Lots of brake pedal effort needed just to stop the car
#16
Lexus Test Driver
iTrader: (1)
UPDATE:
I got it checked out by the dealer and they say everything looks and functions like it should. No error codes and the brake system looks OK upon inspection.
In retrospect, the braking power isn't exactly non-existent. That was bit overstated on my part.
The brake pedal just feels stiff and had short pedal travel before bottoming out. Most braking scenarios feel like it requires more pedal action than otherwise needed on other cars.
Brake service was done (during CPO process) about 3000-4000 miles ago. I've only logged 3000 miles since owning it for 12 months.
Possibly residual surface rust on the rotors causing this brake pedal feeling?
Or brake rotors need to be bedded in properly?
I got it checked out by the dealer and they say everything looks and functions like it should. No error codes and the brake system looks OK upon inspection.
In retrospect, the braking power isn't exactly non-existent. That was bit overstated on my part.
The brake pedal just feels stiff and had short pedal travel before bottoming out. Most braking scenarios feel like it requires more pedal action than otherwise needed on other cars.
Brake service was done (during CPO process) about 3000-4000 miles ago. I've only logged 3000 miles since owning it for 12 months.
Possibly residual surface rust on the rotors causing this brake pedal feeling?
Or brake rotors need to be bedded in properly?
You should have to bottom out the brake pedal to stop the car. My 450h, it doesn't take much brake pedal movement to stop the car. If it's spongey or bottoms out too easily you might have some air in the brake lines. Could happen if they didn't bleed it properly after a brake fluid flush. My guess is that may be the case here. If you work on cars I'd bleed the brakes first otherwise take it to an independent shop or another Lexus dealer.
#17
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
You should have to bottom out the brake pedal to stop the car. My 450h, it doesn't take much brake pedal movement to stop the car. If it's spongey or bottoms out too easily you might have some air in the brake lines. Could happen if they didn't bleed it properly after a brake fluid flush. My guess is that may be the case here. If you work on cars I'd bleed the brakes first otherwise take it to an independent shop or another Lexus dealer.
#18
Lexus Test Driver
iTrader: (1)
Also air in the brake lines would not throw any codes.
#19
Lexus Test Driver
UPDATE:
I got it checked out by the dealer and they say everything looks and functions like it should. No error codes and the brake system looks OK upon inspection.
In retrospect, the braking power isn't exactly non-existent. That was bit overstated on my part.
The brake pedal just feels stiff and had short pedal travel before bottoming out. Most braking scenarios feel like it requires more pedal action than otherwise needed on other cars.
Brake service was done (during CPO process) about 3000-4000 miles ago. I've only logged 3000 miles since owning it for 12 months.
Possibly residual surface rust on the rotors causing this brake pedal feeling?
Or brake rotors need to be bedded in properly?
I got it checked out by the dealer and they say everything looks and functions like it should. No error codes and the brake system looks OK upon inspection.
In retrospect, the braking power isn't exactly non-existent. That was bit overstated on my part.
The brake pedal just feels stiff and had short pedal travel before bottoming out. Most braking scenarios feel like it requires more pedal action than otherwise needed on other cars.
Brake service was done (during CPO process) about 3000-4000 miles ago. I've only logged 3000 miles since owning it for 12 months.
Possibly residual surface rust on the rotors causing this brake pedal feeling?
Or brake rotors need to be bedded in properly?
One of you has to be as wrong, as wrong can possibly be! Which one is it?
#21
Lexus Test Driver
#22
Instructor
iTrader: (2)
You are suggesting that the Lexus technician that said; "everything looks and functions like it should" doesn't know what he's doing! There is either a problem with the OP's brakes, or there isn't a problem with his brakes. My money is that the OP's brakes do not have a problem, and the problem the OP has is a figment of his imagination.
#23
Lexus Test Driver
Very doubtful...considering he brought the car in specifically to have the brakes checked, and I feel sure he explained why he wanted the brakes checked.
#26
Lexus Test Driver
Last edited by bclexus; 05-29-19 at 04:49 PM.
#27
Instructor
iTrader: (2)
Gee-whiz - Don't y'all kinda think that maybe the trained Lexus technician thoroughly checked out the OP's brakes from A to Z when he declared them to be functioning as they should? Are y'all non-believers in what the expert said? I don't see the need, nor the benefit, in just continuing to throw out possible suggestions when a trained expert had eyes and hands on the OP's brakes and found absolutely nothing wrong with them. What am I missing here?
The following 3 users liked this post by swat1727:
#28
Lexus Test Driver
You are offering suggestions for someone that has already had an expert look into what the OP 'thought' was a problem with his brakes.
For you to continue to offer suggestions would be like someone going to an Emergency Room complaining about a pain in his side, and it was determined by qualified doctors that he had a ruptured appendix and needed to have his appendix removed, which was competently performed. Yet you [for some reason] continue to offer your suggestion by telling the person that maybe it was a food allergy even after the situation was already professionally diagnosed and dealt with.
For you to continue to offer suggestions would be like someone going to an Emergency Room complaining about a pain in his side, and it was determined by qualified doctors that he had a ruptured appendix and needed to have his appendix removed, which was competently performed. Yet you [for some reason] continue to offer your suggestion by telling the person that maybe it was a food allergy even after the situation was already professionally diagnosed and dealt with.
#30
Food for thought, but I bet many people don't know what a truly bottomed out pedal on a GS feels like.
If I leave my car parked for several days, and I get in it, when I hit the brake to start the car, the pedal barely moves, although I don't have to apply much pressure to get the car to start regardless. It truly is just about bottomed out. I presume this is just because there's some gradual relief of vacuum pressure in the system vs time or something. Upon starting the car, of course, the pedal goes back to "normal" and it will stay normal unless the car is parked again for several days.
-Mike
If I leave my car parked for several days, and I get in it, when I hit the brake to start the car, the pedal barely moves, although I don't have to apply much pressure to get the car to start regardless. It truly is just about bottomed out. I presume this is just because there's some gradual relief of vacuum pressure in the system vs time or something. Upon starting the car, of course, the pedal goes back to "normal" and it will stay normal unless the car is parked again for several days.
-Mike