sjzack

At my last oil change the dealer told me I need front brakes. Being a DIY guy I thought I'd do the job. so I picked up some nice ceramic pads from my local parts store and went to do the job. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the old pads still had a quarter inch of wear left! The new ones have about a half inch of pad. So I figure the old ones are only about half used. But at my next oil change the dealer again insisted I need brakes. The texted me a picture showing how close the wear sensor was to the disc rotor. Once again I pulled the wheels for myself and noticed that while the pads were still at a quarter inch, the plastic housing of the wear sensor was, in fact, close to the rotor but the pads weren't even close to used up. Is this some kind of nefarious scheme by Lexus to get us to change our brakes more frequently? Is there any harm in letting the plastic cover of the wear sensor rub away until the embedded wires actually contact the rotor to close the circuit that will trigger a panel warning? Is the sensor expensive to replace? Anyone else come across this situation?

vancouverl

Yes the sensor is very expensive to replace do a search someone has discussed this

cmasten

Replacing pads is inexpensive (50.00) replacing rotors is not... I would error on the side of caution. The sensor is not inexpensive either if you allow it to wear down. If your rotors are in good shape, just query for brake job here for your LS and several of us have changed out our Pads, its pretty simple as the pads just slide into the caliper and is held in with springs.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...he-brakes.html

sjzack

Thanks guys. I did search this but I must not have used the right search criteria. In my case the rotor isn't in any danger yet. And I actually pulled the pads to verify their condition (to make sure there wasn't a rivet embedded in the pad). I used the excellent description I found on this site (that might have been yours, cmasten) to do the job. And I must say it was dead easy. Best design I've ever seen (apart from the goofy sensor situation). I checked the price of the sensor and learned it's even cheaper than the pads. So I think I'll let it ride a little longer before I install the pads. Just seems wasteful to replace them at half there useful life.

cmasten

the good thing about doing this yourself is your Empowered to know when and how you handle your maintenance, the dealers are not always in your favor, but I like knowing my situation when I go in, when they say you need this or that, I feel confident that I know better. I get the sense your in good shape too!

I always log in my service into the Lexus system and its interesting now how they read that log entry and then stop telling me this or that needs to be replaced. Ill leave the major repairs to them and take care of the 90% of the little stuff that adds up fast.

sjzack

Log in your service? Do you mean on this site? Or is there some dealer/manufacturer website where we can log service we perform?

cmasten

https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lex...on/register.do

On the lexus owners site you can monitor your services, your service history and make your own entries into their system

CJITTY

yup, i just updated my brake work done at my mechanic's spot..pretty cool feature!

dyeelitt

I have 35,000 miles on my 2008 LS460L with Touring package. The front pads are down to 2mm and so instead of paying the dealer $350 for the front brake job, i am going to do it myself. Any recommendations on whether or not I should turn the rotors? I am not experiencing any pulsing and the rotors and pads are not glazed. The dealer uses an on car rotor turner to turn the rotors. Thanks in advance.

JRBTN

IMHO, if you have no pulsing and the rotors are not significantly scored you are good to go.

marylandlp

This posting makes me wonder when to change replace the pads to avoid having to replace the sensor.The service manual states that the min.thickness of the pads should be no less than 1mm(about 1/25")but doesn't state that they should be replaced earlier to avoid activating the sensor.Does anyone know when the pads should be replaced to avoid replacing the sensor?

kho

I'm planning to do my own brake pads change out this weekend too. I ordered a set of Duralast Gold from Autozone as well.

Now, Do I need to bleed the brake just like most other auto out there?

I looked at the link on this thread, and it seems like I don't need any special tools at all for this brake pads job.

Thanks

kho

Anyone? Looking to change my Pads this weekend

edarte

No, no need to bleed brake system.

Just curious; Your profile shows you have an RX330. If that is the car you plan to do the brakes on, why not post in the RX forum?

randomwalk

no need to bleed brake...changing brake pads on the LS is stupidly simple.