jelly like (sorry for my non mechanical terms). I put it on pretty liberally. But tried not to be excesive.
After about a week and a Sunday of heavy rains, I'm getting a pretty audible rattle/chatter when going over the smallest imperfections in the road. It's almost as if the pad is rattling around in there. And when I depress the brake pedal at low speeds, I can hear the click of the pistons hitting the back of the pads.
I thought it may have been a loose caliber bolt so today I pulled off all the wheels and checked the bolts and they are all tight. But I noticed the CRC grease I put on was pretty much gone, I couldn't see it on the pins or anywhere. Looked pretty dry. Is that the source of the rattling? I've been doing some reading and may folks are saying that the grease has dried and new grease is needed....seems like it would last more than a few weeks. I didn't purchase any new hardware from Lexus, reused the shims, pins, springs, etc but cleaned everything well and lubed with the grease.
This is a pic of the grease I put on the second time.
Have you tried the stuff from Pg. 3 on the forum, recommended by Doublebase? Or even the stuff superdenso spoke about?
I believe from what I've read in the past, that the rattle is from either not installing the shim hardware correctly or shims/pins needing lubrication.
Great thread and tremendously helpful. On my '13 LS AWD w/ 19" wheels, original pads are just over halfway gone and I really dislike how "grabby" they feel. I could run them for another year or so, but really want to improve the overall brake feel without the $600 dealer charge. Based on all the favorable reviews out there, I'm getting ready to swap out OEM pads for the Akebonos ACT1282/ACT1283:
I have down the street from me an excellent and reliable brake shop that will resurface the OEM rotors, which still have plenty of life left in them, and install the new pads for $100. They've done brakes for me before and always get them right. I'm just wondering if all I need to give these good folks are the front and rear pads noted above, and let them handle the rest. Should I be providing any other brake hardware like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/201526408901?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182029503625?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Or should I just have them reuse what's there? Would love to do it on my own, but our condo association doesn't allow us to work on cars in the building's parking garage.
Many thanks in advance to all of you for your valuable insights!
Have you tried the stuff from Pg. 3 on the forum, recommended by Doublebase? Or even the stuff superdenso spoke about?
I believe from what I've read in the past, that the rattle is from either not installing the shim hardware correctly or shims/pins needing lubrication.
Actually that CRC stuff is pretty good too. High quality and widely used at many shops.
I think the reason why the grease is wearing away quickly is that the calipers on the LS are a fixed caliper and the pins are exposed to the elements, rather than in a protective covering like on a traditional floating caliper (the type that's in 95% of the cars on the road). I also think the job of the caliper pins on a traditional caliper have a slightly different responsibility than the caliper pins on our cars. In a traditional caliper those pins don't contact the pads and their purpose is to allow the caliper itself to squeeze when the brakes are applied...therefore they are greased...contained from the weather...and hopefully do their jobs (which they won't if water gets in there and the grease washes away...then the caliper becomes frozen and only the inside pad will be doing any of the work).
The fixed caliper pins come in actual contact with the pads - they are just there to make sure the pads don't fall out or become crooked. The holes that are machined on the pads are large enough to allow a sort of loose fit to those pins...if it was a tight fit the pad would get stuck on the pins themselves. I think greasing them is a good idea, but I'm not sure how much good it actually does with this design of caliper. I think grease or antiseeze is important to ensure that the pins will come out of the caliper (because they often don't on fixed calipers), so there is a purpose to the grease, but I can see why it's easily washed away in many areas.
I think it's important to grease the sides of the pads, so they can freely move, but again, it's exposed to the elements - it's not going to last long. You can grease the back of the pads to aid in noise reduction in relation to when they come in contact with the caliper pistons. You can grease almost everything you like - aside from the friction part of the pad and rotor - but the caliper is just so wide open that it's not going to last, but do it anyway.
The fixed caliper is supposed to perform better and I think it does. The clamping force is greater because it has more pistons and I rarely see this type of caliper "freeze" - whereas a stuck floating caliper happens all the time.
Just thought I'd follow up. Installed new pads (went with OEM as I found them for even cheaper than the Akebonos) and replaced all the hardware (centric kits front and back, noted above). Rotors are in great shape so I left them as is. Reused the original shims, fresh grease all around. Happy to report the clicking in reverse is completely gone and the brake feel is markedly improved. Thanks to this forum, saved a ton of dough!
I had all the brakes and rotor replaced on my 07 LS 460 and total charge including parts was $700!!!! I live in South Bay and did I get ripped off or what???
Quick update, brakes have been working just fine. But after a big storm here in San Diego, my rotor caps are completely rusted over and look like hell. I went with the Centric C-tek rotors. The cap was NOT painted but now it's painted rust color.
Other than getting new rotors with a proper painted hat, is there anything I can do to treat the cap? Sand the rust off and paint it with caliper paint of something?
That is exactly what I did on my GS, painted the rotor hubs when I painted the calipers silver. It looked great and lasted until I got rid of it, only needed some minor touch up here and there over the years. I used the Dupli color Caliper paint in silver and just did it by brush.
01-09-16, 06:24 PM
