I've searched and searched on this forum, but I can't seem to find directions for replacing a front brake caliper. I plan to replace one for my daughter; she lives out of town and I'm going there to fix things. It sounds like one caliper is stuck, causing the wheel to heat up. I've looked in my Haynes manual, and the process looks pretty straightforward, but you guys always have helpful tips and advice. Is there a link I'm missing?

 

Check the DIY on replacing front pads. You may have to remove the pivot bolt as the hang is likely due ti the floating piece dragging on the two long slider bolts (one of them is the pivot bolt and the other is the one you fully remove to flip the floating part of caliper. Other reason of pads not returning is the brake fluid not flowing freely.

If you must:
The calipers are held by 2 short bolts. Use a six point box wrench. Put a wheel lug-bolt to hold the disc in place as it might fall off once you remove the caliper.

Inspect a day before to see if you would be needing boots etc. Purchase the high temp lube and noise reduction grease from autocrats store. Dealer price on this item is too outrageous.

Use vacuum [not blower] to clean and put on breathing mask/filter. Buy a can of brake cleaner too.

Salim

 

your caliper might be fine but slide pins in need of service , you can test it by unbolting your caliper and having someone depress your brake and watching the pistons come out. If the slider pins do not move freely here is a link with details of how to lubricate the slide pins. You can clean the pin bores with brake cleaner . A 3/8 bottle brush will help as well. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...11#post6808026

 

I thought I had a stuck caliper on my son's car that caused premature brake failure. I replaced it and the brakes wore out again quickly.
The problem was a bad brake line.

 

I'd consider replacing the connecting brake line while you're at it.

 

Thank you for the tips, everyone! I packed my trunk full of tools and went to do this on my daughter's car, two hours away. My local dealer suggested getting a caliper from an auto parts store rather than buying a Lexus part. He says that's what they use all the time, making the net cost about $65 rather than $400. He found me one online at NAPA, and I bought a Lexus seal kit in case that was all I needed. I soaked the bolt areas with WD-40 overnight, and I started by trying to loosen the 14mm slider bolts. Both bolts broke off inside the caliper, so that sort of dictated my next step. The caliper replacement was a snap other than the pads being squeezed so tightly against the rotor. Interestingly, the new banjo bolt holding the brake line in place had a 12mm head rather than the 14mm head on the original one. For now, I inserted the current brake pads in this caliper, put everything back together, bled a little (the brakes, not me), and everything was good. No more "hot wheel!" When it's not raining as it was today, I'll probably replace the left caliper along with the pads on both sides. I'm sure replacing the brake line would be wise, but I'd had just about enough of getting wet for today, and I just wanted to make her car driveable again for now.

 

glad you got your daughters car sorted out in the end. Th frozen slider bolts was the absolutely worst case scenario. Good thing reman calipers are available at a good price when things are beyond repair or time for effort.

For the next person who has slider pins that appear seized, here is one last method to try before resorting to remanufactured calipers. Skip to the 5 min mark to see the results happening (the video is like watching grass grow)

 

Are these NAPA remans OE or luck of the draw?

 

i can't speak for the NAPA calipers but my experience with the Autozone calipers, the brackets appeared identical including the slide pin hardware. They offered Japan built or USA re-manufactured for Lexus built in Japan and Canada. They appeared identical with a more expensive price tag on USA built and a yellow anodized finish on the slider pin hardware on the Japanese ones...I could not find a mechanical difference between each. Autozone's calipers offer a limited lifetime guarantee if you use the copper banjo bolt seals it comes with, instead of using the one piece Toyota OEM banjo bolt seal.

 

I'm not smart enough to tell if the NAPA ones are originally factory or not. The fit was absolutely perfect, and they look identical to the original (at least I think they're original) calipers.