beachfront

Lately I had noticed my front breaks were really grabbing at slow speeds so I stopped by Tustin Lexus to ask them about it.

4 hours later with all new break pads and new rotors I am out of there..?!?

I still dont know what happened but they replaced my front pads (with the new lower dust pads) and then I went to the Service Manager Steve to ask him what he thought the problem was in the first place.

Well,

He takes my ride (06' GS 430 w/ 10200 miles) around the block and is concerned with a noise from the back.

When its all said and done he mentioned my rotors were in terrible condition and he thought it would be best to refinish all of them... Specifially he mentioned the right side was much worse off than the left.

The car is running fine now and for some reason much quieter.

Wanted to share this experience to see if anyone had any explanations as well as give props to Steve at Tustin Lexus for his attention to detail and doing things 100% the right way.

___

mel's-gs

Had you noticed any noise coming from your brakes, or was it simply the low-speed grabbing that made you take it in?

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

In my experience Lexus makes some terrible brakes for these supposedly high end cars.

beachfront

no noise, just a grabbing sensation...

IE. you are slowly releasting the brakes at a red light and you can feel them catching a few times while your foot is still on the pedal.

The dealer drove the car slowly down the street w/ me in it and felt the problem but could not pinpoint it.

audimerc

Your rotors were warped that is why when going very slow they would feel like they were grabbing and that is why he machined the rotors.

ElitistK

iTrader: (4)

not at all. it's just the pads that they put up that dusts a lot.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Lexus makes some of the best brakes out there for stopping distance. The only thing is that the brake pedal may not feel as good and the pads tend to dust up quicker (not BMW-quick though).

As long as your car runs normal now, I guess that's all there is to it. You got it replaced under warranty anyways.

beachfront

Correct, but how can that happen on a car with 10k miles.

I drive fast but not hard, much of that is freeway...

Thanks.

sockfocks

iTrader: (1)

Improper torqueing of the wheels, riding the brakes causing the rotors to get super hot, thats about all i can come up with...since its a new car...

audimerc

Could be anything really. Ex. if you are on the freeway and going 55-65miles/hour and you brake hard because traffic has stopped then what happens is that the pads and rotors are really hot and are in constant contact which may cause the warpage. That is why I like hand brakes because in this situation where the fronts become really hot you could use hand brake to release the heat from the front rotors.
Another example is if you live where the nights are cold and then you drive hard then the same happens because of the quick cold and heat cycle which can also cause the warping.
Could also be wrong torquing of the wheels as mentioned but more likely due to hard driving and at freeways speeds when you brake the rotors become much hotter than actually at city speeds.

beachfront

Well I did have my tires rotated about 200 miles ago...

In adddition I own another home in the mountains and have been going up to Big Bear for the last 2 weekends

But...

My previous car (99 GS 300) was up and down the mountains all year round and the tires were bought and rotated at the same exact store and never had an issue at all.

Might have just been some bad luck...

Warranty covered it so no big deal..

Thanks for the info regardless.

flipside909

It's funny. Many manufacturers engineer good stopping brakes but people complain about how dusty they get or how loud they squeal after a while. I'm one to drive a lot of miles on my cars, both Toyota and Lexus. Considering the mileage and wear longevity I get on oem Toyota brakes, they are by far superior to any aftermarket setup. You can't really have both quietness and stopping power, but Toyota has done a great job of engineering the pads for both. As far as i'm concerned, if the brakes give off more dust than most, the brake pads, the better as they are doing their job by stopping the car. Less brake dust usually means a less agressive compound and longer stopping distances.

Brembo, Stop Tech, Rotora, Wildwood and other big brake kits out theere are horrendous for both noise and brake dusting due to either the slotted/cross drilled surfaces that the pads abrade to. The tradeoff is they stop the car well.