hojingah

Hi:

A little background on the car:

I bought my 1999 RX300 Pre-Owned Certified from a Lexus dealer in May, 2003 with 36000 miles on the car. I got a pretty good deal on the car but I know from the national inquiry on the car, the previous owner never had done a major service other than a 10000 service, a 7500, and two 5000 serivces. I bought the car becasue the pre-owned certified gave me confidence and it's got 3 years warranty on it. I believe Lexus certified it based on the defined cerfitication process.

This car is basically my wife's car to take my daugher out the park, grocery and our weekend drive to drive to next city for entertainment and such. Not a lot of freeway. Only 3-4 longer trips of 300 miles around trip.

Now the car has 49000 (I've done one oil change at about 42000). And I figure I should do a major service (45k) to just have a baseline for me to keep going forward, and have a peace of mine everything is checked. The cost of it is about $450.

Well, what came back is a call from the dealer that I need to change the brake pads front and back ($700), cabin filter ($65) and wiper insert ($30). The total could be somewhere $1200. He tempted me with a 10% discount. He said the front pads have about 3 mm left and the back have about 2mm.

Based on my research, the brake pads should be at least 50% (or 5mm) left to be certified. And since the car is light-used, I do not believe they can do so fast in 1.5 years (or 13000 miles) since I got the car. If the cerfitied program is real which I trust more than the mechnaic, they wear out 4 to 5 mm in 1.5 years which I doubt it's happening. So I asked how could they wear so fast. He called me back to said that they tested it with sensor-based which is usually done on newer RX. And he took a look on the pads closely and said that the pads are good to go for at least 1500, or 5000 miles.

What I don't understand is the sensor based method they are talking about? Does that mean it's not accurate? I have no doubt that usually they want to change everything before needed. My question is that I cannot trust the lexus service now because I have no idea how much the pads are worn. How can I do my own test without breaking the tires apart? I know that if the pads have wear indicator, it will make noise when they run too low. Does all RX300 made in 1999 have wear indicators on all 4 tires? If not, how to tell if the pads need to be replaced? At least to the recommended 1 or 2 mm before replacing them pre-maturely.

I'm sure I can change the cabin filter and wiper insert myself, so to save $$.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions.

LexFather

Welcome to CLublexus. Funny I need to get my mothers RX brakes done soon.
1. Yes, if the car is certified, the brakes have 50% or more tread left but the fact is you have had the car almost 2 years, not sure if your theory, though sound, would fly.
2. Yes, the brakes do have indicators, they will squeak. All 4 have this feature.
3. He is screwing u on the brake job. Front brakes would run abourt $225/pads and labor. So no more than $500 for both done.
4. Its cheaper to buy pads, bring them to the dealership and have them install. I think Lexus pads are $80 for a pair. Quality pads run about $45 for a pair.
5. I'll have to ask her to look at her records but i think her fronts got replaced around 60k. The rears I think have yet to be replaced, she is at 105k!
6. Her RX sounds like your wifes, basic running around.

I think u could make it to the 60k service. That is a major one and needs to be done.

Hope this helps.

hojingah

Thanks for the reply.

The price is about $700 for both front and brake pads. All 4 of them with the rotors. Not sure if that's reasonable.

Another twists, I got down there to pick up the car and asked the guy to explain to me in dummy terms. He's pretty nice and said that my front pads are about 4.5mm right now and 5.0mm for both back ones. So he said that the pads should last some 10 to 15k and they will checked next time around.

I pushed him to see why there's such a oversight and I could have been "ripped" without fighting. And he gave me an excuse that all pads replacement have to been run by him before actually putting the pads and if it were still good, he would have put back the originals and let me know. blab... blab....

I'm not a mechanic so changing the pads myself is not an option. But I would recommend any viewers to at least push before agreeing on paying and in my case, it does not make much sense to change the pads so soon.

Another comments. I'd put my car to toyota service from now on becase for 45k service, they charge about $150 instead of $450 which is what lexus was charging.

Anybody has a negative view on this, please let me know but I think toyota should do the same job I think.

So I got my car without chaning the pads, just the 45k service.

By the way, I don't seem to find the wiper insert and cabin filter on the service floor. didn't really ask them. Where do you guys buy parts for your lexus? dealer, online. I want the geninue parts as that gives me peace of mind. thx for viewing.

lexusk8

For Lexus factory parts at lower prices than the dealership, I usually go to http://www.irontoad.com. The parts sold there are a good 40-50% cheaper than the dealership parts, and they are actually sold from a Lexus dealership (in PA). I bought my OEM front brake pads and rotors from them for less than $200 shipped

LexFather

Yes, a few people do use Toyota dealers, same parts, and it is cheaper.

cxp2001

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