Centric rotors and pads question
#1
Driver
Thread Starter
Centric rotors and pads question
I've started having braking problems again with this thing and decided to do a full replace of all rotors and pads, check the rear calipers again and then do a full brake fluid bleed. The reason for this is because of a few things:
1. The squealing when backing out of the driveway on the first drive of the day is crazy loud and driving me insane not to mention probably my neighbors at 4am in the morning. (I'm thinking it's the original Lexus pads along with rusted rotors due to the humidity/rain).
2. When the car is cold and the RPM's are up, I have to press on the brake pedal pretty hard to keep the car from lurching forward when stopped at a light. (Suspect my new rear caliper slide pins are rusted again)
3. Last weekend we took a three hour drive down south in the pouring rain. I was coming in hot on an off ramp and started braking but the car was not slowing down. After about a couple of seconds the brakes finally started biting. That was pretty shocking. I've never had a car or truck do that before.
4. The brake pedal has gotten kinda mushy (time for a full bleed).
I've gone ahead and ordered up Centric high carbon alloy rotors and Centric posi-quiet semi-metallic pads. I went with the semi-metallics hoping that they have a good initial bite but knowing that they may give off a bit of brake dust.
And so I was wondering if anyone out there has used the Centric posi-quiet semi-metallic pads and what they thought of them? Were your wheels covered in brake dust after a week of driving? Where they loud when braking hard?
Thanks!
TLDR; Do Centric posi-quiet semi-metallic pads make lots of dust? Are they loud?
1. The squealing when backing out of the driveway on the first drive of the day is crazy loud and driving me insane not to mention probably my neighbors at 4am in the morning. (I'm thinking it's the original Lexus pads along with rusted rotors due to the humidity/rain).
2. When the car is cold and the RPM's are up, I have to press on the brake pedal pretty hard to keep the car from lurching forward when stopped at a light. (Suspect my new rear caliper slide pins are rusted again)
3. Last weekend we took a three hour drive down south in the pouring rain. I was coming in hot on an off ramp and started braking but the car was not slowing down. After about a couple of seconds the brakes finally started biting. That was pretty shocking. I've never had a car or truck do that before.
4. The brake pedal has gotten kinda mushy (time for a full bleed).
I've gone ahead and ordered up Centric high carbon alloy rotors and Centric posi-quiet semi-metallic pads. I went with the semi-metallics hoping that they have a good initial bite but knowing that they may give off a bit of brake dust.
And so I was wondering if anyone out there has used the Centric posi-quiet semi-metallic pads and what they thought of them? Were your wheels covered in brake dust after a week of driving? Where they loud when braking hard?
Thanks!
TLDR; Do Centric posi-quiet semi-metallic pads make lots of dust? Are they loud?
Last edited by Soledad; 01-15-17 at 06:21 AM.
#3
Driver
Thread Starter
Well crap! My brand new reman'd rear calipers have disintegration rubber pin boots and caliper piston seals. I maybe have 2000 miles on them if that. The pins are rusty and the caliper pistons have a light coating of rust on them. They aren't seized but they don't slide like they are supposed to. Instead of waiting for the whole warranty thing that will take a week to two weeks, I've ordered up some new seals and boot kits to rebuild them and they should be here by Friday. If that doesn't work then I'm parking the car and will bite the bullet, return the reman'd calipers and go with new Lexus ones.
#4
Racer
I'd definitely take those calipers back to wherever you got them. I replaced my rear calipers last year with some remanufactured ones and so far no problems. Sure the paint wore off and is kind of rusty looking but I'll just paint them this summer. As for the rusty pins, I'd take some steel wool to them to clean them off and coat the pins in anti seize or brake lube before reinstalling.
#6
Driver
Thread Starter
Ok, I figured I would finish this out.
I ended up rebuilding the rear calipers with Wagner components because I was in a time crunch. Plus, I could not guarantee that the warranty calipers would not have the same crappy rubber seals. Rebuilding the rear brake calipers wasn't hard except for the fact that I was doing it in the garage with almost no space and no table.
I followed this video for the rebuild:
Any way, the first test drive was only a mile or two to make sure that all four calipers weren't hanging up or binding and causing problems. The second test drive was about 10 miles and by the end of that 10 miles I could definitely feel a much better initial bite than I had with what ever came on the car when I bought it used back in Nov of 2015. I suspect the pads were probably ceramics due to the lack of brake dust on the wheels. And the third drive to run a quick errand was even better. Overall I think I will be happy with these semi-metallic pads.
I ended up rebuilding the rear calipers with Wagner components because I was in a time crunch. Plus, I could not guarantee that the warranty calipers would not have the same crappy rubber seals. Rebuilding the rear brake calipers wasn't hard except for the fact that I was doing it in the garage with almost no space and no table.
I followed this video for the rebuild:
Any way, the first test drive was only a mile or two to make sure that all four calipers weren't hanging up or binding and causing problems. The second test drive was about 10 miles and by the end of that 10 miles I could definitely feel a much better initial bite than I had with what ever came on the car when I bought it used back in Nov of 2015. I suspect the pads were probably ceramics due to the lack of brake dust on the wheels. And the third drive to run a quick errand was even better. Overall I think I will be happy with these semi-metallic pads.
Last edited by Soledad; 02-01-17 at 09:01 AM.
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