I heard a grinding noise coming from the right front tire last night. Came home, removed the wheel / tire and noticed the caliper was stuck pushing the pads against the rotor. I pushed the caliper pistons back in so they're not frozen, just sticking. I could go by autozone, advanced etc. and buy an aftermarket cheap caliper but I don't trust them.

I called Lexus and they don't have a caliper in stock so I called up Toyota and they said the part was over $400!!?? I said why is it so much? "That's the price Toyota sets it as." I said well Lexus is almost half as cheap @ $265. Thanks but no thanks.

My only option is to order through Sewell and pay extra for 2 day, overnight is almost $80. I'm going to call them real quick to make sure they have it in stock. Any ideas on how to fix a sticking caliper before I spend the money on a new one?


EDIT:

After speaking with Sewell I went ahead and just ordered a new caliper. They said it was a special order part and that if I placed it before their cutoff today (which she didn't know what time that was ) that they could have it by tomorrow and if I paid for 2 day I would have it Saturday. They're an hour behind me so I placed it at 1:59pm their time, so fingers crossed I got it in before their cutoff.

 

RC,

When are you getting rid of the GX?

 

Never!

 

I had same issue with my wife's GS350 right rear caliper. I called Bap Geon and had one in 90 minutes.

 

Do you have the procedure to replace it or do I need to tell you off top of my head? lol

 

Have you tried rebuilding the calipers, its fairly easy takes more time taking it out than rebuilding it, i did it on my track car FC3S 4 piston calipers. Or you can take it yo a shop that specialized on brakes and I'm sure they can rebild it for cheaper price, just take it off your self just give them the calipers,

 

We don't have that company around here but I can get the exact same part number / re-manned Cardone caliper from O'Reillys which is right down the street.


Same procedure as changing the rotors with the exception of using a 10mm wrench to remove the brake line from the caliper.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...-and-pads.html


Nope, none had the rebuild kit locally either and I don't trust any of these local shops to touch my GX or any part on it so I'll just replace the entire thing myself.






I ordered 4 speed bleeders and several bottles of Amsoil DOT3 fluid to do a flush / long bleed. I decided to use Amsoil instead of Toyota brake fluid because it cost the same as Toyota and has a higher dry & wet rating than Toyota.

 

To rule out a defective rotor, I swapped the fronts and the grinding noise is still on the passenger side. There are no deep groves on the rotor and it looks fine. I checked the brake dust shield and it's fine too. I looked over the caliper and couldn't see anything out of the ordinary and I was able to compress all 4 pistons so it's not frozen? To rule everything out I also checked the rear passenger pad and there's plenty of meat left on it and the rotor looks fine.

I did some fast / firm stops last night but that didn't help. Before I install the new caliper can anyone think of anything else to check?


EDIT:

Short video

 

Check your brake pad indicator to make sure it didn't get bent when installed. Can you swap front pads to see if the noise still persists on passenger side?

 

I compared both sides this morning and the tab is the same, nothing appeared to be bent. I'm going to swap the pads out tonight and see if that makes a difference.

When I replaced the pads I copied the same placement as the OEM pads but can anyone confirm that the wear indicator should be on the engine side / top of the caliper?

**Passenger side / engine side / top of the caliper

 

I did mine this past weekend and the one in your hand would have been passenger side facing the shock. I think that is what you are saying

 

Yes, the backing plate of the pad is facing the engine, the brake pad material itself along w/ the indicator is facing the shock.






I just received a email from Sewell saying it's been shipped. I checked the tracking on FedEx's site and some idiot at Sewell marked it for weekday delivery instead of Saturday when I specifically asked the parts lady on the phone if I paid for 2 day would I get it by Saturday and she said yes. My whole point in paying extra for 2 day shipping was because my daughters bday is Sunday and we needed the 3rd row to take her and 5 of her friends to Disney.

Oh well guess I'll just have less meat on the passenger side rotor / pads than on the drivers side. I didn't noticed any heat after driving around town so hopefully I don't warp it driving all the way out there.

 

if you don't mind what do you use as a piston spreader, I want to buy a new one since my brother broke my old one.

 

An 8" C clamp and some 1x4. I have a cheap spreader like below but they don't work on our front calipers since the sides are solid. They do work on the rears through.





If you're doing a lot of brake work Matco sells a spreader that looks pretty slick.
http://www.matcotools.com/catalog/pr...rce=igodigital

 

I'm an idiot. I had my wife drive the GX down our street while I walked beside it and the grinding noise is coming from the rear passenger.

Since I'm going to tear it down I'm going to replace the rear rotors and pads. The shop manual says to use Toyota lithium soap base glycol grease, Toyota part number 08887-01206. Neither my local Toyota or Lexus dealer stocks it and Sewell doesn't sell it online.

Some say to only use the Toyota stuff since other brake lubes get hard. A few have mentioned using sil-glyde: http://www.agscompany.com/lubricants/automotive/168
Has anyone here rebuilt / had to re-lube the rear slide pins? If so what did you use?