greekguy66

If one is ever worried about the pistons coming out, then simply put some old piece of wood in place to keep it happening. This way you don't have to deal with a clamp tool being in the way. I did that alot when I used to wrench on motorcycles for a living.

is150

iTrader: (10)

I recently replaced my rotors and pads on my 07 LS460. I disconnected the battery only because is seemed to be cheap insurance against getting the abs light afterwards. I did one corner at a time and took pictures of the clip and pin placement prior to removal.
After carefully removing the pins and clips you'll want to press the pad away from the rotor to compress the brake Piston into the rotor and allow enough room to slide the pads out.
Remove the pads.
Remove the two bolts holding the caliper to the hub. Be sure to hang the caliper with rope or something similar so that there isn't tension on the brake line.
Remove the old rotor which may need some persuasion due to being rusted to the hub.
After spraying the new rotor with brake cleaner mount it to the hub and use a couple of the wheel lug nuts to hold the rotor in place as well as center it.
Mount the caliper back up and clean any dirt and grime from the caliper.
Working on one side of the caliper at a time, you'll need a clamp of some sort to slowly press the caliper pistons back into the caliper. This is to allow enough room to slide the new pads back in.
I used high temp brake grease/anti squeal on the back of the pads and slides.
Slide new pads in caliper.
Replace the pins and clips and your finished. Move on to the next corner.
Make sure that the parking brake isn't set when trying to remove the rear rotors or you'll never be able to remove them.

Doublebase

I think the problem people may be having with this caliper is that it is a fixed type of caliper (pistons on each side), compared to the more conventional caliper (floating, one piston). With the fixed caliper when you push in a set of pistons the other pistons will come out if there isn't something holding them back. You can prevent this by simply installing the caliper over the rotor and making sure a pad is installed on one side before you press in the pistons (you can use the old pads to do this). Once you press one side in, install the NEW pad and this will prevent that side from popping out when you press in the other side.

And don't forget to clean the new rotors before you install them, they are covered with packaging oil to prevent rust...this has to come off.

Ascari_2

I have a caliper piston compression tool which expand two plates which look like brake pads, so I am not worried about that. Biggest unknown right now is if I well be cracking the bleeder.

greg3852

I have never cracked a bleeder doing or a brake job. It is not necessary at all. You are only changing parts.

I have 6 years experience as a diesel mechanic. Never opened the brake system to change pads and rotors.

roadfrog

I've said that at least a couple of times here in this thread, but it's seemingly going un-noticed by some.

This is as easy a job as it gets on these cars. Over thinking it leads me to believe that perhaps one should leave it for a pro.

Once the hardware side of things is done, THEN take it to your Toyota dealer and pay them 90 bucks or so to bleed and flush the system and you're done. FWIW, my dealer charged me 79 bucks....and that's in Canada....probably cheaper in the US.

greekguy66

@Chris - I saw you post it a few times!

@Greg - Same here while wrenching on motorcycles or working on my own cars. For all the brake jobs I have done, never needed to mess with the bleeder valve just to change pads.

K.I.S.S. always works for me.

williakz

Make sure you DON'T get the brake fluid replacement performed as part of scheduled maintenance at 30k miles. This involves sucking old brake fluid out of reservoir with a turkey baster and pouring in new to replace it. No "flush" involved at all. And, if anyone, can find this replacement done for less than $90, let alone a true "flush" for $79, let me know where and when - I'll be there! (Foreign countries need not apply...)

Doublebase

Sadly you are probably 100% correct. Most places are only going to turkey baster the reservoir and tell you they flushed the system. Maybe some places will do it correctly, but most won't.

roadfrog

The Toyota dealership that did mine had my car on a hoist. No turkey baster involved. As stated, proper flush involves hooking up to Techstream. The process took about 90 mins or so. Normally takes 45 mins to an hour, but they had to do it twice to eliminate the error lights.

roadfrog

Also, if they are doing a "turkey baster" change, they aren't following Toyota/Lexus' procedures according to their requirements. I have a copy of the procedure and invoves more than removing the reservoir's fuid. If I had caught them doing this on my car, I would have raised ***** with Toyota corporate and Lexus too.

79.95 is cheap (I see several dealers in the US online right now charging 89.95), but one must also realize that they are offering this price to hook you into other work, such as pads, oil changes, etc. Lots of businesses do this all the time.

Doublebase

I don't think anyone is saying they are following procedures, I think we are saying that they are most likely not following procedures, but are telling customers they are. Apparently you are lucky and they did your car right and you got what you payed for, I'd have to guess many are not. Eric the car guy has a brake flush demonstration on youtube and in his first step he states to use a turkey baster, he then says, if you want to stop right there I wouldn't blame you, in fact many places do stop right here.

is150

iTrader: (10)

No need to open the bleeder or the reservoir.

roadfrog

Wait a minute.....are you SURE??

Ascari_2

So the brake job is done and all is well. I did spend a fair bit more time on this car, but that is because I decided to perform a few more steps than I normally have in the past. Here is the basic procedure in a nutshell:

• Turn the car off leaving the gear selector in neutral;
• Disconnect the negative terminal;
• Secure the car with a couple of wheel chucks;
• Loosen the wheel nuts;
• Jack up the car;
• Remove the nuts and the wheel;
• Remove slide pin spring;
• Remove the slide pins and the anti-rattle spring;
• Very lightly compress the pads against the outside the caliper just enough to be able to wiggle the pads out;
• Remove the brake sensor from one of the pads;
• Remove the two bolts holding the caliper setting the caliper aside without straining the fuel line;
• Remove the rotor (might need to use a removal screw to detach the rotor from the hub);
• VERY IMPORTANT STEP Clean the brake dust/rust particles off of the hub;
• Install new rotor;
• Install all 5 nuts and tighten them to 103 ft-lb;
• Measure rotor run-out (if within 0.0016 then you are okay; if your are out of that range, remove the rotor and again clean the surface between the hub and the rotor);
• If working with the rears, rotate the rotor to see if the parking brake needs to be adjusted; if so, adjust by turning the horizontal dial inside the hub which is accessible via a 1/2in hole on the face of the rotor;
• Install a clear vinyl tube onto the bleeder positioning it at an upward angle for a least a portion immediately following the bleeder screw (this is done so that if there is any drawing of matter back into the caliper, it will be brake fluid and not air);
• Crack open the bleeder screw and compress the pistons back into the caliper (the fluid will be pushed out of the bleeder as the compression progresses;
• Once all the pistons are compressed, close the bleeder screw (tightening it later on when the caliper is mounted);
• Reinstall the caliper;
• Grease the new pads (I reused the outside ani-squeal/anti-rattle shims from the original set);
• Reinstall the anti-rattle springs on each pad;
• Reinstall the sensor;
• Reinstall the pads into the calipers;
• Grease the slide pins and reinstall them;
• Reinstall the anti-rattle spring holding the slide pins;
• Reinstall the slide-pin spring;
• Remove the wheel nuts;
• Install the wheel and lightly tighten the wheel nuts;
• Lower the car and tighten all 5 nuts to 103 ft-lb;
• Repeat process for all remaining wheels;
• Put the car in park;
• Pump the brakes to get the pistons into their new operating position and pressurize the system;
• Check if any fluid needs to be added to the reservoir;
• Reconnect the battery terminal;
• Start the car to check for any leaks/warning lights.

Although I probably would've been okay without cracking open the bleeder screw, I decided to do it because (i) I figured I'd be better off being safe than sorry, and (ii) connecting the vinyl hose in an upward direction ensured that no air was going to be getting back into the system. It's not a matter of leaving this job to a pro or not (I've pulled engines out of cars before, so I don't have a problem with changing brakes) but it's just a matter of not wanting to screw something up because I decided to forgo one simple step.

However, the one thing I never did before was measure the run-out of the rotor, and I am glad that I did. Working on the first wheel, I did everything I described up to the measurement step and when I measured the run-out, the gauge showed that I was over twice the limit. That basically meant the new rotor was wobbling. I removed it and again cleaned the surface where the hub meets the rotor. On the second go-round, the measurements were within spec and I was happy to continue the work.

After all the wheels were back on came the fun part...bedding the brakes. This is the procedure I used in the past on my ISF http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm and it is the same one I used this time around. Basically this requires two to three sets of 8 to 10 60-to-20mph hard braking routines where each set is performed without letting the brakes cool (meaning hard acceleration to 60 while performing a set) and the entire procedure of all the sets is done without coming to a stop.

In the end, the job took a while but went well. The results are smooth braking and no pulsation/vibration of any kind.