alaskaty

Not at all, it did have the death wobble under hard braking though.

UPDATE: I just pulled the wheels off again and started cleaning everything. I saw that the 5 o'clock to 7 o'clock position of the RIGHT FRONT piston boot was abnormal looking (slightly puckered and not flush) so I pumped the brakes to push it out and see if it was damaged. The piston came out fine and the boot looks okay (still not flush on the underside) but now the piston will NOT compress. I tried to bleed the system, and got return, but the piston won't budge.

I fear it's time for a remanufactured caliper.

Life is good.

nipponbird

Don't worry mate, after a good night's rest you'll hit the right button there. Guys tackling those kind of jobs get to solve the problem and learn something in the process. The alternative is to sit in an armchair, learning nothing and getting fat.

alaskaty

Hahaha, I appreciate it. It's funny, but you always learn way more from fighting your way through a disaster than when things go smoothly. This forum has been so incredibly helpful with the RX...I've replaced two door lock actuators, the antenna mast, now working through this brake issue.

The caliper comes in on Monday so I have some time to strip down the brakes and clean the crap out of all the components.

alaskaty

Swapped out the FRONT RIGHT caliper, sanded down the brake pads, thoroughly cleaned the rotors and re-bled the brakes.

and.....

NO more clunking!!

Because I did everything at once I can't say for certain what the culprit was, but based on the systematic approach I took earlier, I'm fairly certain it was a bad FRONT RIGHT caliper.

Thanks for everyone's comments and help.

hypervish

Sweet! Glad to hear it's fixed, hopefully your approach that you posted here will help others in a similar situation.

timmui

I used something far more simplistic. My hand.

Looks like you got it resolved and I thought it was a stuck piston from the start.

nikolai00

I'm having the exact same issue with the front left of my wife's 2007 RX350 AWD - with the Autozone Duralast Gold brake pads and rotors... clunking when moderately braking at less than 40mph.

This was definitely not around beforehand - there was a shaking while braking and that's why I decided to change them.

I'll try to get everything taken apart, thoroughly cleaned and greased (I only greased the back of the pads, and I did not clean or grease the metal clip guide area). Hopefully I won't have to replace the caliper(s) as both pistons compressed just fine to a flush position.

mizak82

solved.. it was actually the main bolt on the rear strut wasn't 100% tight.. causing a clunking noise that was only really heard when i hit the brakes.. had to take out the interior trim to get to it and figure it out..