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I bought some rotors and pads all around.... Before I dive into this, does anyone that have done this have any tips or suggestions please? I would like to bleed my brakes both front and rear. However, after researching through the forums and google, I still have not found anything for bleeding the rear calipers without the techstream program. I've seen it done 1 way without the tech stream. (1) Saw on Prius forums, through some sequence with brake pedal/shifter put the brakes in service mode.
Why do you want to bleed the brakes? If you insist on doing so, do it after the job is done at the local Toyota dealer. I was charged 79.99 and they use Techstream. IMHO, Techstream is a must to be sure it's done properly. Some others will disagree. But for 79.99 it's a moot point and not worth the hassle....and I'm a die-hard DIY'er.
I'll be following this thread with interest, as it's time for me to replace all my pads, rotors and hardware. I just haven't decided what brand etc I'll go with. Why did you go with different types and styles of rotors and pads?
Reason I want to bleed is because I got some high performance brake fluid laying around. If i Did bring it to dealership, Im afraid they might just put regular fluid and keep just keep my brake fluid for personal use. I would rather stand there and watch them if i had the chance.
Reason for having different brand rear pads is because EBC discontinued the pads for the rear. So I went with akebono, which is the same company who makes the G37 BBK. I used their pads before too, and they were pretty good.
Now questions with doing this brake job. Do I just simply just open the brake reservoir and press the pistons back in or is there special steps for changing the brakes on our vehicle? Battery disconnected too I'm assuming?
Be super careful and do not bleed brakes without IT2/techstream!
You can slowly compress pistons to replace the pads. Slowly.
Do it wrong and you will force the not-so-clean fluid thru the maze of valves in the abs unit, possibly damaging the seals.
I just did my fronts yesterday. Open brake fluid cap i bought a piston compressor off ebay cheap. Kept the pads in used piston press slowly pushed them back in. There is a screw hole on rotors use right size bolt and pop the rotors off easy.
Change all the hardware too. Took me a couple hours. I took my time and had to find a right size bolt to use.
I plan on doing the rears next week.
I had a local shop do the fluid too much can go wrong if you do it with out tech stream. I used ATE fluid in my LS400 when i could bleed those. I don't think its worth the cost for these cars.
Reason I want to bleed is because I got some high performance brake fluid laying around. If i Did bring it to dealership, Im afraid they might just put regular fluid and keep just keep my brake fluid for personal use. I would rather stand there and watch them if i had the chance.
Reason for having different brand rear pads is because EBC discontinued the pads for the rear. So I went with akebono, which is the same company who makes the G37 BBK. I used their pads before too, and they were pretty good.
I was referring to the different rotors as well. Just wondered.
When I push the pistons back, I use a large C clamp and empty a bit of the brake fluid from the reservoir with a turkey baster.
Good luck with the brake job!
Not sure if your aware but there are a few really informative brake threads in existence for the LS that are loaded with information.
Also, I understand it's your car, but be sure that the fluid you'd like to use will be okay for the LS.
I'm like everyone else, and only had my fluid changed out by the dealer. $120 and price of mind was fine for me.
The c-clamp and the removal of fluid from the basin as Chris indicated is great advice.
Very straight forward job.
The LS was my very first brake job and it went great, thanks to Chris and a few other people here.
Good luck and please report back with your post-job results!
So I finish my brake job... Now my concern is now i have a "Pad Wear" warning light. Does anyone if this light can be reseted?
I noticed that the last owner cut the pad wear sensor off the Driver side front. However, if i didn't have the warning light on before, why do I have it now.... My friend that worked on a porsche said the sensor for his went away after driving around a little.
My 07 only has 2 brake wear sensors. One on passenger side and since i have not done the rears i am guessing its on the passenger side too.
I bought 2 new ones one front and one back.
As long as the ones you saw got put back on right it should have been good. Thinks its best to replace with a new one and they are not that much money.
Roadfrog- rotors are both EBC. The updated production rotors all have this black coating on it, but its the same performance rotor. I just happened to be unfortunate and got one of the old stock. After I broke in the pads the coating was off anyways, and it was silver again.
I have a 2011, and it had 4 pad sensors, 1 on each wheel. I'm very confident I put back the sensors on correctly. Im not sure, but I believe that the last time it was at the Lexus Dealership, one of the tech cutting get it off. So they cut my Front driver side sensor right off. So..... for any toyota/lexus tech, is there away where you can bypass that sensor and clear the code? It seems like it was done on this car because I had no "pad wear" light prior to changing the pads.
Superdenso- I can take a pic tomorrow. From what I remember, the grommet can slide in only 1 way. Because I did it the wrong way before and it didn't fit. The clips were also put in the same way i took them out. That sensor wire is definitely cut off. I did the rears first and they both had sensors. So when I did first wheel in the front, I thought why doesn't the front have one? I fumbled around and finally located where they cut off the sensor. Then I confirmed that the front did have pad sensor when I did the other side. None of the rubbers protecting the wires were cut pierced.
I saw a video on youtube were a BMW owner just spliced and connected the sensor wires to make stop the warning.... I'm going to inspect the driverside that was cut and see if the previous owner/dealership did this. Its pretty awesome to have a pad sensor. But I religiously maintain my car, I can do without lol... So if that trick works I'm gonna try to do the bypass trick myself.
Superdenso- I can take a pic tomorrow. From what I remember, the grommet can slide in only 1 way. Because I did it the wrong way before and it didn't fit. The clips were also put in the same way i took them out. That sensor wire is definitely cut off. I did the rears first and they both had sensors. So when I did first wheel in the front, I thought why doesn't the front have one? I fumbled around and finally located where they cut off the sensor. Then I confirmed that the front did have pad sensor when I did the other side. None of the rubbers protecting the wires were cut pierced.
I saw a video on youtube were a BMW owner just spliced and connected the sensor wires to make stop the warning.... I'm going to inspect the driverside that was cut and see if the previous owner/dealership did this. Its pretty awesome to have a pad sensor. But I religiously maintain my car, I can do without lol... So if that trick works I'm gonna try to do the bypass trick myself.
A sensor costs less than $30 on amazon or tirerack. How about you take some pix and i'll take some pix and we'll get your car working like it was designed. Let me know
Superdenso- I didn't really have the time to take some pictures. Its been raining for the past couple days. However I had the chance to take a look into my car. I went and inspected all 4 of my brakes. I reconfirmed that I did do assemble all of the brake setup including my pad wear sensors to standard. As for the Driver side front that i suspected that the last dealership cut off..... It was definitely cut off and end result is that it was done by the "pad wear bypass." I took the electrical taped out and seen that both ends were twisted together to complete the circuit. Funny thing was, all I did after confirming was disconnect my battery and reconnected. The pad wear warning went away. I'm so happy the warning went away, we know how much that "!" annoys us lol.... After the next Pad change, iill spend that extra $30 to do it right.
As for my Brake set up goes..... The brake performance is a lot better. I'm not 100% sure, but i feel there is a little bit more noise from the rotors (slotted and dimpled) while driving on highway. It could be just me being paranoid. Once the radio is turned up a little, you don't even bother to notice. The initial brake in gives a lot of brake dust. From my past experience with the same EBC setup, you will still get mild brake dust from normal driving. I have never gotten the chance to brake hard with it, but one thing I can tell everyone is that this brake setup will not fade. You will get the same brake stoppage no matter how fast or how long you push it. I drove the crap out of my Acura RL, and it will stop when and where I needed to stop.
The pedal feels pretty good. I will probably hold off on the brake flush/bleed until i decide to do the Transmission flush. At 128k, Im not even sure if I should do at tranny flush.
10-08-16, 09:17 AM
Brake Install Any suggestions?
