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A thousand thanks... I am a little tired of explaining to people that I don't need a brake job right now. Ha!
Yep. Many people kept saying I need new brakes. I supposed in a way, yes they're correct. But when I had them measure my rotors to confirm minimum thickness, there were plenty left. Not to mention, those Akebono pads i had on there were 2 months old.
I figured what the hell, $100 bucks for new pads & shims, plus $30 bucks to resurface. I did all the work myself, so I didn't break the bank on this. And if it works, then I found a $130 fix. If it doesn't, well.. I was ready to buy a whole new set of rotors and pads anyway.
I will say though, the key to this whole job being done at home quickly and easily, is having one of these:
Really wish this would be covered under CPO warranty. Sadly it says its only covered under basic warranty
Give it a try at your dealership. They replaced my front shock absorber last week at 71k miles under CPO warranty. But at least the parts are not outrageously priced.
I just realized something today. I vaguely remember the Lexus parts guy telling me that these pads may be LH & RH specific. There is a grove cutout on one side of the pad. Looking at the diagram, it looks like he may not be lying. I installed the pad with the wear indicator on the backside of the rotor (side not visible when installed). I'm going to check to make sure I've installed the right pad on the right side. I didn't even check to see if they were identical or the grooves were on different sides of the pad.
Does anyone know what the actual purpose of that groove is, or how it affects braking, noise, etc?
Still no squeak. It's been raining for 3 days straight here in Dallas/Fort Worth. I had a slight tiny squeak early in the morning. But went away within a minute.
After watching that video Peasodos posted, I saw that all the pads have the groove in the same position, so they couldn't possibly be LH/RH specific.
Just my Luck, I was in the same position as you, tired of the Akebano ProACT ceramic shreeeeek!!! I had them for 3-4 months and I installed some new OEM Pads about two weeks ago with the same shims you received. However, it looks like I got the old breaks (30491)… For the most part it is night and day difference. I hear the squeal once or twice in the cold on my morning commute, sometimes never. The important thing is that it’s nowhere near as noticeable as it was before and I honestly might only be hearing it because that all I have listed for while breaking, the last 4 months of my life. Also the Bite is much better, I feel like I kind of had to re-learn my brakes!
All in all I’m just seconding what kennyD has already told you. Switch back to OEM, deal with the dirty wheels and enjoy the quiet/better bite. You won’t regret the $80-$100 you spent.
Just my Luck, I was in the same position as you, tired of the Akebano ProACT ceramic shreeeeek!!! I had them for 3-4 months and I installed some new OEM Pads about two weeks ago with the same shims you received. However, it looks like I got the old breaks (30491)… For the most part it is night and day difference. I hear the squeal once or twice in the cold on my morning commute, sometimes never. The important thing is that it’s nowhere near as noticeable as it was before and I honestly might only be hearing it because that all I have listed for while breaking, the last 4 months of my life. Also the Bite is much better, I feel like I kind of had to re-learn my brakes!
All in all I’m just seconding what kennyD has already told you. Switch back to OEM, deal with the dirty wheels and enjoy the quiet/better bite. You won’t regret the $80-$100 you spent.
Side note, kennyD what were the zip ties for?
I was going to use them to suspend the calipers while I had the rotors off to get resurfaced. But I ended up using a couple of elastic ties instead, worked a lot better.
What's the difference do you all think between the Akebonos and the ones KennyD posted about per the recent TSB?
Since my rotors and brakes aren't that old, it shouldn't be necessary to have them resurfaced, correct?
Can I only get these brakes from Lexus? My mechanic will put them on for me at no charge.
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To sum up my brake/vehicle experience in case others had the same issue/parts:
Lexus dealer changed my two part rotors to one part rotors in summer of 2018 per a TSB. This service had nothing to do with brake squeal, but a grinding feeling in the brakes and floorboard.
The parts Lexus changed to were 43512-WY010 and 43516-WY-020 (rotors and pads along with some other accompanying parts). This is when the squealing started a lot.
Every time I took it to the Lexus dealer a new problem showed up so I stopped taking it to them.
October 2019 with pervasive squealing, my front rotors and brakes were changed out by my local mechanic. The rotor part (according to mechanic) is 43516-3061 but I can't find that anywhere. The brakes were changed out to Textar brakes.
Within a week the car continued to squeal like crazy cold or warm. Mechanic changed the Textars to OEM Akebonos ASP1118
As of this writing the squeal still persists so I am going to follow the info here.
Bedding (per a suggestion in another thread) at any point hasn't worked at all.
Where is step 2 from part C of the repair procedure? Do you have a picture of that? My current Akebonos aren't that old so it seems like I'd go to step two. yet it seems I should buy these brakes anyway.