Before I purchased my Lexus I had a lemon of a Benz. Those wheels needed to be cleaned once a week. I am amazined at the amount *Lack there of* of brake dust the Lexus has. Are they made of a diff. alloy?

lexus brake pads usually are less dusty compared to euro

possibly the compound

True, but there is some difference in the composition of brake pad materials even within the Lexus family.

Based on very non-scientific visual observaions of the brake dust which I just did of our cars. They have not been washed in 2.5 weeks and been driven approximately three days per week and the about same mileage.

07 RX350 - dusty but very little
07 LS460L - dusty a bit more then RX
08 IS350 - very dusty
05 BMW 530i - extremely dusty
06 Mini Cooper S - extremely dusty

talk to dealership about your is350. they have TSIB to replace brake pads with less dusty ones without compromising much on braking

i did that on my gs350 already

The TSIB is BR002-06, see attached:

Thanks guys. Next week the IS is scheduled for 5000 miles service I will request it even though the TSIB calls for 07 and ours is 08.

i actually asked the dealership to look into the brake dust 'burning' smell every time i drove my LS hard....they said it was normal considering these are big brakes?....any advice would be appreciated on how to go about this...i've never encountered this smell when driving other cars (sports/luxury/normal)....

That sounds like BS to me. Sounds more like the caliper pistons have a buildup of gunk around the perimeter preventing complete retraction.

Drive the car for a couple miles without using the brakes and coast to a stop. Get out and see if the brake rotors feel hot. If so...the pads are dragging.

Whit

um....kinda hard not to drive without the brakes....reminds me of the time i lost my brakes with my infiniti and freaked out!.....will see if i can do try that though...

the smell is actually from the exhaust. i forgot what it was but its supposed to be "normal". they have some filter system the dealer can install to make the smell a bit less noticeable. do a search im sure you will find more information.

jesh

depends on dealership. mine just apply the tsib on my 08 regardless

The breaks should not smell, if they do, it will be like electrical wires very much like a clutch smell. but then something very serious wrong with the breaks if they smell, or very extreme use of the breaks.