I bought a Lexus IS 200t f sport 2016 model, on lease in 2017. I've driven about 13k miles till now, and while doing my car service, I got to know that I need to replace my front pads and resurface motors. The current performance of the brakes is 3 as supposed to 10 of a new car. I felt this is weird since, brake pads are changed after 25000 miles. Is this normal. Also I'm not a rash driver, in fact I haven't driven my car less than expected.

 

These cars require front brakes every 25-30K miles. They are sport brakes that bite hard, so they wear fast.

I don't recommend resurfacing rotors. Just replace them.

Rears last about 50K miles. I was shocked to learn how fast the fronts wear, but you gotta pay to play, these are high-performing luxury cars and I like their bite since it inspires confidence. The info given to you about your worn brakes is correct. It is very easy to replace yourself if you have DIY experience.

 

F-Sport brakes last 10-15k. I had F Sport pads for the last 50k miles but recently switched to Akebono ASPs. Feel the same but hoping I get better mileage out of them.

 

When do people usually replace rotors? So resurfacing rotors is not as good as buying new ones? I thought it is cheaper to resurface the rotors.

 

Resurface is fine. Whenever you change pads, just resurface. Probably around 40k miles is when I replaced rotors. This is for the fronts. The rears seem to last forever.

 

Replace it with the blue pads from Lexus, less dust and last twice as long, but wont have as much initial bite. I have blues and prefer them

 

got my car with 30k. Had rotors resurfaced and new pads put on at 37.5k

 

You should check the rotor thickness before resurfacing. I got mine resurfaced at about 14k miles if I recall correctly. Still going at 24k miles now.

I also have the F Sport pads, still going on those as well. I think how long they last is really all down to your driving conditions. I don't see a lot of traffic and don't drive the car hard (often).

 

every 15k. The professional high friction pads on the F Sport (Made in Germany) eat away quickly, and eat away at the rotors. You're allowed, per factory, 1mm of wear on each side. which is about what you have at 15k due to the aggressive pads. which means its time to change.

otherwise you wear too thin and can get thermal cracking and all sorts of problems. replace both as a set at every 15k to be safe.

 

Agreed. You can re-surface if you don't want to spend the up front money, but chances are, halfway into your second set of pads, the rotors may start warping. My personal preference is always do rotors with pads. If you don't go OEM or don't need something fancy, aftermarket options can be had for a bit less in price.

 

Anyone have a good link for OEM pads and rotors?

 

I was pretty sure rotors were good until they are too thin which I would assume is in excess of 100k? If your rotors are warping then they are more likely getting too hot from your driving habits (high speed breaking).

 

I thought this seemed suspect as well, so I discussed this with a coworker today, and he said "I thought rotors were just one of those things that didn't go bad. At least not until your car is pretty old." Later he said "If I needed new rotors at 30,000 miles I wouldn't buy another Lexus."

I could see the pads wearing down quickly, not the rotors.

Even then, the assertion that you should just do the pads every 15k is silly, when you can just inspect the thickness yourself and see whether they are ready to replace or not.

 

The Lexus IS is supposed to get a maintenance inspection every 5k miles. I would be checking brake pads, tires, and air filters (among other things).

Don't just change brake pads because of mileage .. they are good until they're warn out. I'm assuming they meant they expect them to be warn at 15k.

 

Yes. Naturally you can just take a look whenever you do the regular maintenance.. I'd say if you're at 15k on your current set, then you'd definitely want to take a look at them. Though I'd be surprised if you need new ones unless you are doing some pretty hard driving.