Toolman_ar

My car is a 1999, LS 400 with 39,000 miles. While having new tires installed I asked the question, what do the brakes look like. The tire guy was nice enough to pull the right front tire and inspect the pads.

My question: The outter pad is not wearing correctly. The caliper looks to be a 4 piston set up. The outer brake pad is almost complety worn on the back half and new on the front half.

I could not find any records for maint. on the vehicle by contacting my local dealer. So I set up an apointment and had the 30K maint. performed. I specificaly requested the dealer to inspect the brake pad wear and the responce is... Normal wear.

My concern is the pad will begin to cut into the rotor if not replaced. There is no vibration or pulsation in the pedal or stearing wheel. Should I go back to the dealer and ask him to take another look at the pad? Should this be covered under the normal warentee? Or are breaks a normal wear item and I should just pop in some new pads?

Let me know your thoughts.

Toolman_ar

Losiho

Difficult to diagnose without seeing it, but I suggest it could be a sticking/dirty piston inside the brake caliper. I had the same problem in another car and had to have the piston boots and seals overhauled.

tenpointed

If you have a bad brake caliper causing the irregular wear, it would be covered under your new car warranty. That should also cover new brake pads and turning of the rotors since the problem was caused by a defect. I'd have another dealer look at it before doing anything else. If that dealer says it's normal, you'll have to have the rotors turned and have new brake pads installed. I wouldn't take any chances if that brake pad is that low.

bluestar

I also own a '99, but mine has 73K miles. Wish it was 39k miles tho'.....

I have had all scheduled services done to date, and each time the Lexus tech had proclaimed the brakes are wearing "normal". However, at my last oil change at 70k miles, the service advisor told me I have ~3 months of usage left on the front pads. I plan to have the pads replaced at the 75k mile service in a couple of months. The stock set of pads were replaced at 55k miles.

So what am I trying to say here ? That a '99 should go 55k miles before you should have to replace the pads, if the car is babied and not driving hard. Looks like a '99 with 39k miles is quite a "babied" car, so you do have to worry if the pads are not wearing normal. The 70k powertrain warranty may not cover the rotors, but you may want to check with another local Lexus dealership if they will diagnose it differently.

Good luck.

Toolman_ar

The dealership was very concerned with weather or not I was "VERY SATISFIED" with the service provided. I think I may talk to the Mechanic and not the Service Advisor. I once worked as a Mechanic and will be able to explain to him what the problem is and get a better responce.

As far as a second Lexus dealer in my area. I think there is only one in Birmingham, AL.

Losiho,
My explination was not that good. But, if you look at the brake pad, there are two halfs of the pad that contact the rotor. the front half of the pad is almost stock in thinkness. The other is almost gone. It would make since if the caliper is stuck and will not retract after the hydrolic pressure is released.

I have unitl 45,000 miles before the new car warranty runs out... so when i have time I will go back and see what they say. I figure they did the basic service and pushed the car out for the next project.

Another problem is water in my trunk around the spare tire. I asked them to look into this and the only coment was... send it to the body shop and have the rear deck lid inspected. They think the water is comming in between the seal and the trunk lid. I did a search hear and will inspect the sun roof drains.

thanks for your responces.

Toolman_ar