sweetboy02

I'll book you a ticket to Boston to do this.??? Nice write up, wish I have enuff confident for this

afpj

In most cases, Vehicles like the Rx with DRUM type ebrakes in rear do not need the tool to push the piston back in. Vehicles that use the rear disks also as the e-brake, need the tool to turn the piston back in (instead of just pushing it).

felix168

Thanks for the info. I will make note of it.

felix168

Thanks. good information. but not entirely true I believe...



and on this video, I think it'd be better if he used that tool in conjunction with the old pad. also, be careful with those gloves there... they had grease on it already and he's touching the pads with them.

Dezoris

Its nice to see no drama here with electronic parking brakes, that you can do a quick swap and not having to rotate rear piston. I felt like the car was heavy under braking, did you run a different pad compound or stick to OEM?

ThChinaman

I went with OEM pads I got from Sewell.

acitydwelr

nice write up. I would add while having the calipers off, take a brake dust cleaner and wire brush to them to remove any debris that's caked on. Use antisieze on the lug threads as well.

Clutchless

Never put anti-seize or any grease on lug threads. It will interfere with obtaining a true torque reading on the wheel nuts. They will end up too tight and possibly stretch the lug bolts. The wheel lugs need to be clean and dry.

I would check and possibly grease the caliper slide pins with brake grease or syl-glyde.

You can get the caliper clamp from Harbor Freight for a good price, that is where I got mine. It has fittings for just about any vehicle.

ThChinaman

So… I just want to add some notes to this post in case others are doing this for the first time and runs into the same issue as I did. It was a different car so I did not take photos but the I thought the problems I ran into would help others avoid the same problem on the RX.

Yesterday I changed out the rear brakes and rotors on my LX. Didn’t measure pad thickness myself but dealer told me 1mm, and that the rotors are blue from overheating. Turns out those were 11mm and the minimum thickness for that is 16mm. When I was removing the rotor by screwing in two M8-1.25 x 50mm bolts simultaneously into the rotor to push it out, I had not aligned the parking brake shoe adjusting hole with the adjuster on the parking brake to release pressure on the rotor so there was a lot of friction preventing the rotor to come off and a spring clip of some sort to keep the parking brake in place had popped off inside. (Adjusting hole was at the bottom center for LX). I was unable to turn the hub so I decided to shift into neutral to rotate the wheel. The driver side rotor slid out relatively nicely without adjusting the parking brake but the passenger side was pretty stuck. I pressed on the brake pedal to move the shifter (caliper still unmounted and sitting on the side with nothing to press against) causing the caliper piston to pop out and spill brake fluid everywhere. After what felt like at least half an hour, I finally reseated the piston with the dust boot in place. Unfortunately, the caliper was pretty caked in brake dust and the caustic brake fluid cleaned it up really well so I now have a really dirty caliper, inside and out. No leaks from the boot as far as I could tell but I got the piston pretty dirty during the reinstallation process. I added brake fluid and bled the brakes a bit hoping it would remove air and dirt, but I’m going to drop off the car tomorrow at the dealer to flush brake fluid just in case as well as inspect the caliper for damage.

TL;DR: Make sure the parking brake shoe adjusting hole is aligned with the adjuster before removing rotor. If you need to shift to neutral to rotate wheel, make sure caliper is still mounted and pressing against the brake pads or else the piston will pop out. Use a long, flat screwdriver to spin adjustment gear.

You still want me to do it for you?

sweetboy02

Sure heheh. At least you will tell me I don't have the Shim parts

Poor me. I bought 4 break pads and 2 front rotors online, brought them to a local shop. Install 4 breaks and 2 rotors cost $350 (no shim installed, found out a week later and called the shop, the guys said my parts didn't have the shims so they installed without the shim)

Now everytime I back up the car (break when drive up is fine), the breaks squeez like an emergency car coming.

Lexus estimate $1000 installed for 2 rotors, machine 2 backs and 4 breaks installed
I brought to local shop (350 (no machine back rotors)+250 parts. Save myself ~$300 but not worth it




Edit: Oh right b4 they installed the brakes, They asked me why don't I buy breaks from them, they do have stock OEM AKEBONO brakes and look at me like.... you are dead

Not blaming them but very suspicious and coincident , after I installed the break, the my AC compressor died the next day when I turned on (fans on no AC)and It cost me $2600 to replace a week later.

Lesson learn, no more Local shop

ThChinaman

I'm surprised the shop didn't reuse the old shims. They should've been perfectly fine. Is the shop going to install the shims for you? Hopefully you get that sorted out. I feel like it should be their fault. IIRC the shims were not too expensive.

$1000 seems a bit steep for rear brakes and rotors. Dealer over here estimated $800 before tax.

Akebono does seem to be the OE brand. The part number written on the pads were AK PAxxx. I forgot what the numbers were but they did not match the pads that said were for my car on their online parts catalog. When I checked the price for those pads on Amazon they were more expensive than the ones I got from Sewell a while back.

The AC issue does seem like a coincidence, I don't see how that could have been damaged. Never know what they would do to cars I suppose.

Clutchless

Back in the 90s I took a Honda in for the 30,000 mile service from a highly rated independent Honda shop and the A/C stopped blowing cold air a day later. I took it back and they said I needed a new compressor. My spidey sense was tingling and I took it to another local shop well known for honesty. It turned out the first place had tampered with the charge connector by removing a piece under the cap so all the refrigerant leaked out!

sweetboy02

$1000 quote is installed 2 front rotors. machine 2 back rotors and installed all 4 brakes

So it's ok to have brakes with out the Shims??? Beside the loud squeeze sounds when backup. I notice no different. No I don't want to bring the car back to that shop

Clutchless

They already have disposed of your old shims. You would have to order new ones, I bet Rock Auto has them. Maybe you could find another shop using the Cartalk radio show mechanics finder database which has good mechanics recommended by their listeners.

3894days

How long did it take you?? and what was cost for parts?