famfedyk

Done these a hundred times on various cars but first time doing it on my 97 Lexus ES 300. Anything out of the ordinary I should know about? Otherwise, I assume it goes like this: 1) remove wheel 2) unbolt caliper (hex head or allan head bolt?) 3) remove old pads 4) remove rotor 5) press caliper piston back into caliper (in the past I've always used a C clamp. Is that ok to use on these calipers?) 6) install new pads 7) install new rotor 8) install wheel

Anything that I missed or should be aware of in addition to what I described?

Thanks in advance

Arsenii

Hello,

The process of changing brake pads on ES300 is completely identical to around 95% of all the other cars. The procedure that you wrote above is correct, the caliper is held up by two 14mm bolts, and the bracket is screwed in with two 17mm bolts; I have used c-clamp to compress the piston with no issues. Just make sure to clean or replace the brake hardware and use a new grease on the guide pins.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

LeX2K

Don't forget to bleed the brakes fresh fluid is the most important thing to keep the system from failing outside of worn pads.

24inchdubz

never seize and a tiny bit of brake grease on the ear of the pads but yup thats it

BMeek

It's a week later and I expect @famfedyk has already completed the brake job, but I thought I would share my expereince putting new brakes on my '98 ES300.

One of the many nice things about these old cars is the huge aftermarket for Toyota family parts. We can still find lots of decent replacement parts for surprisingly low prices. Well, to summarize this post: I've learned my lesson to avoid cheap parts when it comes to brakes!

After shopping online and reading reviews on various rotors and brakes, I chose to buy a $115 . The installation was straightforward as described above and the brakes were just fine through the bedding and break-in process. While the new "bargain brakes" felt great at first, the heat from higher speed braking soon warped the front rotors leading to serious judders and wobble when they got hot. What's worse, I put up with this judder for a bit too long and, I strongly believe, the cheap warp-at-high-temp front rotors ruined my relatively new front wheel bearings!

As I recall, I then priced out "Genuine Lexus" rotors and pads with the cheapest online pricing coming to around $440 plus tax and shipping for the full set. I then thought to do a search for "Performance upgrade" brakes, and ultimately purchased the (all 4 wheels, slotted/drilled etc.) for around $250 and I like them a lot.

It was an expensive lesson after paying a mechanic to press in new wheel bearings. Although, based on the serious judder I experienced with the cheap warped front rotors, it could have been even more painful.