trips1

Apologies for the long writeup. Wanted to explain my situation and problem clearly.

Exactly one year ago i got my front brake pads and rotors replaced with Autozone Duarlast rotors and Monroe premium brake pads.
Everything was working perfectly fine, but since last 3-4 weeks my brakes started creating squealing noise when coming to stop at very slow speeds especially when i am making a turn i.e. turning into any parking space or my garage. The squealing noise is very very low when coming to a stop driving straight.

I was passing by Midas today and got the brake squealing checked.
The Midas person showed me some uneven texture on my rotor (please see the red highlight in the picture) and gave the root cause to be my old struts!!! According to Midas the old struts are putting uneven pressure on the brake pads especially while turning. BTW i have 130K miles and am on original struts.

Anyways frankly i don't buy the strut story and was thinking of doing a DIY job of:
- Taking apart the rotors and the pads.
- Clean the rotor as well as the pads using brake cleaner to remove all the brake dust.
- Lubricate the back side of the brake pads(shims).
- Lubricate the caliper pin.
- Change the brake fluid with Prestone Dot 3. My brake fluid is 4 years old, but looks absolutely clean. Still as recommended on the forum that brake fluid should be changed every 2 years and so i guess i am overdue.

Looking for suggestions from the helpful people on this clublexus forum.
Does anyone thinks that i should be worried about the Struts at least for the brake squeal issue? Anything else that i can or should do to remove the squeal noise.

And would appreciate with some question on the brake fluid bleeding.
- For a DIY brake fluid bleeding, is there a need to take off the rear tires or jack the rear of the car?
- Please can someone confirm if the red marked portion is the bleeder screw/valve? Do i fit a pipe to the screw and loosen the bottom portion of that screw to make brake fluid come out?
- Do i need to open the bold in the blue highlighted area while bleeding?.

salimshah

Do some simple tests before you embark on anything extensive.

With your index finger nail, scribe (swipe) across the rotor braking surface from middle to out on couple of spots. Do it on both sides of the rotor. If you feel ridges, then take the rotor and pads to autozone for warranty replacement.

If you do not feel the ridges and we have haze on the rotor [the shade difference in the picture you have posted]. Go on a open road or empty parking lot and do successive sharp braking and remember to let off the brake at the end. Idea is to heat up the rotor and the pads, but do not let them sit together at the tail end of the process. It is almost like the self-cleaning mode in kitchen oven.

The noise can be due to shim metal to metal noise. Yes that can be fixed by removing and then cleaning and then re-applying a thin coat of appropriate grease (sold in small packs .. 1 should do all 4 wheels).

Be careful and do not get the grease or greasy fingers on the pads. Wipe down the rotor surface with cleaner and try not to spray the cleaner on the greased shims.

Always test the wheel can spin freely before lowering the wheels down. [chock the wheels on ground and remove parking brake and set trans in N]

Solve the squeal first. Once that is done, only then go to purging old fluid out.

There are enough youtube videos to show you how to do the bleeding. People use a tube on the nipple [red box] and make sure it stays in the receiving bottle to prevent air being sucked back. I work with an assistant and close the nipple before foot is lifted off the brake pedal. Leave the hose to caliper [blue box] alone.

Process for bleeding [right now you dont have air in the system and you should make every effort not to introduce air] is that you bleed the farthest point ,,,, passenger-rear. If you can manipulate the bleeder valve, you dont need to lift or remove the rear wheels.


Salim

trips1

Thanks Salim for your valuable inputs. I will try what you suggested and see how that goes.
There are ridges on the rotor for sure. I had bought the pads online and so will have to hope that Autozone does not blame the pads and deny the rotor return/exchange.

For the brake fluid bleed, yeah i saw some Video's on youtube. Since there was no zoom in into the area i got confused what is the valve that needs to be loosened to allow the fluid come out of the nipple[red box]. So the middle/bottom of the red box has some valve bolt that needs to be loosened? Sorry for basic questions, but would be doing it for the first time and so a little cautious.

salimshah

The nipple has a hex area and with a box wrench [i advice against open end wrench] you can open or close the valve. As you loosen it, brake fluid can escapes through the nipple hole. Make sure you do not spin the nipple more than 1-1/2 or max of 2 turns [you do not want to remove it ... just loosen it]. It is like a spout and not a valve. Valve allow flow from one direction, but this is open OR close.

I think the bleeding process is 2 person job [with some tools one can do it alone]. If you have not worked with brakes ,,, I would strongly urge you to work with some one who has worked on brakes or hydraulics. The process is simple BUT mistakes can end up in serious accidents. Please Please this is not a DIY for a novice.

Salim

hypervish

You can do a gravity bleed which is a one person job. Just open the bleeder as Salim mentioned, and let it drain for about 15 minutes. HOWEVER, keep an eye on the master cylinder and the brake fluid level. It will go down every 4-5 minutes. Keep it at the full line, do not let it drop below MIN.

trips1

So got the Duralast Rotors from Autozone as part of the warranty and plan to replace them this coming weekend.
Since i just got the pads(Monroe pads) installed last year they still have very good amount of life remaining.
I am wondering if i should just use the old pads or should i plan to shell out extra money to buy new set of pads?
Any suggestions?

And online i read that when using the old pads it would be good to rub them against a high grit sandpaper. That way any imperfections on the brake pads can be removed and slightly old brake pads may be used with new rotors.

salimshah

What ruined your rotor? If it was the pads then you should toss them.

Salim

hypervish

If you got the Duralast rotors, then be prepared to replace them every 1-2 years. You will get one free replacement till 2 years old.

I had Duralast rotors on my RX and warped 2 sets of them. Complete junk! At least I only paid for them once.

I've now got Raybestos AT rotors and Akebono pads. Love this combo!

FilPilot

Any part numbers you can share. are they sloted?