You Sir are 10000% right x's 10!!! The thing is I just don't understand why they keep saying, just get the Lexus update pads and hardware???? Which still squeaks and pay 5 x's the price? Then come on every thread and recommend get the Update OEM. Wash, rinse, repeat, squeal, squeak, make noise. We are wasting our time just trying to help with this.

So....... interesting upgrade you have? I like Performance upgrades. What did it take to do the ISF rear upgrade? Did you have to have a new mount machined? Can you share this? Do you have a pic? Thanks!!!

 

I feel like me and @jgscott have concluded that squealing has nothing to do with pads or rotors. It's an issue with lack of OEM shim kit or lack of greasing. The squealing sound comes from the caliper hitting the back of the shim w/o grease or the pad if not using a shim kit.

I replaced my brakes two months, all OEM (1 Piece rotors and TSB pads and shim kit) I had squealing at first until I greased the shims. After I went back and applied grease on back of shims squeal is gone (or very faint).

You can any use pad/rotor combo you like, just use OEM shim kit and grease! Use the Lexus grease if you can or any other viable one. Don't use anti seize.

We need a write-up about this and to sticky it!

 

Ahhh yes another Excellent help post, if only.......

You hit the nail on the Head and on the Brakes. Ahhhh well said, as I think I get a little too frustrated in my post sometimes. Thank for cleaning me up some.

It just makes me Sad to see so many go spend $800 plus on front Brakes (that still squeak), when like we laughed about..... all you need to do is. 1, 2, 3. Another inexpensive but under the radar well kept secret is the Auto Zone Duralast Gold Rotors. They are very High Carbon excellent quality Rotors. But Do Not use their Pads, they Suck.

PS: Don't forget to also clean up ALL those Brake parts, (dust, metal, grit, grime, ceramic, asbestos), with a good Brake grease/lube before you reassemble all the metal to metal contact points!

 

No problem man. Will catch a few snaps on the car when it's light out again.. I powdered my calipers to match the roja red seats with black lettering. Here is the rundown.


Rears:

1. You will need to trim the dust shield for this to work.
2. You need this bracket for the rears and ISF rear rotors --> https://www.350phi.com/shop/product/...g-bracket-kit/
3. The kit comes with the bracket and all the bolts for the rear mounting to occur.
4. The guy has instructions on the website, but there is a template you print off and make the cut with that is idiot proof.
5. You basically lightly shave the hub with a dremmel and you must make a small notch on the backside of the rear calipers. The material you remove has no impact whatsoever on the caliper performance. When you see where it is you will understand exactly what I’m saying.
6. Banjo bolts and washers are the same, but I would buy new ones to prevent leaks from the old banjo bolt.

Fronts:

1. The fronts do not require any dust shield mods at all.
2. The fronts are direct bolt on and, if you are a base model or not, you have to use the larger FSport rotors to accommodate the big caliper.
3. Banjo bolts and washers are the same, but I would buy new ones to prevent leaks from the old banjo bolt.

Points of note

1. I used stoptech rotors on all corners, but you can get a really nice pair of Raybestos rears that are surprisingly good and cheap too. Coated with black hats as well. That shocked me.
2. Judging from my own setup on wheel clearance, you would have to have at least 19s to make this work.
3. Def put anti-seize on all caliper mount point bolts to the hubs. These are steel bolts bolting up to aluminum calipers with steel inserts and in the ISF forums you will see the **** people go through when they don’t do this and having to retap those caliper mount points during rotor changes. I did the anti-seize so def not expecting this to be a problem at all.
4. There are no Akebonos for this application. I am using R1 concept ceramics tbh and they are great. They were cheap as hell, excellent rubber coated shims in the kit, no dust, no noise and good bite. I was shocked at the quality. I am running one piece stop tech cross-drilled rotors on this setup. Remember rotors are ISF rears and GS FSport fronts.

Steps are

1. Don’t forget to release the parking brake!
2. Swap calipers and rotors,
3. pump pedal to get pressure up and bleed RR,LR, RF,LF in that order.
4. If you paint or powder those calipers, make sure you lightly sand off the banjo mount point so you get a good seal on the washer to caliper connection at the banjo fitting. Remember the washer goes in front and behind the brake hose fitting.
5. Don’t reuse the old banjos or washers.
6. The connection is: Banjo bolt-washer-brake hose end-washer-Caliper banjo mount point.
7. I used traditional copper washers rather than those thin OEM ones. I find the seal to be way better and; because they are a bit thicker, they reduce the risk of over torquing.
8. The torque on that banjo bolt is 29ft/lbs so you def can do some dumb **** if you don’t have a good torque wrench or a real feel for it.

 

Wow, now that's a high tech performance upgrade mod. That Mod is really not to hard too do at all. Love how you Powered coated those, they look like a professional finishes.

The GS Brakes are already very good stock, I bet those you changed will shave off some speed extra quick. So also +1 on the Raybestos brake stuff, another under the radar great cost option too. R1 concept good stuff too. This is def saved and on my bucket list to do for sure. Thanks!

That I think about it, I lurk in the Lexus different F car forums sometimes. I see the same as here what to brake rotor pad post there. And like here over and over the post say only the Lexus Brand rotors or just one pad fits and works. Those are also some crazy high prices they are paying for just like pads only in particular the GS F Forum. If and when you get a chance, post up that nice Red/Red Brake/Interior match. NICE!!! Thanks!!

 

There are owners who have had good results with Akebono and other pads. They are not me.
I had a really good shop do my front brakes because I had recent surgery; I generally do all the service on my cars.
They used Textar pads; Textar is the OEM supplier for the GS350 F Sport. Great bite! They installed high quality rotors as well.

Well, they squeaked after about a month. So I took 'em apart, cleaned and lubed them. I know how to perform a quality brake service.
All good. Then the squeal came back. Bought the TSB shims from Lexus. All good; nice and quiet. Then the squeal came back.
Bought the TSB pads ($96 I recall), cleaned, lubed and reinstalled everything.

The bite is not as good as the Textars, for sure. But still really good. Squeal gone, but once bitten twice shy, as they say.
After sometime, I get a minor squeal 1st thing in the morning, could be mositure, dunno. It is gone halfway down the block.

In my case, quality non-OEM rotors are fine. TSB pads and shims did the trick. FYI, the TSB paperwork does not mention rotors.
YRMV... Good luck!

 

What lube/brake grease did you use? That may be the issue here.

 

Yes the type of lube makes a big difference. Brakes get super Hot.

Also some pads you now go to a Lexus dealers parts are actually Akebono pads themselves for the GS. Akebono has actually been a big supplier for Toy/Lex from years and years and years now.

 

Thanks man. Absolutely the stock brakes are great, but I just wanted to do this upgrade from the time I purchased the car so I had to get busy. Yes, those F forum folks are paying $300+ just for pads. That is crazy. I literally ordered replacement pads today just to have on hand. R1 ISF Ceramic pads...The front and rears were $71 shipped. I kid you not. I could show my receipt to prove it. I will def throw up a couple pics.

 

I also had a minor surgery on my elbow. It has prevented me from doing my own work temporarily while the arm rehabs. I also have been using my Toyota dealer to do small things for me.

 

Just wanna thank you guys so much for all the experiences with F-Sport front brakes. I also wanna apologize for my lack of research before the brake job and posting a thread on a well-known topic. I will be switching to TSB pads and shim and grease them up nicely!

 

No I believe you about the $71, as I said before even about our GS350, paying all that money for Rotors and Pads is crazy too. lol!

I have seen as much as $400 they have paid for pads on the GS F. I was like wtf?

I have one better for you. A few months ago I looked on Amazon and saw this. I bought 8. 2 for each wheel. lol! I think they had a price error. They did deliver them.

​​​​​​​We should start a - "How to save lots of money and get better quality brake parts and brakes thread."

 

Nah glad you did. At lease I heard some others different experience so I dont still look like the only idiot not spending all that money on the stock Lexus stuff. lol!

Your post was not the 1st in 10 years, nor I'm sure will Not be the last. That what we are all here for to help right! Let us know how it goes after a few days. I think the TBS really should have been a Brake Grease Lube and Lube instructions. That is 99% of the noise problem.

PS: Get some brake parts cleaner and clean and make sure the brake grease goes on clean surfaces and at ALL the metal to metal places. Stay away from $300 plus Brake pads. lol!

 

Doubt the grease was an issue. It sure worked with the TSB pads... This is very good stuff.

 

@jgscott I have a question about the Akebono pads on the GS. I have a non F Sport GS 350. I've used Akebono pads on all my cars for years so I'm very familiar with them. Since they come with shims, is it still recommended to use the TSB Lexus shims? If so, do you install the TSB shims over the Akebono shims or remove the Akebono shims first?