es300 brake job questions
 

I'm going to replace 100% of my brakes. The rotor is pitted and looks awful and so do the calipers.
I bought bosch rotors and pads and I am looking at getting re-manufactured calipers from partsgeek. One of my rotors is sticking and I would like to make sure none of my others do that also so i'm trying to get every part I can to make the rotors 100% new from the brake line to the pads. I'm confused by what all I will need I know I need the caliper, carrier, and hardware and I think I need the rubber bits as well? Can anybody help me make sure I have everything?

You're not sure what you need for brake job? Are you working on your own brakes? Maybe you should have someone work on brakes who knows what to do.
you should be able to get assembled calipers from local autozone/napa/oreilly, etc.

I have a friend who has done calipers before so he is going to assist me. I have done pads and rotors before no problem. I really don't know why I need to explain myself. I simply want to make sure I get all the right parts for my caliper. By assembled I suppose you mean fully loaded. That is not what I want. I don't want the el cheapo pads they typically come with, that's why i bought the bosch.

If you buy a complete caliper (and supply your own pads) then you don't need anything else except brake fluid. I personally have not had good luck with rebuilt calipers so I avoid them. I either get used ones from an auto wreckers or rebuild them myself using kits from Toyota.

Ah alright, that looks like the best way to be sure I get everything. I was just hoping to see if I could save a few bucks. As bad as my rotors look and especially my calipers I really want to get all new ones. Do you have any recommendations for good calipers? Any brand you liked in the past? I see that you didn't actually say that you bought new calipers but if you have any other input I would appreciate it as well. Oh and I too have a 2000 es300 mine's silver exterior with black interior. You can even see the awful looking calipers from the photo.

http://s15.photobucket.com/user/jake...24941.jpg.html

Are you sure your calipers need replacing? Why not try cleaning them up and lubricate the slide pins with 3M silicone paste. It's unusual for the calipers on these cars to outright go bad but it does happen. I actually have a set of front calipers off of my ES sitting in storage, I swapped in the LS400 calipers. I'd sell them to you but I would imagine shipping would be too high. I could check though if you're interested, I took them off of the car when it had around 40,000 miles.

I've used Cardone brand in the past and they were absolute junk, they felt stiff right away and never worked right I had to scrap them. I had problems with another brand but I can't remember which one. The issue with the rebuilds is they use cheap rubber seals.

You shouldn't be replacing calipers...

Are they seized? Don't touch them.

On these cars its typical they seize with time, I've had three replaced thus far over the years, with various rebuilt brands. Basically the slider pins on my rears corroded to the point it was walking in and out crooked so it was causing excessive wear on one part of the pad & dragging on the rotor. You can see the heat discoloration & scoring on the rotor. And if you're fronts are pooched you have to apply the accelerator to get moving in Drive... that's how much pressure there is in the front ones.

Anywhom, service them. Use a wire brush on the slider pins, scuff pad, maybe even sand paper so they are nice and straight - corrosion does build up with time, as it is an exterior part.

Lube them, and keep on truckin'

9/10 times that's all you need to do.

One is sticking quite badly my mechanic and I took a gander at it and it's the piston itself, we removed it and lubed it along with the slide pins and another is sticking a little bit. they are extremely corroded and look awful. When I bought the car the clearcoat / paint on the wheels was disintegrating. I thought it might have been heat which would explain all the clearcoat / paint on the wheels falling off and the extensive damage to all the calipers. I made the decision to get all new rotors, calipers and pads. I bought centric remanufactured calipers which are semi loaded which come with everything except for the pads. Oh, and ALL of the rubber boots are either damaged or missing on every single one.