Hi everyone,
This weekend i changed the brake pads on my 2010 LS with help from CL, thank you to all that have done write ups, I appreciate it. to those that are thinkng of doing it, GO for it! it took me about 30-45 min on the driver side as it was the first tiem i had done it ( and i was watching a your tube tutorial as well) and about 10 min on the passenger side.
I used Akebono brake pads and the the pads that i took out were very worn out ( about 15-20% left, if that). the problem i am seeing is that breaking doesn't seem to have improved much. the pedal does not feel as firm as i expected it to be. I did not replace my rotors as the dealer said they were fine and did not have to be resurfaced or replaced (as of December 2018). Is there a break in period or method to the pads or does it sound like i did something wrong?

 

short of resurfacing rotors, google bedding in procedure don’t know if I spelt that right, a brake bleed or flush could be good if never been done. I’m planning to have that done soon.

 

I don't think it's the pads (I also use Akebono). I would do a brake flush and see if that improves things.

 

I 2nd the response on doing a break fluid flush - It improved my breaks dramatically when I did one.

 

ok, seems like a break fluid flush is what my next step will be. thank you!

 

If you replaced pads and used worn rotors then you need to accomplish a brake bed in procedure. This step is omitted much of the time brake work is done but can solve a lot of issues (vibration, noise, feel etc..)

 

Brake flush will not change a thing, these folks have no idea what they are talking about!

 

They do not even know how to spell brake, good lord if you have never been a mechanic ****!

 

Regardless of how I spelled BRAKE - I had my BRAKES done, new rotors and pads. They still did not feel good and the mechanic suggested we do a BRAKE flush. I took his recommendation and did a flush. I could immediately tell a difference and the BRAKES have been great for the last 16,000 miles.

 

and what’s your expert advice

 

Bringing this dead thing back...

Just changing your old pads for comparable new ones won't necessarily change the feel of the brakes.

Bedding new pads correctly is critical no matter what.

Flushing your brake fluid will absolutely improve brake feel only if you had old and/or dirty fluid.
New fluid does't compress as much and provides a firm and responsive pedal.
Old fluid with dirt, air and moisture in it compresses more and gives you a softer pedal with more travel.

 

My brakes were grabby and had inconsistent pedal feel. I had two issues that completely fixed it: first was the brake actuator. This started going, I got all the lights, etc.. covered under warranty. That fixed about 50% of the grabbing feel. I had a bit of a vibration under light braking so I had the rotors resurfaced. This made the brakes like new. I was amazed how the grabbing completely went away with the resurfacing. My advice to you, have the rotors resurfaced and change the brake fluid (this is good as a maintenance practice in any case if it’s been a while). The brake actuator is another animal. Lots of threads on that here.

 

I wouldn't even resurface the rotors, I would just replace them altogether. Better quality aftermarket rotors are only $40 each or so. Not worth resurfacing them.

 

Exactly.

And bedding in the brakes is very crucial whenever replacing rotors or pads.

 

Good call, at $40 per rotor, just replace them.