At 60K miles and have approx 30% life left in the rotors

 

Some folks have to travel 100+ miles to get to a Lexus dealer. Toyota has all the same tools and access to all the needed parts.

 

I went through pads in the 20k I have put on my non-Fsport 2015. My rotors are ***** and I get the shudder bad, lol. But I *know* it is my fault. Most of my cars get to this point, then I trade them in. My joke is I don't buy new tires, I just get a new car every time I need them. Of course, I may break that trend with my GS.

I'd say 100% it's rotors, and I feel like Toyota LOVES resurfacing/turning rotors, even when replacing is better.

 

C’mon dude, a new set of tires and brakes can make your car feel brand new again, and a joy to drive.

Do yourself a favor and save some moola,

The only problem is that you’ll be “stuck” with your car for another 30-40k miles, it’ll drive great and you won’t have an excuse to replace it.

 

You mean the dealers love doing it, because it costs them a tiny amount of money and the profit margin is gigantic.... and its a good enough band-aid to get a low mileage driver to not come back in a week or two and say "you didn't fix it".

To do the whole car even with OEM you're looking at not that much money in parts if you did it yourself, all the way around. It wouldn't be much more than a typical car payment. It would be very worth it.

Hell I don't tolerate vibrating brakes on anything. Not even on my beater ES330.... wholly different car with good brakes!

-Mike

 

Thanks for all the replies - lets see if i can answer all your questions;
1. The car is a 2014 AWD with 83,000 miles. I JUST put new rotors on the car at about 65k, but i started to feel some vibration in the pedal when i would slow down from high speeds. So when i went back to toyota at 79k they changed the brakes and resurfaced the rotors. I still felt the vibration 2000 miles after that trip, which is where we are today. Toyota resurfaced my rotors AGAIN! Front pads are all the way in the green and the rears are also all the way in the green. I have brand new tires on the car so it's not that, and i know what unba;anced tires feel like. The best way for me to try to describe what happens is if im slowing down to take an exit from the highway and i slowdown, there's a loud vibration and i feel it in the pedal and a little in the steering wheel. My next step is to take it to a Lexus dealership to see if they can figure it out.

 

The rotors need to be replaced is what Lexus will tell you. And, there's a 99.9999% likelihood that new rotors will take care of the problem.

 

Doesn't the guideline for brakes and rotors go something like this? When you hit the brakes, if it squeaks/squeals, then it's the brake pads. If it vibrates instead, then it's the rotors.

 

update: Thanks again for all the replies. I took the car to Lexus for a brake inspection that cost me $200! The Lexus service rep told me that the mechanics at Toyota did a crap job with my brakes and rotors and the best way for me to get rid of the vibration is to either replace all the brakes, shims and resurface the rotors ($1200) or replace the rotors, brakes and shims ($1600). Service advisor also said that Toyota used aftermarket parts and not Lexus parts. I asked him to print evrything out, and I drove to the Toyota dealership to speak with the general manager. GM told me that she would investigate the issue and call me later in the day. GM called me a few hours later to let me know that she spoke to the Toyota mechanics, and also called the Lexus dealership. GM went on to say that since Toyota was unable to resolve my brake issue, they would pay for the work to be done by Lexus. So new brakes, rotors, shims, and threw in an oil change, all done by Lexus and paid for by Toyota......oh, and they wrote me a check for the $200 I spent on the brake inspection at Lexus.

 

I wonder if that particular Toyota dealership's service department will continue to service non-Toyota vehicles in the future? Has this lesson set down some new rules?

 

That's a good point BC. I did ask the GM if I could continue to take my car there for service (I dont plan to, I just wanted to hear her answer). She said that I could take the car to Toyota for fluid chhanges, but not brake service, lol.

 

In a lot of cases at least near me the Toyota and Lexus dealerships are owned by the same group or person.

 

Rotors and brakes for $1600. Ouch. Mid-grade rotors from a reputable manufacturer can be had for $50/each. Pads for $50 per axle. So figure $300 in parts and two hours labor @ maybe $125/hr. $550 all-in, round up to $600 for brake fluid and consumables.

This is why I stay the hell out of dealership service departments for anything other than an oil change or a warranty adjustment.

 

Be careful using non OEM brakes, i bought some and even though they lasted 20k , the rotors were smaller than the brakes by 1/2". I went back to the dusty OEM brakes....

 

At that price someone could use Porterfield or Akebono and still save a ton of cash...