TGRich

I just got back from the gym and when I got out of my car, I smelled something burning. As I walked around the car, I could feel an unusually high amount of heat coming from the front right wheel. I just put my tt wheels back on last week and while doing that I checked the brake pads, and they looked good. I also felt my other 3 wheels and they were relatively cool where as the front right wheel on mine was burning hot. The only thing I can think of is something wrong with the wheel bearings. I'm gonnna check it out in a bit, but any other thoughts before I have at it???

But I did drive down to Dallas (200 miles) last weekend and then back with no problems/fires (even reaching 130mph), so who knows?

Carpe Diem

My quick guess is a stuck piston in a caliper. Jack it up and see if you can turn the wheel by hand.

George

TGRich

I can turn the wheel by hand, but I compared it to how freely the other wheel spins after I jacked that one up. This wheel doesn't spin as easily as the other one. More than one hour later, the wheel was still hot too. I checked the brake pad clearance and there's not a whole lot left now- most of it seems to be in the form of brake dust on my rim


Any thoughts now? How do you unstick a caliper??

Technics

You have a 5spd right? Does your car roll freely backwards on an incline? I had a simular problem, both my front and rear calipers on the left side completely seized up. On hills when I released the brake the car wouldn't roll backwards at all!! Any type of highway driving resulted in a noticeable amount of heat coming from both wheels.

I replaced all the calipers on the car since and it rolls freely now. If it is your caliper it's possible it could just be stuck and requires a rebuild or minor servicing. I opted to replace mine since they were original.

Carpe Diem

Yep, stuck piston. Get a new pair of remans rather than fooling with rebuilding it. Odds are the bore is pitted anyway. And don't be too surprised if the rotor is warped too. Depending on how ridged/thin they are you may want to replace them at the same time. The other choice is to do the calipers only and hope. If the rotor is warped, you'll have to open it up again but if it isn't you'll save some money.

George

TGRich

Today was the first day I noticed anything different. It seemed like I didn't have the normal acceleration and I did notice I didn't roll easily back on an incline too. Doh! Time to order a set of tt brake calipers and rotors!

Shoot- I was going to save these brakes so I could swap some tt's to a 97 when I get that and put the old brakes back on my 93 for selling it. Looks like I'll have to pick up a used caliper to do that now.

There goes my tax return


stupid ?- How safe do you think it is to drive on it for a couple of days until I get the new brakes in the mail? I wouldn't be going any further than I did today and I still have some brake pad left

Technics

When I replaced the calipers it felt like I gained 5hp! LOL, seriously though the car accelerated that much better by getting rid of that friction.

It's okay to continue to drive on them for a short while but realize you run the risk of damaging the rotor, which is exactly what I did. I put the replacement off and went on a couple LD trips and wound up going metal to metal with the rear rotor. I had seized calipers and not a lot brake material = accelerated wear. So I had to replace the rotors as well. If you have a good amount of pad material you should be alright until your replacement comes.

TGRich

Just read your thread technics
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ht=supra+rotor

Now that I think about it, on my high speed drive back from Dallas, I did hear a faint thumping noise. Since then, I noticed what felt like a warped rotor only on hard breaking. It's all adding up now.
I'm getting the tt brakes first thing in the morning, I just need to find a good dealer/price on front xdrilled/slotted tt rotors. Any suggestions?

Thanks again,
Tim

Technics

Tim, from what I hear Bradi makes some high quality rotors for a good price.

TGRich

That's one of my options- I've heard the same. I just need to find the place with the best price

AaronE

There seem to be many Bradis on eBay for seemingly around $90 for a pair. That seemed pretty good to me. If there's a better price, I'd be all ears...

-Aaron

TGRich

I ordered a new set of calipers, pads, etc from Carson Toyota. As luck would have it, they only had one caliper in stock and the other went backorder. They should have shipped today.

As for the rotors, I went with a set of cd/slotted irotors. I'm going to be easy on the break in and I'll keep you guys updated on how they hold up. The price is good on them, but I'm not too happy with their shipping speed. I placed the order mid last tuesday (7 days ago now). It took them 4 days for handling, so they just got shipped today (Monday). I paid extra for 3 day shipping, so now they won't be here until Thursday!! Freeking 9 whole days to get these things- that's almost unheard of in todays times

I'll keep you guys in the know

Tim

rushgator

Sorry to hear irotors is dragging their feet. What brake pads did you order from Carson? I got the EBC greens, hope they work out OK. I need to get off my a$$ and order those SS lines so I can do my install! Are you keeping your OEM lines, or are you going SS as well? BTW, there is a great write up on the TT install on ALSC. It even has scanned in tech manual pages for those of us (not you, of course) too cheap to buy our own. Here's the link: http://www.lexus.australia.as/entry.htm Go to tech info and then Soarer brake upgrade. It's the best write up I have seen on the subject.

rushgator

Did your parts come in yet?

TGRich

Yeah, they just came in yesterday. And just in time too, now when I drive I'm hearing metal to metal. Good thing I don't need the old rotor anymore. Anyway, the tt calipers and rotors look HUGE- I love them already. Now all I need is time to put them on. I'll probably have to do it when I get back from D.C. on Monday. I'll put some pics up then too.

Tim