hokietech

Im looking to buy the original brake pads for my gs4. Where can I get them? The tirerack.com has only similar aftermarket brake pads. Anyone bought it from them? My local dealer want to charge me $380 for rear brake only (pads and installation). Where can I take it to get installed. Would meineke be okay for the job? Please reply with your recommendations, thank.

Lextacy400

iTrader: (3)

All i did was buy my rear pad from the dealer for 45 50 bucks then had my friend as toyota put them on for free..it is crazy to pay 380 for pads and installation. if you want to stick with factory pads then i recommend you just buy them from the dealer ( search around cause different lexus dealers sells them cheaper ) then have a friend or someone you know at a garage put them on..even if you have to pay a garage to have them put on i doubt it will be nowhere near what the dealer wanted...hope that helps..

CokeBear

I bought all the pads from Steve of Carson Toyota for a total of ~$100.

The installion was very easy after some tips from a few very helpful folks here.

To change the front pads: remove the wheels, remove the bottom bolt holding the caliper and then the entire caliper can be rotated out of the way. Take out the old pads. Use a C-clamp to push the pistons back and install the new pads.

For the back pads: first remove the wheels, then use a needlenose plier to remove the cotter pin. Slide out the retaining pin and remove the spring clip. Then the rear pads can be easily pulled out. Use the C-clamp to push piston back and drop in the new pads. I just learned this today and it was a 15min job after getting some tips on this forumn.

Make sure you buy some high temperature break grease to grease the back plates before putting in the new pads. I have no prior car work experience and the entire job took less than 90 minutes.

When I pulled out my old pads, I was suprised to find the rear pads were actually thinner than the front pads. Is this because our rear pads are so much smaller?

SeattleGS400

iTrader: (1)

Usually, front brakes wear out first as they do about 75% of the stopping. Your car probably had the fronts replaced at one time or another beforehand, and the rears are probably still the originals, hence the appearance of the rears being apparently thinner.

CokeBear

Hi Seattle,

Thanks for the reply. Being a novice, i could have read pads remaining incorrectly. I've attached a picture of my old front and rear pads. Am I correct in assuming it shows the front has more pads left than the rear?

I have a 2000 Platinum GS400. I bought the car new and never had any of the pads changed. The pads I pulled out yesterday should have been the original pads unless the dealer changed them at sometime without telling me or charging me for them.

Carpe Diem

The wear limit spec on the pads is 1mm. I wouldn't wait that long. That rear needs replacing now. The front looks less that half worn. Put it back and check again in 10K miles.

George

LEXISM

iTrader: (2)

What!!! I never even thought about getting them from steve, man!!!

Well i bought pad from Lexus of cerritos for $133.00 and got them installed at my friends job for a 100.00 tip included it was alot cheaper than getting my brakes done at the dealer they wanted to charge me $550.00 for breaks front and back oh and my friend resurfaced my rotors too so it was a good deal. question how often do breaks need to be changed what is the normal life span?

SeattleGS400

iTrader: (1)

Woah! That's a first! I've never seen of rear pads wearing out before the fronts before! On my previous cars (a Maxima and a TL), I've had to replace the fronts once or twice, while the rears were still the original pads. As you said, unless your dealer changed them w/o you knowing it, those rears are definitely much more worn than the fronts.

Those rears do need to be replaced. . .

CokeBear

Yup, already changed the front and rear pads. The breaks felt a lot firmer after the change.

The Maxima and TL are both front wheel drive cars right? Could the rear pad wear be due to our rear wheel driven GSs?

SeattleGS400

iTrader: (1)

That's a really good point. To stop a rear-wheel drive car, the brake pads not only have to pull the weight of the car to a stop, it has to go against the driveline, transmission, and engine. Also, if your traction control kicks in a bit or during slippery conditions, it'll activiate the brakes then as well. So it could explain your differential wear on the rears vs. the fronts. Another thing to note, as you mentioned, is the size of the front and rear pads. The rear pads have much less surface area than the fronts, so being that it has to apply more pressure to stop, it may wear out faster than the fronts. I bet you that if the rears were the same size as the fronts, the fronts would probably wear out faster.

The Maxima and TL are both front drivers, and that makes sense that they wear out faster on the fronts (not only due to 75% of the stopping power of the car, but also against, the engine and transmission, if it was in gear). Interesting points to ponder. . .

hokietech

thanks for all the replys, I just ordered my brake pads from carson toyota for around $100, I just can't believe the dealer trying to charge me $380 for changing rear pads only after knowing it's a less than 1/2 hr simple job.

chowder

Hi
I'm about to go down this road myself, as I'm hearing a squeak from my passenger rear wheel at 44K.
Did you ONLY buy 4 pads for $100? What about ordering clips, bolts, other hardware odds & ends -- necessary?
Any other pointers not covered here, for a first-timer DIY brake-job, welcomed.
Thanks.
-Frank

SeattleGS400

iTrader: (1)

You do not need to buy new shims, clips, or bolts for this--just reuse the old ones. However, you obviously will need new brake pads.

Attached in this post is a PDF on the components for the rear pads. The next attachment is the factory instructions for removing/replacing the rear pads. Pay attention to the torque specs for the bolts and make sure you torque them evenly or your rotors can eventually warp.

SeattleGS400

iTrader: (1)

This next attachment is the factory instructions for removing/replacing the rear pads. Again, pay attention to the torque specs. Further, you don't need to check for runout of the rotor, esp. if you don't feel any vibration in your braking.

You will need some disc brake grease to apply in between the brake pad shims. Do NOT apply this grease onto the rotors, as you will contaminate the pads, and they won't stop very efficiently. Also, buying some brake pad/disc cleaner is helpful as well. Lastly, while the instructions (#6) mention that you should get new anti-squeak shims, you'll probably find that reusing the old shims is perfectly adequate.

Note: in instruction step #8, there's a typo, it should be the "rear wheel" not "front wheel"--the torque spec is the same. If you don't have a torque wrench, it might be a good time to invest about $30 in one--if you work on your car, this is a requirement for you to have (buy the "click"-type--that is, you dial-in the torque you want, and when you get tighten a bolt to the specified torque, it clicks to let you know you've tightened it properly).

SeattleGS400

iTrader: (1)

Lastly, if you need to have the rotors resurfaced/turned, you can bring them to Les Schwab or another brake/tire shop, and some will do it on the car for about $60. If your rotors are in good, uniform shape, you can probably skip this.