CarMax said these were ok to drive on
09-05-14, 10:49 AM
#1
CarMax said these were ok to drive on
I bought the car 3 months ago, and when I bought it I noticed that the brake pads were really low. So CarMax has a 30 day "unlimited" warrantee. So I brought this to their attention and they said that they were with in thier specs, I forget the numbers though. So it was a no go on having them replace them. Well I still wanted the car but was very unhappy about having to work on it so soon after I purchased it. So their responce was that they were going to give me brake pads at their cost. OK, its better than nothing so we looked them up, the stock ones, and our cost through Sewell was far cheaper than they could get them for. Then we tried Advanced Auto and the general plubic's cost is the same as Car Max's cost. So here we are 3 months later and thes are the front pads I pulled out. within spec huh ... O_o ... they werent that much better than this. Basically CarMax's "multi point inspection" isnt worth a F*#K. That is based off of other cars I looked at there to. Some were wrecked, litteraly broken, just general POS's. oh well I still bought my car off of them and I still do not regret the purchace, I guess Im just picky.
09-05-14, 10:54 AM
#2
Lexus Fanatic
Thats frustrating BUT ist the nature of the beast when you are buying a used car. Mine had no clear bra, some rock chips, drive belt slip, and an aftermarket windshield. I have corrected all of that over the 6 months I have owned the car. My brother bought an E550 from Car Max and has had very good luck with them
09-05-14, 11:02 AM
#3
Tech Info Resource
iTrader: (2)
Unfortunately, they are right. Minimum spec for brake pads according to the factory service manual is 1mm. That's not much. When you bought the car, they were within the acceptable limits Lexus specifies.
This is not a safety issue, it's a rotor service life issue. The car will do full performance stops with the pads you removed, but once you get the pad backing plate on the rotor, the rotor is going to spall and gouge pretty quickly, so you're looking at pads and rotors instead of just pads (assuming your rotors are still within limits).
I have run my track pads much thinner than yours without issue and was able to stop from triple digits speeds with no indication there was anything wrong at all.
Just be happy you are aware of the issue and able to address it before it ended up being rotors and pads.
This is not a safety issue, it's a rotor service life issue. The car will do full performance stops with the pads you removed, but once you get the pad backing plate on the rotor, the rotor is going to spall and gouge pretty quickly, so you're looking at pads and rotors instead of just pads (assuming your rotors are still within limits).
I have run my track pads much thinner than yours without issue and was able to stop from triple digits speeds with no indication there was anything wrong at all.
Just be happy you are aware of the issue and able to address it before it ended up being rotors and pads.
09-05-14, 12:28 PM
#4
Lexus Fanatic
You are braver than me. There is no way in hell I would hit the track with pads like that. In fact I had 2mm on mine before my last track day and I replaced them to be safe. I want to enjoy my track days without causing damage to me or my car. Never understood trying to squeeze out every single possible mile from parts that are on their last leg.....but I have OCD lol. Lobuxracer is hardcore
09-05-14, 12:41 PM
#5
Tech Info Resource
iTrader: (2)
I wouldn't go to the track with pads like that unless I had a spare set with me. I only get two track weekends out of a set of fronts. Rears last forever but fronts die quickly because they're doing all the work.
If I took the pads out and they looked like they do in the picture, I'd be buying and installing new pads. Those only have a few thousand street miles left in them at best. I wouldn't go to the work of pulling them and measuring them at this point, I'd just replace them. But I don't pull pads to check thickness, I just look through the top of the caliper and see what I have.
The time I killed my pads at the track, I didn't need to do anything but listen. I could hear the metal backing plate clanking on the rotor pretty clearly. I put my street pads back in for the drive home, where normally I would drive home with my race pads and change them once I am back in my own garage.
If I took the pads out and they looked like they do in the picture, I'd be buying and installing new pads. Those only have a few thousand street miles left in them at best. I wouldn't go to the work of pulling them and measuring them at this point, I'd just replace them. But I don't pull pads to check thickness, I just look through the top of the caliper and see what I have.
The time I killed my pads at the track, I didn't need to do anything but listen. I could hear the metal backing plate clanking on the rotor pretty clearly. I put my street pads back in for the drive home, where normally I would drive home with my race pads and change them once I am back in my own garage.
09-05-14, 01:06 PM
#6
oh man I had the same problem with Carmax, but not with my pads. My water pump was leaking(the notorious 08-09 leak) and they said they just replaced it. I took to lexus and they said it was leaking lol, I have my car covered under an extending warranty plan through my insurance company not that maxicar crap....thank goodness. But yeah Carmax's 125 point inspection is big crock, their service dept is sucks but the people that work there are nice thats about all they got going for them.
Trending Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
caymandive
Suspension and Brakes
44
05-30-07 10:48 AM
