I’m sure nothing is perfect from the factory.

Hit potholes every day where I live, no avoiding it, but 4 years later, zero plans for alignment, even tire wear, drives straight.

 

when the time comes I will use the 9 volt method.

 

I just had our 2017 RX350 serviced by our local Toyota dealer for an oil/filter change, tire rotation, and brake fluid service. Just as Lexus does, they also wrote down tire tread depth and brake lining thickness for all wheels. As our second car, we only have about 11,000 miles on it. But I was surprised to see that the front brake pads were at 8 mm, whereas the rears were at 6 mm. I assumed the fronts would wear more. Perhaps the front pads start out thicker? I always thought that new Lexus pads, both front and rear had about 12mm of pad material. I've also considered that the technician may have transposed the results. Anyone have any info on this?

 

In the old days it was fairly normal for the front pads to wear out first. But now with the computer controlling everything, you have to look at how the engineers program the braking process at the factory. I researched this about a year ago and it was very difficult finding a whole lot of information. My 2011 Altima needed rear brakes at 74 k milies and front ones at 94 k miles. There seems to be a tendency now to apply more pressure on the rear pads. Maybe someone else here has had this experience.

 

Figured I'd add some hopefully useful info for a rear disc brake job on a 2018 RX350 with AWD. My car was made in Japan vs the more commonly available RX's that were made in Canada. The issue with this car is that there are differences with the rear brakes on the Japan made vehicles. If I use an online parts site I get warnings like "Except Japan made vehicle". If I use a Lexus online site for replacement parts and enter my VIN it shows my car as a RX350L without AWD.

I spoke with a dealer parts counter rep and got the actual part numbers needed for the brake job. Here is the list of official Lexus parts :

2018 RX350 with AWD and "J" as the first letter of VIN
Rear Pads 04466-48160 $71.06
Rear Pad Shims 04946-48130 $40.69
Rear Pad H/W Kit 04948-48110 $26.23
Rear Rotor 41431-48090 $120.00

Crossing these numbers over to aftermarket parts can be difficult. I used Rock Auto and entered the Lexus part numbers and came up with the following :
Raybestos Rotor 982051FZN $36.89
Raybestos Pads w/HW kit EHT1879H $17.43

The Raybestos rotors are the E3 coated ones that have a rust protective coating. The Raybestos pads are their enhanced technology ceramic. The pads come with the shims installed and a full hardware kit with wear sensors. There are other pad kits available, just use the 1879 number to see other brands like Wagner OEX1879A, etc. Attached is the bill from Rock Auto that shows the total cost including FedEx shipping.



Below is a photo of the old rear pads with only 39,362 miles. Blame all that wear on the nasty NY winters and the road salt.



The actual pad and rotor replacement wasn't too bad. Just follow the info above to turn off the Auto Parking Brake and turn off the car without setting the Parking Brake. I used the +12V jumper method to retract the caliper piston along with a C-Clamp to force the piston back into the caliper.

Because of the road salt and rust, I used this file tool and a wire brush to clean-up the brackets before replacing the H/W guides. Photo below :



Figure about 1.5 hours of install time. I can't imagine what Lexus would charge but going by the full list price of Lexus parts shown above it wouldn't be cheap. I only have about 20 miles on the rear brakes so far but the pedal feels solid, the stops are smooth and the initial bite is excellent.

 

Wow, did this earlier today. I used the 9volt battery method. In the end everything works fine. But man trying to figure out which direction the piston was going and getting the caliper to retract was a pain. Between my caliper spreader which failed during the job and the c-clamp method, I had to connect and disconnect and squeeze several times and twist and squeeze and test fit several times to get it to fit over the new pads. I had a hose connected to the bleeder screw and had it just loose enough to allow fluid to squeeze out as I tried compressing the caliper, that didn’t seem to help very much.
After changing our 04 Lexus RX front and rear brakes several times, changed my old BMW Z4 brakes, and my 09 XB I felt pretty comfortable originally trying to tackle this job. I honestly don’t think I’ll be doing this again, using this method. If I had time I would have probably bought the o rings and tried the method of just removing the electric motor. But now I know and when the time comes it’s probably the method I’ll use next time.
On a side note, how many actually had the rotors turned? The original brake pad had about 2mm of pad on the when I did this change, so the rotors looked and felt in good shape, no scratches or deep groves in them, so I didn’t see the need for the rotors to be turned. But I’d like to hear other experiences. Thanks.

 

I'm not a fan of machining rotors. I just replace them.

 

I think they're making them just thick enough to survive 50K miles and not cause a warranty claim. LOL

 

There no more complaining about the 9v method. Clear as day which is + and - Did this last year as you can see from the date Had about 30k on the rotors and I just scoured them I did replace the front rotors. Next time I’ll change the rear that is if I still have the car come next brake job.

 

I found an easier method on youtube which involves putting your car in service mode. You don't need software or a scan tool.

 

This was covered earlier. You try this Mexican dance and then report back to us AFTER you have achieved success. My method works like a charm.

 

I only posted it because I did, in fact, achieve success. The particular video posted above isn't one I've seen before. There was a different video posted by another guy (the car care nut) that I could never get to work, but the video I posted today worked without issue at all. To each his own. That said, I have a 2021 now so all I can say with any certainty is that it works for 2021, and likely 2020. It may not work on older models.

 

Can someone provide me with rear brake pads and shims part number..

or would you guys recommend aftermarket pads

i have a 2018 Lexus rx350 f sport awd

thank you

 

Akebono brake pads have a high rating. When my pads are due, that's what I'm getting. I did the research, but that does not guarantee anything. Do your own research.

 

I thought those pads didn’t have as much bite as the OEM pads have. My front brakes were just replaced middle of September so luckily I only need to do the back