Ok so I changed the pads out for the Akebono 1113/1118 ProACT pads and everything went smoothly. Once I finished I took it for a test drive to break them in but immediately upon leaving the driveway it felt like the E-brake was on. By the time I got to the end of the street I saw smoke coming from the rear wheels and pulled over. When I walked to the back of the car I saw the pads were engulfed in flames. I blew out the fire and let them cool down for about 25 minutes before making my way back to the house. Once I got home I noticed the reservoir was leaking brake fluid.

I've been trying to figure out why both rear calipers would lock shut like this. I wondered if it was a programming issue where the car wants to reset the caliper pressure back to where it was so I disconnected the battery and reconnected it. On this test drive the car felt amazing with no brake issues. Then I park, reset the windows and take it for another ride. Once again the car feels like the E-brake is on.

Any Ideas?

This is what they look like after about 1 mile

 

Somethings wrong pads shouldn't look like that after use, maybe something wrong with your calipers sticking closed and not reopening.

 

holy crap!

All I can think of is that there might be a kink in your brake line 'causing the piston to not retract after the brake pedal has been pressed.

Pull off your wheels and check everything thoroughly

 

the piston is fully retracted.

 

Are the caliper slide pins seized?

 

Rear calipers often stick

Check them by trying to bleed the fluid.

 

yup im pretty sure its seized pins. finally found a previous post that matched my issue


https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sus...ide-pin-2.html

 

This remind me back in the day when my rear caliper seized. same thing happen and i have to change the roors as well.

 

Did you remember to pump your breaks after you put the new pads in?

 

Funny, I had the EXACT same thing (minus the fire) happen to me on my new pads. Turns out that my calipers were seized thus causing a constant dragging on the rotor. Tossed back in the previous worn pads and immediately purchased some new OEM rear calipers. That fixed the issue.

My calipers were 100% seized on one side and 75% seized on the other. Instead of messing with rebuilding them, I just went with new calipers.

Good luck!

 

hmm... this sorta freaks me out 'cause I'll be changing my rear brake pads soon lol

 

is there a lot of rust on the calipers? toyota/lexus calipers are usually very robust and rarely seize from my experience. but i'm not in the rust belt area..

 

Zero rust. Now that I've been searching this seems to be a fairly common problem with this car.

 

The rust that seizes the caliper is not where you can see. Moisture seeps pass the factory slide pin seals and rusts from the inside.

One of these days I'll cut open the junk seized calipers I've held onto and show everyone that this is all about.

 

Seized rear caliper is common issue for our car.