96LS400

I have taken the car to the dealer 3 times to have the brakes checked. They claim that there is till over 70% left. Whenever I reverse the car and apply the brakes, it makes a REALLY LOUD high pitched squeaking noise. When in drive and I am coming to a stop at a light, it squeaks (but not nearlly as loudly) below 5 mph. What do you guys think the problem is? Also if i brake really hard, it makes a really weird grinding sound as if the pads are completely worn down.

Kaban

Something might be wrong with your parking brakes, it might be stuck or you have it depressed slightly. Have your dealer check the rear drum brakes for anything abnormal.

additude

There is a flat metal spring that fits on the calipers that suppresses any squeeking. If this spring becomes bent or warped, even by just a little bit the brake squeeks will not be suppressed. They usually become warped by heat, but age and temperature fluctuations can also cause it. If your brakes ever had high temps like from long braking or even if the emergency brakes were set just slightly and you didn't catch it.

Anyway, that's what it sounds like to me. I'd have all 4 brakes done.

jahummer

What' your mileage? The last time you had your pads replaced, they may not have replaced the hardware. makesure they do next time and everytime you have the pads replaced.

BTW I think you should have disk brakes on all four, no drum.

96LS400

I have like 85,000 miles on the car now. The last service was the 60k mile. Even after that I took it in once to have the brakes checked and they said everything was fine and they didn't know why it was making that sound. I remember it said something in the manual about a "disk in drum" brake. Ive never heard of this so im not sure. I have been taking the car to crown lexus, I'm going to call up Longo next week and see if they can do something about it. Thanks for the input.

fusi0n 1er

I have the same problem with my brakes as you do...
I took it to my mechanic and he says the same...that I have 80% of my brakes left.... as for the grinding noise I usually hose my brakes (inside the rims) and they go away but they come back maybe our brake oil line is messed up or somehting?......

kreativ

This happens with my LS too. I thought my brakes were shot, but I have over 50% left on all 4 wheels.
My mechanic thought maybe it was glazed rotors.

jahummer

You guys are very close to an answer. The truth is, the material that the pads used to be made of glazed the rotors constantly. Roughly 6 months ago, Lexus released a TSB regarding this issue and redesigned the the pads.

Make sure your dealer installs the latest version of these pads and make sure that they install a new shim and fit kit along with it.

The new pads are super quiet and brake a lot faster!

Good luck.

kreativ

So glazed rotors is the cause of the squeaking noise, right? What the heck are glazed rotors anyways?

Wow, I remember the brakes squeaking back in '92 and being told this was normal for these kind of brakes. It took them a long time to figure things out.

Lexus parts from my last brake job...
0446550130 Disc Brake Pad Kit $77.99
0494550020 Anti-squeal shim kit $44.99
5510bc Anti-Noise kit $19.99
4351250060 Disc Rotors $154.99*2=309.98
Labor (w/replace rotors) $171.60

jahummer

Yes as well as the grinding/groaning noise. Glazing is caused by a combination of pad material, heat and soft braking and is anoying as hell. It's a build up of pad material on the rotors and pads and is actually somewhat dangerous since it reduces stopping power. you can de-glaze them by a series of long hard braking from 60mph or so or using wheel cleaner.

Way too long! Despite my years of complaints to the service department!

kreativ

Thanks, I'll try wheel cleaner and see if that takes care of the problem. A shop I brought the car to said machining the rotors would take care of the problem, but I opted not to since I had to pay $300 for a pair of new rotors a year ago after they were machined only twice. (Do you machine rotors every time you change brake pads?)

I'm just hoping I'll be able to tell the difference between squeaking from glazed rotors and squeaking for low brake pads.

jahummer

This is only a temporary fix.

No and no. Machining the rotors will solve nothing, they will still glaze. And there is much debate over whether the rotors need to be recut all the time or not. Just keep in mind that recutting them shortens their lifespan.

Squeeking is not glazing and either means you need new pads or the rotors are oxidized which can be solved by applying the brakes thus cleaning the rotors. Do they squeel in reverse or foward or both?

kreativ

They squeak in foward, but not all the time. Sometimes it's there, sometime it isn't, but I think I hear it when I'm applying lighter pressure on the brake pedal.
The shop took a look at the brake pads on all 4 wheels and said I had over 50% left, which was what I had expected.

By the way, is a new anti-squeal shim kit used every time brake pads are changed, or is it a one-time thing?
I may go back to the Lexus dealer and ask why my brakes are squealing even with the anti-squeal and anti-noise kits that they installed along with the new rotors and brake pads.

I'm okay with the squeaking, but it's really making the main driver of the car nervous.

jahummer

I have had a few cars and never had I encountered as many problems as I did with Lexus brakes.

The shim and fit kit should be replaced each and every time but most techs won't do it unless you ask

The service tech will probably tell you that it is normal to squeel that they all do it which is what they told me until the TSB was released so I had them put new pads on.

Sometimes my rear pads squeel a bit on soft braking like when pulling up to the drive through ATM.

Good luck and let us know what your dealer says.