GregoryNP

My 2007 LS460 is at Lexus of Orlando for the fuel recall. Noticed my F&R pads were down to 1MM. How much am I getting overcharged vs having done at a local shop? $600 vs ?? I am not a do it yourself-er.

Devh

Overcharged a lot. Brake work can be done at any independent or brake chain place for a lot less.
These cars were made to be easily serviced for wearable items and do not require the expertise of the dealer.

NickTee

Brake chains and some independent dealers do not use OEM parts to save themselves money. Because the owner has no way of verifying, unless you watch them assemble everything, you have no way of knowing that you're getting the OEM brakes.
This price also includes rebuilding the calipers, which is not an easy job and considerably raises the price. However, I don't know why they'd be rebuilding the calipers on your car. Did you have it sitting for an extended period?

If you want to know how much you're getting overcharged, call a Toyota dealership and some local, reputable mechanics and see how much they'd charge you with OEM parts. And if you even need to have the calipers rebuilt.

roadfrog

And that's a good thing. OEM brakes are (in my opinion and many others), crap. for one thing, OEM give off too much brake dust. Akebono would be a better choice at half the price. As for the rotors, they are prone to warping early and often.

You can get the Akebono pads for about a hundred bucks and aftermarket rotors for about the same. Then take those parts to an independent for the labor, which shouldn't cost more than another hundred or so. Also, keep in mind that the price you were quoted, probably doesn't include replacement rotors, but rather a turning of the rotors. That will only cause warping again a lot sooner.

dlbuckls10

Your local Toyota dealership could have saved you some money.

Unsober1

If you were getting new rotors, I would say go for it. Since you are not a do it yourself guy. But turning the rotors will be good for now, but doesn't last long if you are a stop and go, uphill downhill, heavy foot driver.
My personal suggestion would be, if this car is not your daily driver and you could afford for it to be down a day or two. Learn how to do it. These goes on this forum are the best. There are also step by step instructions and YouTube video to follow along with. Parts will cost you $250-350 depending on what you want. And yes you could send more, but you don't need anything more. After you do this task once, you"ll see how much of s rip off these brake places are. No special tools needed. If you do to places to get it done, they often use very cheap parts, so be cautious of what your doing. The LS is the eaisest car to do a Brake job on. Watch a u tube video and gauge it from there.

NickTee

Brake dust is not an indicator of a poor pad. http://www.caranddriver.com/features...at-dust-page-5

roadfrog

Not sure what you're driving at, but brake dust is inherent to metallic/semi-metallic pads which are used by most manufacturers. Many German marques, especially BMW have this issue in spades. My 7 series BMW would need the wheels cleaned every couple of days. soft compounded pads perform better at the cost of brake dust. Look at any Porsche, BMW etc and you will notice the front wheels often have a dark and greasy film on them.

Ceramic pads do not shed much dust...or at least it isn't as noticeable, because the dust is lighter in color. Same with a metallic pad that is engineered to produce less dust, at the expense of a little less performance.

I wasn't saying that dust was indicative of a poor pad. I was simply saying that OEM pads generally produce higher levels of dust which I don't like and would rather get a replacement that produces less dust, despite the very small decrease in performance.

NickTee

What I am getting at is exactly what you stated: ceramic pads off less dust at the cost of braking performance and increased fade with repeated braking. On a LS460 I can understand your dislike of the brake dust, but it amuses me when people buy a Corvette, RC-F, or any other sportcar and complain about the inherent side effects of good brakes. Or they do not understand why it occurs.

roadfrog

We're on the same page. In regards to my 7 series, I switched out my OEM pads with a set that produced less dust because I hated having to clean my wheels every other day. I didn't notice any difference in performance, though I'm sure there was some.

GregoryNP

Perhaps the want to rebuild calipers at 103,000 miles

Doublebase

You can buy a set of Akebono pads (front and rear), for a grand total of $120.00 dollars.

I just did mine three weeks ago...didn't cut the rotors because they weren't warped and looked like they were in very decent shape, plus I don't like removing metal from a rotor unless I have to. I have had zero problems since (almost 2k miles later).

I wonder why they want to rebuild your calipers? I'd be careful with that one, because that's the latest fad in dealership scams. Honda is rebuilding calipers at a local dealership down the street from me - it's part of a service - which makes me laugh. Yes square cut seals lose their elasticity and eventually don't retract the pistons as well as they did when they were new, but you can purchase rebuilt ones rather than have someone maybe, or maybe not, "rebuild" them. I wouldn't mess with the calipers unless they are giving you problems.

1BlinkGone

Some of the aftermarket brake compounds can be pretty hard on rotors and cause premature wear, so when you're shopping go for the ones that are clean, and easy on the rotors as well.

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

Unless there's some indication (eg pistons sticking, seals leaking) I'm not sure you need to rebuild the calipers.

tyl604

Forget rebuilding the calipers unless they have been giving you a problem. I just bought Pep Boy front pads for $24. After the wheel is removed, it takes less than 5 minutes to remove the old pads and install the new pads. You should at least learn to do this yourself if only to feel a sense of satisfaction from fixing something on the car.