razukchar

Need help buying 2004 Rx330 brakes, totally new to cars and Car ownership

Hello everyone,
I just bought a used 2004 Rx330 AWD base model. It has bad brake rotors and pads. It vibrates a lot when braking from above 30mph.
I took the car to local Firestone auto repair, they recommended to change the brake rotors and pads for all of the wheels.
This is my first ever car, and I have no idea where to find parts. I live in a pretty tight budget.

So it will be really helpful if someone can suggest me brake pads and rotors that will be cost effective and give me peace of mind.

Thanks a lot.
Any input helps.
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MattRX

To put it bluntly, avoid Firestone as they like to rip people off as seen from many posts in this forum. Visually inspect the rotors for scoring, heavy rust or deposits on the brake surface. If you don't see any of that, I would try and just lubricate the front sliding pins and see if the issue goes away. If it doesn't, then you may need pads & rotors by that point. I would highly recommend changing the front calipers, rotors and pads to the dual piston 3rd gen RX350 setup (standard equipment on 2010-2015 RX, 2008-2019 Highlander, 2011-2020 Sienna, 2015-2022 NX). Our cars are under-braked from the factory, and these 3rd gen parts provide better brake feel, life and generally do not cost any more to replace than the 2nd gen stuff.

For rotors, I like Centric Premium or OEM/Advics rotors (whatever I can get cheaper) and for pads Raybestos EHT. The EHTs despite having a GH friction rating have low dust, no noise and are very easy on rotors plus they have a great and easy to modulate bite. My next choice would be Akebono ProACT which are like more affordable OEM pads on steroids. I use Rockauto for my parts or eBay in the case of the brake calipers. Too many issues with reman parts so I'd rather have a good low mileage used part. In my case, the calipers were from a 2018 Sienna.

razukchar

Thank you for your interesting point on the calipers. But being totally new to this matters, I am sceptical whether it will fit my cars wheels ( my wheels are 17") . It's not that you don't know what you are suggesting but it's just I don't know if I will be able to find and order the parts that you are recommending.

Can you please recommend which calipers should I buy?
And also for these bigger calipers what rotors and pads will be best?
🙏🙏🙏
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MattRX

I run the same rotors and pads on all the cars in the “fleet”. 8th gen Civic, 2014 RX350 and 2014 Highlander, 2004 Camry. They all feel about the same except on the Civic where they feel even grabbier, but that’s probably because it is super light compared to the other cars I’ve used them on.

This front brake setup will fit the car without any modifications and will clear the factory 17” rims. Do a search and find the posts “Interesting RX brake info” and “Budget brake upgrade” for more info there are lots of good posts about it. The above cars I listed are all the ones that have them.

Buy low mileage front calipers used from eBay from 2011-2020 Sienna, that’s the cheapest way to get them. Reman calipers cost more and there is a chance they weren’t rebuilt correctly. I’ve had calipers come already locked up or with stripped banjo bolt threads.

Felix

[QUOTE=razukchar;11546892]Thank you for your interesting point on the calipers. But being totally new to this matters, I am sceptical whether it will fit my cars wheels ( my wheels are 17") . It's not that you don't know what you are suggesting but it's just I don't know if I will be able to find and order the parts that you are recommending.

Can you please recommend which calipers should I buy?
And also for these bigger calipers what rotors and pads will be best?
🙏🙏🙏
Hit up your local autoparts store & say you'd like a quote for a 2011 RX350 pads, rotors & a pair of reman calipers​​​​​​. They might ask you if its a Japanese built or Candian built, which either caliper will fit. This is a great cost effective brake upgrade. Just toss in your oem calipers in the boxes to get your core money back. This is a direct bolt on, also great time to replace your front brake hoses w/ a new pr & also flush out the old brake fluid w/ new dot 3 fluid.........I'd use a performance ceramic pads w/ a quality brake rotors......IDK what parts store you use......
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razukchar

Felix thanks for your recommendations. I tried local part stores like Oreillys and Autozone, but they were asking a lot of money. Later I went online at Rockauto and ordered R1 concepts front rotors and Raybestos brake pads. I fitted them from a local store about a month now, and they are working well.

Felix

That's great, but I see you stuck w/ the oem gen2 size vs the gen 3 upgrade......One look at the gen2 #1005 pads vs the gen3 #1324 pads as well, two piston calipers vs the oem single piston calipers will massively last a lot longer...The price difference between the pads/rotors are pretty much awash price wise. You'd only be out the cost of a pr of reman gen3 calipers, throw the oem gen2 calipers in the boxes to get your core $ back. Figure on getting a pr of 2011 rx pads/rotors from wherever you want as well as a pr of reman calipers. I like getting the reman calipers from a local autoparts store, as you'll get your core $ back w/o dealing w/ shipping. Just doing the gen3 upgrade on the front only does make a huge difference......