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@kennyD is right, the new shims are twice as thick as the original shims albeit it only covers 1/3 of the brake pad where as the original cover the entire pad. There is some kind of rubber/metallic resin on the inside part of the new shim. I hope this thicker shim and redesigned pads and composition material will rid of my squeal forever. Kenny did you put "disc brake quiet' on inside of the shim? Or just on back side between caliper and shim only? I wonder if this new rubber material on inside of the shim negate the need to put anti-squeal lubricant all together.
New shim twice the thickness with new rubber material inside New shim only cover part of the pad
Regarding the LH and LR specific components. What came of that? Is that the case? Is that something a mechanic might miss and needs to be informed?
I've gone back and forth with this, and don't think they are LH/RH specific. If you lay out all the pads, they all have the same patterns in the same place . Which means Left and Right would have to be opposite. I installed the pad with the wear indicator on the inside face of the rotor. (Side that cant be seen when rotor is on the vehicle)
@kennyD is right, the new shims are twice as thick as the original shims albeit it only covers 1/3 of the brake pad where as the original cover the entire pad. There is some kind of rubber/metallic resin on the inside part of the new shim. I hope this thicker shim and redesigned pads and composition material will rid of my squeal forever. Kenny did you put "disc brake quiet' on inside of the shim? Or just on back side between caliper and shim only? I wonder if this new rubber material on inside of the shim negate the need to put anti-squeal lubricant all together.
I intentionally did NOT use any brake quieting methods (such as CRC, or BG Stop Squeal) on this set. I cleaned the backing pads on the new pads well with brake cleaner, they were quite dusty when I got them out of the box. I installed the shims and applied brake lubricant on the backside only, the side that makes contact with the caliper pistons. I lubed all the edges of the pads as well. I'm sure you already know to do this, but I also cleaned up and lubed all the contact points of the clip and retaining pin. I am convinced that the squeal from my brake was a result of the rotors being glazed, and the mismatch pad material. Ceramic pads just seemed to make it worse.
I did it this way on purpose so that I see if the pads will do its job without all the extra stuff. My opinion is that if my brakes are functioning correctly, I should NOT have to use BG Stop Squeal or CRC Brake Quiet at all, and normal lubrication at contact points should be adequate. It's been almost 2 weeks and so far so good.
Last edited by kennyD; 02-20-20 at 04:23 PM.
Reason: Added some notes.
Update:
919 miles since new pads were installed. Still No squeal.
The brake dust is pretty minimal. This is from 1 week of driving about 450 miles. It rained a couple of days ago so it's hard to gauge the true level of dust accumulated. But, the front had about the same amount of dust/dirt as the rear. So i can probably safely say the dusting is much less than original version pad. In case anyone was wondering, wheel cleaner i used is Sonax Wheel Cleaner Plus.
Last edited by kennyD; 02-22-20 at 12:51 PM.
Reason: Added detail
Kenny, I love you man! Just had my buddy swap out to these new pads. My brakes are super quiet, NO MORE SQUEALING!! Of course, it's too early to tell if it will last, I've only driven 7 miles back home. But man, it feels weird having quiet brakes again after a year of suffering thru those horrible squeals. I used to get so paranoid about braking, now I just brake firmly as I should be doing, not a sound. These new pads do seems to have a better initial bite..Will keep y'all updated as I put on more miles.
I have the squealing problem but mine is an AWD model. Anyone with AWD have any luck getting this covered by the dealer?
It may be worth a try to get some help from your Lexus dealer. It seems logical that whatever model GS 350 you may have (in your case the AWD), if your brakes squeal, try using the new front brake pad #04465-30540 Lexus has come out with to stop the brake squeal since all GS 350s regardless of model use the same brake pads. I don't know why you couldn't use the new pads...
Kenny, I love you man! Just had my buddy swap out to these new pads. My brakes are super quiet, NO MORE SQUEALING!! Of course, it's too early to tell if it will last, I've only driven 7 miles back home. But man, it feels weird having quiet brakes again after a year of suffering thru those horrible squeals. I used to get so paranoid about braking, now I just brake firmly as I should be doing, not a sound. These new pads do seems to have a better initial bite..Will keep y'all updated as I put on more miles.
Awesome bro. Hope that works out for you as well. And that caliper looks badass by the way.
UPDATE: drove the GS around Downtown Disney last night in light rain for about 35 miles. Front brakes had a tiny squeak (windows down), nothing as bad as before. It only happened once or twice at stoplight. It's 95% better than before with the ceramic pads. With the window roll-up, I hardly heard the squeak. I suspect the rain and low temperature had something to do with the squeak. If weather was warm, I doubt it would squeak.
Go up early this morning, pull car out of garage. Loud, long squeal like previous pads. As soon as I got to Stop sign a block away, NO SQUEAL at all. I did some 40-5mph runs to bed in the new pads. No squeals pulling into garage. Looking very promising. Will update more later...
I think KennyD may have saved us all. I was supposed to get my brakes on yesterday, but I couldn't get to my mechanic before he closed shop because I was getting tires and an alignment. Will have to wait 'til next weekend before I can report anything. Something I just happened to notice by the way - the squeal only happens with forward motion. In reverse I never get the squeal when braking.
02-20-20, 01:59 PM
