Brake wear warning light came on today. Just curious if it throws a code hopefully specific to front or rear. I'd love to know which without having to jack it up and pull a wheel off...

 

Do not believe there's a code. If I had the warning, I could plug in the ABS reader to see, but I kind of doubt there's a code. It would make sense if there were. I've only seen that warning in pics online,




and it did not say front or rear, only , it shows up just like a/c filter and the other maintenance item reminders. I did not replace mine when doing brakes front or rear, as they had not tripped yet. From what I gather online, there is no reset, just replace the affected sensor. As you mention nice to know if front or rear. They seem to be $10 or so with Raybestos. Have them in basement unused...good luck.

 

If you're going to take the wheel off to inspect you're already 80% of the way there on replacing a sensor. I forgot to do the rear sensor when doing the rear pads, IIRC there is only one f/r on the passenger side. Just pop the wheel off and you'll see it slotted into the top of the pad. I pulled it out with needle nose and popped a Raybestos replacement from amazon in.

It does not say front or rear for the warning, nor a reset as mentioned above.

 

Yeah I'm not worried about doing the brake job but I have to establish which sensor, front or rear, so I can order the appropriate parts. It's still well over 100 degrees here in Phx I was hoping the car might tell me which it is...

 

I think it is just one generic brake sensor light on a single circuit. The actual sensors are just a simple wire loop embedded in a piece of plastic that is installed on the pad and physically as the pad wears through the rotor cuts through the sensor plastic and breaks the wire loop (and therefore circuit continuity) which then activates the brake sensor light. Cheap brake sensors can be found on the online. There is zero need to buy an expensive OEM brake sensor, instead buy the least expensive replacement brake sensor you can find that fits the LS430.

 

Many brake kits include the sensor. There is only one for front brakes, on the pass side, and 1 on the rear pass side. I would guess they figure if one brake wears down, you only need one warning as one most likely one will replace both left and right. I just replaced the front rotors and pads on my 2004. The rotor or both were warped. Kept getting the front shimmy braking when going downhill. The sensor was OK so I continued to reuse it and save the new one for later.

 

The Lexus original part # 47770-50050 is up to $139.62 list, pure insanity. To contrast, a genuine BMW OE front brake sensor is $31 list, with OEM (same part no BMW box) being about $15. To me it's all about the service department's business model as designed by the mfg. So yes, a $9 Raybestos for the LS430 is what the wise man uses. It performs the function flawlessly.

p.s. to illustrate compare OKI v. HP printers. the OKI may cost 80% more, but costs less to operate over the long term and is not disposable (HP toner is jacked way up--it's their business model--often exceeding the cost of the printer in as little as 2 cycles) Maybe Canon is a good example, very expensive but then maybe $0.0028/sheet to print

Many Lexus repair jobs at the dealer are substantially more expensive than say BMW or Mercedes, i.e. HP business model. My buddy's wife has one of those tiny NX's and got hit with a $900 service charge when the car was under 2 y.o. I saw a guy upset he had a $4100 charge on 4 y.o. GX and was told normal lol