I recently began hearing this "clinging" noise from my front left side and I suspect it's worn brake pads. Is this normal since I only have a little under 23k in milage?

 

if you drive rough yea, same here 23k and changed my brake pads and got it rotated, mine were completely gone tho

 

If you have been driving your car in SF... it is very likely that you will need new pads soon... considering that SF has so many steep roads.

 

My 23k is actually a decent mix of city and highway. And yes, I do live and drive in San Francisco with all these damn steep hills. I'm going to get it checked out by Toyota and see how uneven the wear is. If it's very uneven, I will go to Lexus and complain and hopefully get a free set. Otherwise, I'll just get them replaced.

Do you think Toyota will stock them? Or will I have to visit Lexus for these pads?

 

anywhere from 10k to 30k is normal for brake pads. really just depends.

"clinging" noise? worn pads usually just sound like a horrible scraping noise. quick look should tell u how much pad material u have left.

 

23k sounds just about right, cause i know some people who have changed their brake pads at around 25k.

 

If you haven't done the TSIB yet, and they're not so far gone the dealer thinks you're trying to scam em, you can get free front pads just be telling your dealer you have excessive front brake dust and you heard there's a service bulletin to fix the issue.

 

+1 darkdream, had a friend in Wheeling, WVA, and he needed new pads at 20k, very steep hills

 

23K sounds reasonable....

yes, get the TSIB for the front if you havent got them done.

 

i have about 28k and i still have plenty of brake pads left

 

I traded in my 350 at 59k and still had more than 50% pad left on the TSIB pads I had installed at 21k miles. It all depends on how you drive - one foot on the brake and one on the gas will kill pads very quickly. So will tailgating and not looking far enough down the road to anticipate speed changes so you don't have to brake hard.

 

You mean this?

TSIB L-BR002-06 (’06 –’07 GS430 & IS250/350 & ’07 GS350/450h): Excess Brake Dust Issue

But I don't see this for the '08s.

 

then you're looking at an old version of it, it was updated to include 08s around the time the 09 models came out.