coldwiz

Anybody ever have an issue with the brakes making noise intermittantly while braking? There isn't really a certain condition when it occurs but I would say it is lighter braking conditions mostly. You can apply more pedal pressure and sometimes less to get it to quit. It is a squeal type noise.

It sounds like it is coming from the rear brakes so I inspected the pads (wheels off but calipers still on) over the weekend. They look ok but there seems to be more wear than I would expect on a 34000 mile vehicle, especially the rear.

I am trying to decide if I am going to pull them off, clean them up, and apply some grease to the shims this weekend or just take it to the dealer. I believe it is still under factory warranty but hate messing with dealers. I need to get the front tires off and inspect the front brakes soon too. I guess it is possible the noise could be coming from up there.

brickauto

Best bet is to stick a set of fresh ceramic pads in there, I had all the pads in my GX switched to Akebono Pro-ACT Ceramics and they brake smooth and silently.

The G Man

If your GX have 34000 mile on it and you havent change the pads yet, chances are its your brake pad wear indicator making that noise.

coldwiz

I didn't measure the depth of the groove in the pads but there appeared to be 1/8 or so. I wouldn't expect the rears to wear out that fast. So most are only getting 30,000 to 40,000 out of the rear pads?

I didn't think it was the wear indicator due to the random nature.

JimsGX

On my previous 04' GX I got an occasional brake squeal. Probably around the same mileage as you at the time. Brought back to the dealer and they cleaned the rotors and pads with Brake Clean or something similar and the noise didn't return. I also remember their being a TSB for the 04' for the brake system but it was related to brake feel. At times, the brake pedal would go down further after coming to a stop if you continued to apply pressure to the pedal. This was fixed by installation of a shim kit on the front brakes, that was the TSB.

Just got a new 08' GX myself. Went from an 04' GX a year ago to an RX400h. After a year of comparing the RX400h to the GX, I decided I couldn't live without the GX regardless of the decreased gas mileage. I regretted getting rid of the GX from day one.

Jim

coldwiz

Thanks for the info Jim. I really think that if I pull the pads out and clean everything up it will take care of my noise problem. But the local dealer has new pads in stock and said they would sell them to me for $60 so I think I am just going to change them out this weekend.

And congrats your new GX. We considered a new V6 RAV4 and a new Highlander due to the gas prices but I'm we made the decision we did. I was able to convince myself that the difference in depreciation over the next 7 years would pay for the extra gas. I have a friend that likes to say you can talk yourself into anything though...

coldwiz

I changed the front pads Thursday night and the rear pads yesterday and so far my braking noise is gone. I only heard the noise one time after changing the fronts but it has been very wet here lately. The pads still had another 5 - 10k in them but I won't have to worry about them now and hopefully the noise will stay gone. The shims look like they have seen better days so they will get replaced next time I do brakes.

The pads I got from my local Lexus dealer were the exact same pads that expat from toyota120.com used on his 4Runner. A quick check on the net for 4th gen 4Runner pads turned up a price of $46.32 vs. the $61 I paid at the dealer. Next time I will buy 4Runner pads or I may try a more performance oriented pad from EBC, Hawk, etc.

expat's procedure for changing pads is the same for the GX.
http://www.toyota120.com/html/maintenance.html