What I am going to demonstrate is what my cousin Rodrigo and I did yesterday afternoon in replacing the front and rear brake pads.

For this, you will need:

1. 13/16ths Lug wrench or Pneumatic Air gun with 13/16ths adapater (should be pretty standard) (optional)
2. 14 mm wrench
3. 12 mm wrench
4. C-Clamp or Piston Compression Tool (this is the real key piece), the compression tool is often called a brake pad spreader
5. The brake pads (I am using Akebono ProACT pads)
6. You will also need to use a tire jack or another device to lift up the front and rear of the vehicle.

There is another part which is the brake fluid flush, however the best method I have ever seen is this one, https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=185967 performed by TunedRX300 and that is the one you want to follow. I plan to do this one myself, but I have decided to wait until I can get some decently priced high quality brake fluid, ATE SuperBlue, brought down here. I was going to go with Castrol GT LMA fluid, which has very little contamination, but could not find that stuff either.

TunedRX300 recommended these pads and where to buy them to me and I am very happy with them after the first day. Not only was I happy to see pads themselves, but I also noticed they came with the anti-squeal shims seen on the back of the respective pads, something I did not get with the Toyota OEM pads (and at a cheaper price at rockauto.com).

Also please note: there is a separate thread regarding the lubrication of the brake pins and bushings here that goes hand in hand with this DIY, https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...ust-boots.html

 

The wheel will come off with a 13/16th lugwrench or adapter with a pneumatic air gun as shown.

 

After removing the wheel, you will see first in this case on the front wheel well, the following.

 

To remove the caliper itself to get at the pads, the bolts on the top and bottom of the caliper will require using a 14 mm wrench as shown. The other bolt is just where the top of the my cousin's arm meets the top of the photo.

 

If the brake pads are cool, you can remove them by hand as such or if not, use a flathead screwdriver.

 

In my haste, I actually forgot to take a picture of us putting in the new front pads, but as this picture shows when we were removing the old pads (notice the wear), you will actually see it is pretty easy to pull the old pads out and fit the new pads in. There is no difference in size of the pads whether you have AWD or FWD, that also goes for the rear pads.

 

Keep in mind that unlike the rear pads (we will see), it does not matter which of the 2 of the front pads go on either side of the rotor.

However, the major PITA of this entire project is none other than the piston.

Notice in the yellow oval how the piston is extended. The goal is to push this piston back into place so that the caliper can fit back over the pads.

This is why one needs either a c-clamp or piston compression tool as shown.

Note: If you are having trouble compressing...try removing the cap of the brake fluid reservoir in the engine compartment and putting some paper towel around the area. The other option is to carefully unscrew a tad the brake bleeder screw (some fluid will drip) and attach a hose on to the brake bleeder screw to receptacle. Then monitor the fluid level on top, but do not add any unless extremely low as the remainder of the brakes will adjust the level according as to the final level of the fluid and then you can see where you are at, though likely you will be at very high level, and that will get adjusted when you push on the pedal at the end of completing the brake pad change out for all 4 wheels.

 

However, we need one more piece. Taking an old front brake pad we just removed, we put this in the position shown as below and turn the **** on the compression tool until the piston is fully compressed. You can also take a c-clamp and put one end on top of the brake pad and the other end of the clamp on the back side of the metal area behind the piston.

 

This should be the position of the piston after compression

 

See this thread with regard to lubrication of the sliding pins first,
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...ust-boots.html

Then place the caliper back into position as shown.

 

Put the bolts back in and tighten but not too much (that means no more than a 1/4 turn after it is fully screwed in and tight). The torque listed in the manual is 34 n.m (350 kfg.cm, 25 ft.lbf).

 

Now on to the rear pads, which will be somewhat different from the fronts. After removing the tire, you will see this. On FWD (mine is an AWD), there is a slight difference. Just behind where the yellow oval is there is a flexible hose and a bolt holding it to the shock absorber. I actually do not exactly from the manual see what the purpose of this or why it matters.

 

There is actually only one bolt that needs to be removed and this 12 mm one right here.

 

Or as shown in this picture.

 

The caliper itself lifts up life the canopy on a jet figther.

You might see it on the old pads that are there, but one of the rear pads has a hook (pad wear indicator plate). This particular pad will go on the inside as shown, because the inside pads will wear down quicker than the outsides (more heat and less cooling on the inside ones) and the pad wear indicator plate will cause a squeal to be heard when the inside pads get worn down too much.