I'm looking to buy some new pads for my LS. It has the Touring package which apparently uses 'larger' brakes, whatever that means. I've looked on Rock Auto and the choices seem limited...either semi-metallic pads or OE pads. I don't see any ceramic pads, and it appears Akebono does not offer any for the Touring cars.

Anyone know of a particularly good choice?

 

I preferred the OEM pads from the dealer when I had OEM brakes.

 

Thanks for the reply.

Here's my issue with all the 'super' brakes - they eat rotors. My LS has the original brakes with 37K miles driven by a 71 year old retiree and the rotors are worn a good .040 per side. The pads are supposed to wear, not the rotors. I'd rather the car stop in 173 feet instead of 170 feet if it meant the rotors would survive.

 

As an update, I replaced my brakes on my 'new' LS a couple weeks ago - this is after 36K miles of being driven by a 71 year old man.

All the parts were original OEM. The pads were almost worn down but the wear indicator had not gone off yet. Worse, all 4 rotors were bad due to being worn down about .050" per side. The pads just dug themselves a trench in each surface of the rotor. Pretty lame.

I used all Raybestos parts - pads and rotors. The choices for 'Touring' brake parts are much more limited - I pretty much had to use more of the factory Textar* pads or the Raybestos semi metallic pads. Based on the poor results of the Textar pads, I had no trouble making the switch to Raybestos.

Brake hardware is another issue - of the front/rear kits offered by the aftermarket for the Touring cars, only the front set had actually the right pieces.

So far I am satisfied - the car stops fine and the Raybestos pads produce a great deal less dust than the Textar pads, which were leaving my wheels black in no time.



*Just what is Textar? Is it somehow related to Texas? Or some form of 'Texture' in the sneaky Japanese tradition of making quasi-words re:'Infiniti' and 'Acura'? Or a hip version of 'Tech Star'? All possibilities, but I'm in favor of the concept that it somehow has to do with Tartar sauce.

 

I was very disappointed with the performance of the LS460's brake system and got tired of the black dust on the rims.

I replaced the stock rotors with slotted & dimpled ones and used ceramic pads. 18 months and 30K miles later, no sign of wear out, no black dust on the wheels, and improved braking power (not very significant but there's a positive difference).

I bought them for $500 from brakeperformance.com (for everything) and paid $100 for installation.

 

Did your car have the Touring package "larger" brakes?

 

NICE !!!!!! Great advice !!!! Not that my opinion matters, but this is a SUPERB reply to the subject ! -

Thanks for taking the time to share.

Mike Lulejian - lake Oconee, GA

 

Excellent advice. My only comment is I personally would have differed in two areas:

1) Regardless of what (brand, product, etc) I was purchasing, I would have phoned THE PLACE FOR BRAKES (Miami, FL). Tell 'em ya heard about them on Club Lexus ...... They really are a SUPERB company !!!!!!! And obviously, GREAT PRICES !!!

and

2) So that no one here thinks I have taken leave of my senses with a brain seizure...... LOL..... I would have purchased ONLY !!!! Akebono Ceramic Pads !!!!! I know at least 2 members here were sitting around waiting and counting to see long it took me to reply on this....LOL.

Wishing everyone here a simply superb, Blessed week ahead, Mikey Lulejian - Lake Oconee, GA (who will be trout and bass fishing in Arkansas this week !

 

Akebono does not list pads for Touring equipped LS's.

 

My car doesn't have the touring pkg. But I remember seeing the option to customize the rotors for the touring pkg-equipped LS460 on brakeperformance.com. I think all of the rotors are custom made (took about two weeks to ship from their facility).

 

Is stock LS460 brake semi-metallic or ceramic?

 

I wish I had known about that site when I ordered my brakes.....my rotors coulda had little holes in them!