StanVanDam

The FNC process was developed and patented by GM in 2008, and they have since renamed these rotors to "DuraLife". They are standard or optional on many 2014+ GM vehicles. Akebono produces these FNC rotors for GM, and these Akebono-produced rotors are sold under the AC Delco brand name. They carry a 24 months unlimited mile warranty, and claim a 90000 mile estimated service life. See https://www.acdelco.com/auto-parts/b...ors-gm-oe.html and https://www.crossdrilledrotors.ca/bl...fnc-treatment/

The process seems legitimate, is published in the SAE, and there are very minimal user reports of brake rotor warping with the DuraLife rotors. As of the time the above article was published, GM (via AC Delco via Akebono) was the only rotor manufacturer using their patented FNC process. No such rotors exist for the LS430 as far as I know, so this discussion is slightly off-topic until another aftermarket can come up with a similar process without violating GM's patents.

Johnhav430

Did some more googling lol it seems the BMW rotors are zinc coated, so it is different than GM. I just know that after 8 yrs. on the road, they simply fell off the hubs. At the same time, so did the cheap non-coated LS430 rears. It's a little interesting that we don't have set screws, and only the pads are holding the rotor in place. The holes in the discs also look quite large around the lugs.

I think that would be my choice if available--a rotor that is dipped, not sprayed. The word I was looking for is immersed, not sprayed. So the only exposed area becomes where the pads sweep, with the rest being protected...not only does it look nice, but I think they last...

Having seen brand new Lexus rotors installed on my vehicle, I am almost 100% certain the discs are sprayed like Centrics are, only matte gray, not gloss black. They rust all through the vanes.

AH, just thought of a key indicator you have an immersed rotor. You don't clean off an oily coating. Even a tech looking over my shoulder when I had my wife's SUV on a lift, said no, you don't need to clean those discs (GM OE).

jayclapp

I don't understand the concern for even considering Non-OEM rotors. I have 135,000 miles with the original OEM rotors with no problems whatsoever. I have all my service done on recommended schedule by my Lexus dealer and ther have never suggested the the rotors need to be replaced. So just why should I waste my time trying to find "better" rotors than OEM?

caverman

Mine are showing the classic signs of being warped. Slight shaking in the steering wheel when I get on the brakes until I slow down or get on the brakes hard. I've been living with it for the past month or so but it's getting annoying and it's only going to get worse. My car has 128k and the brakes were done at 96k but there is no mention of the rotors being replaced so I don't know if they are original or not. Either way they are warped and need to be replaced soon.

I was just checking to see recommendations since I can get some Centric/Akebono shipped for about $180 through Amazon or OEM rotors/pads for $250 shipped of eBay. In the grand scheme of things it's not a huge difference in price but $70 is $70 if quality is the same. I have the Centric/Akebono combo in my Amazon cart but I'm still on the edge of going with the OEM ones. Just giving it a few more days to look around more since it will be a week or two before I can get around to replacing them anyway.

05ls430518

iTrader: (1)

Its so all the kids in the kfc car park will go crazy over your car (not saying you just speaking in a general sense) lol same reason vip cars with crazy camber have a big brake kit they have it to say they have it.

I plan on taking my car to the track soon and have done some auto x stuff thats the reason I am trying to find performance brake parts. I have noticed the ls430 is subject to pretty aggressive brake fade after 8-15 mins of hard driving that was the main reason for me upgrading my brakes.

Johnhav430

For all the brake jobs I've done, I never really looked, until the BMW, to see how much of the discs the pads sweep. The reason for the BMW was for one, they looked so whitish gray (ok the zinc plating/coating/immersion thing), that it was so obvious, the pads aggressively (semi metallic pads) removed the coating as the brakes were used. Then, I listened foolishly to the forum and bedded the pads at which point they were bluish they were so hot (STUPID STUPID, the trump card was that someone pointed out that with OE pads there is a hang tag saying to go easy for 1000km).

With German cars, the pads go all the way out to the edge both at the hat, and fins. So I am so disappointed to see how with my wife's GM, and the LS430, the pads use only a portion of the disc area--this applies to the rears only. I swear on the LS, the strip in the center is nearly 1/4 of the disc!

If you go aftermarket, can you sweep more of perhaps a larger disc? I would be livid if I went big brake, and there is a 1/2" stripe in the center lol How I am looking at that is the big brake kit comes at a premium. If I can't use all of it, I am really wasting money. Kinda like network storage--just imagine how expensive it is, and how much is wasted by people saving files they will never even look at or open again...

edit p.s. I looked at my wife's rotors VERY closely, I did those in July. Since the front GM rotors had the FNC process, they too looked whitish gray. At first, I was horrified--it looked like the pads only rubbed them in the center, with huge gaps top/bottom that were still whitish gray. I said the old ones did not look like that??!! But as time went on, the pads scraped away the coating far to both edges. This tells me, that the application of pressure must also be concentrated in the middle. Meaning when brand new, that will be the only time you see coating left on the top and bottom and the discs having a striped appearance. Again, if possible, I would want a rotor with the FNC or Zinc immersion, as opposed to hats and fins painted black. Maybe we don't have such rotors available....

caverman

Is everyone replacing their brake pad wear sensor when you're doing pads and rotors? They have them for $9 on Amazon but I didn't replace it on my '04 when I did the brakes and didn't have any issues.

Romanova

Too cheap not to replace them.

StanVanDam

If the brake pad wear warning message is not activated on your dash, don't waste time or money replacing the sensor. The "sensor" is just a single loop of wire encased in resin/epoxy/plastic, and when the pads wear down enough, this loop of wire gets sanded through by the rotor, and when the wire breaks, it causes an open loop circuit, which tells the computer to throw the brake pad wear message. There is absolutely no point in replacing this sensor until the loop of wire is worn through. This is the only purpose of the sensor! If it hasn't worn through, it's doing exactly what a brand new sensor would do - maintaining a continuous, closed electrical circuit. Why throw out an $90 OEM sensor when it works perfectly fine and is doing exactly what it is supposed to do?

If you check your pads every tire rotation/seasonal swap, just check your pads yourself instead of relying on the sensor. I wore through one sensor so I stripped the wire casing off the broken ends of the sensor, connected the 2 ends using a twist-on thimble wire connector, and tucked it away where it won't get caught on anything. Easiest, fastest, cheapest way to disable the warning message.

I still have an original wear sensor on my front right wheel, which is now over 16 years old and seen 159,000 km of driving. Cheapest place to buy new wear sensors is eBay - bought 2 for under $9 CAD shipped. As I described above, it's just a loop of wire encased in epoxy, so nothing wrong with using cheap Chinese manufacturing for this.

If you want to get the most life out of your brake pads, and you have confirmed that the pads wear evenly side to side on each axle (because the wear sensors are only on the right side of the vehicle), then don't change your pads until you activate one of the wear sensors, and then only change the wear sensor that has worn through the wire loop (and the corresponding pads on that axle).

caverman

Thanks! That's why I asked and another thumps up for the explanation.

My pads only have about 35k miles but the rotors are warped. For basically $50 I'm going to replace the pads while I'm there as well as the piece of mind that they are all done at once.

caverman

Another question, looking on RockAuto they have a Rotor Shim for the LS. I've never dealt with a rotor shim and don't remember having one on my '04 when I did the rotors on that one. Anyone know what they are for and if they are needed?

05ls430518

iTrader: (1)

The shims should be on the back of the pad allready they look like this

Johnhav430

I have the shims for front/rear, purchased on eBay, but I did not use them. And they are missing (too bad somewhere along the line, likely a shop tosses them). No sounds however--the reason I did not install them on Monday was I was in a hurry to fix my parking brake and make sure it worked.

Figure I'd post a pic of why I think the rears are a shame. Look at the gap where the pads do not sweep--it's not an efficient design.

Both new and old have the same approx 1/4 of the width, nearest the hat, of the rear disc not being used

caverman

Those I've seen but what Rock Auto shows is round and I haven't seen these.

caverman

Pulled the trigger on some Centric Premium rotors and Akebono ultra-premium pads. About $190 to my door vs the $250 for OEM. I think Akebono pads are considered OEM anyway. The $60 savings pays for all the other stuff like oil/filter, and cabin filter plus some some money still left over. Hopefully the parts will come in and I can get them installed next weekend.