I've been fighting brake judder for several years on my LS. It's had 2 new sets of rotors, several sets of pads, its had brake skimming, alignment, balancing..basically everything.

I got to the point where I just wanted rid of the car because the brakes were getting so annoying. I looked around at Mercs, Audi's and even Bentley's - but nothing was so much better than the LS that it would make me want to chop it in and drop another £20k+ into a newer car.

Determined to fix the braking issue I purchased a new set of front hubs and a completely new braking kit made by PB Brakes.

The 'BBK' is probably a bit of an overstatement as the rotors are a similar size to OEM and the callipers are only slightly bigger (but are 6 piston). That said, they come in at an extremely good price (£1000) which considering you get callipers (in any color), brake lines, rotors(blank, drilled, slotted) and pads (racing or road) is a pretty good alternative to getting the OEM callipers rebuilt and buying the other parts.

I've had the kit on for a few weeks now and I can say that my early impressions are that:

- The initial bite is awesome.
- Slowing down is progressive all the way to a stop, with no sudden grabbing as the car gets close to 0mph.
- Despite going for the slotted rotors, I have yet to hear any noise with the windows down.
- No other squeak or clunking noises - which, considering the kit has none of the clips and shims that the OEM brakes do, is pretty impressive.

My brake judder is obviously also gone, but I would definitely attribute this to changing the hubs. I think after 150k miles the original ones must have become slightly warped or something.


Pic:

 

Glad to hear you got it worked out! Thanks for the write up and pictures!

 

Nice to read. Love the wheels. Enjoy the next 150k!

 

Very nice!

Kind of surprising the entire hub was off considering new rotors didn't fix it. When you put new rotors on, did it go away temporarily only to return later or was it there from the onset of new rotors?

Just curious, but did you ever "curb" your car or smash over some massive speed bump in its history?

 

With new rotors on the car the judder came back after only about 50-75 miles. It seemed to return as soon as the initial bedding in of the rotors had completed (the light crosshatching on the rotor surface wore away).

No curbing or worse during my ownership. I recently had my tires replaced and I watched as the garage balanced them. They didn't use very many weights on any of the wheels, so I don't think they can have a flat spot?

 

Interesting. That means something was just wrong with the entire hub. I wonder what caused that.

Thanks for sharing.

 

PB seems to be the real deal, and the best value BB kit on the adtermarket. Tons of choices, 4-8 piston, 12-17 inch rotor. color, etc.

Reasonable 8 piston kit with 14inch rotors only $1400 usd

I think my hubs are going too, 195k on my 07 gs450h, I can hear them slight wobble at highway speeds going up and down

 

any links to the kit you bought?

 

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The question remains what is the real cause for the "judder". In most cases, a quick run of brake linear value offset procedure with Techstream will fix the problem of rotor shaking (juddering). Before purchasing expensive raking brake parks, conduct a brake bleeding procedure by the book (i.e., bleed the brakes with Techstream per Toyota procedure), and in most cases the brakes will run smooth without shaking or jittering after the procedure. An easy solution to a seemingly complex (and sometimes expensive) problem.
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Can you explain further what you mean by this?

 

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When brake rotors and pads are relatively new or in fairly good shape, the feeling of rotor shaking or brake pulsation when the brake pedal is pressed, in most cases, is not due to warped rotors or weak brake pads or calipers. It is most likely caused by the irregular performance of the brake actuators. Running a brake linear valve offset procedure can most likely smooth out the brake system and cure the brake shaking and pulsation when the brake pedal is pressed. It is a few minutes' work with the Techstream. Regarding the actual procedure, see Step 7 onward from this posting: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-messages.html
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