GoodRevs

My father just got back and mentioned to me an issue that just came up while he was driving his '03 ES that has 110k. He was getting on the offramp from the highway, going from perhaps 60 to 30mph and he said it felt like the front brakes were pulsating. Not hard breaking, but typical slowing down to exit a highway. Also, it only occurs when at higher speeds (highway) not city driving such as slowing down from 30 to 10mph. He suspects brake pads are starting to go but I thought to ask here before we bring it into Lexus in the next week or two.

zajac

iTrader: (1)

Rotors. They either need to be cut or replaced. eBay has plenty of oem spec rotors.

mikeli689

Yeah, definitely rotors. Don't take it to the dealership to get them replaced/cut either cause they'll charge you up the ***. There's a diy somewhere on this forum. You'll save yourself hundreds of bucks by diy. Good luck!

ASG14

iTrader: (1)

^ By Hundreds, I think you mean like $500. :-P

DIY job.

GoodRevs

Thanks for the replies guys. I think we're gonna bring it into Lexus for this being it's my fathers car and I don't think I'd be comfortable working on breaks. Thank you for the replies.

mkeeney

Brakes are not rocket science and the brakes on a Lexus are no different from any Toyota or any other car. Take it to a local independent shop - but NOT Just Brakes, Meineke, Midas, etc. At the Lexus dealer you will pay double.

mikeli689

Not sure about double...I just bought a set of the Hawk HKS brakes for like 50 bucks installed. So I guess about 10 times more than the stealership if we're going by ASG14's estimate

llcoolpass

wheels were overtorqued causing a warped rotor, probably at a ****ty tire/repair place, or your rotors and /or brake pads are out of specification, or your rotors have spots from being driving mostly city style which poorly breaks the rotors and pads in.
new rotors -- which means new pads.... and make sure grease the slide parts and caliper piston with synthetic brake grease. get new brake fluid [flush] DOT3 [not DOT4, and CERTAINLY not DOT5].

GoodRevs

My father had Cooper A/S installed this past January at Town Fair Tire on the '03 ES in question here. A month later I had Toyo Extenza A/S installed on the '01 ES. Is it possible that they made the nuts too tight on the '03, and that I should be looking out for the '01 (I've driven the '01 almost 3k since I had them installed and haven't noticed any issue yet).

We are bringing the '03 into Lexus this saturday. I'm thinking of perhaps telling them before they even touch the car to see if the wheels were overtorqued. Is there a way for them to determine if that is the case, perhaps by measuring the number of turns before the nuts come off or something along those lines?

mikeli689

Not sure about that method. However, if I were in your position, I would just loosen all the lug nuts and then retighten them with a torque wrench.

mooseboy84

I just want to add to this, its probably Rotors, but you may not have to buy new rotors.

Torque the wheels down to 76ft lbs will make it alot better. At most shops, they use an impact gun and torque the wheels down until it stops which could be 150+ftlbs or more easily.

Jack up the car so the wheels have just a little weight on them and wont spin. Loosen all the wheel lugs, then torque them down to 76 ftlbs. Do that before you go buy new rotors or take it to the dealer. Even if you dont do it yourself, you should be able to have alittle shop do it for you, for $20. It shouldnt take more than 15 mins.