hitthepin,

For the pads, are they 2 per unit ordered or only one wheel? Do I need to order two set for the front axle or 2 for the rear axle?

Thanks,

-Johnny

 

You'll only have to order one of each, ACT920 and ACT325. Each box will have 4 pads in them. Obviously 2 each for the front and 2 each for the back. It will also come with a small tube of the high friction brake grease(dressing) and shims already attached.

Some here have cleaned and re-used the old factory shims. I did not. I used what came with the pads and have not had any squeaks or squeals. Witht he combo that I installed.

When you pop the pads out, I forgot if it was front or back or both, but the factory pads have a wear sensor on top and bottom of the pad. The Akebono's will only have it on one end. Since I plan to install any future pads or rotors and monitor my cars brakes regularly, I didn't bother to pull the extra sensor off the old pad and clip it on to the new one.

Figured one is good enough and most of the time you'll know when the car isn't braking well.

 

Thanks again. Regarding the shims, should I take it off and put grease on both sides of the shims?

 

Good question: This is where I wasn't certain of the process. Here's what I did and hopefully if I did something wrong, I welcome the veteran members of the forum to correct me.

The factory pads have 2 very thin shims on them. The aftermarket Akebono's only come with one. Factory and aftermarket shims are not the same and clip on a bit different.

On the front pads, the shims that came with the Akebono's just pulled right off. From there I greased both sides, then installed them.

The rear pad shims were held onto the pad by an adhesive. Did NOT just pull right off and when I pealed it off, it left some sticker type residue. I cleaned this off the best I could by rubbing it out with a towel and then greased both sides...then installed.

I wasn't sure if I should pull the rear shim from the adhesive, but I figured logically, if I greased both sides on the front, why not do the same on the rear.

Please take that for what its worth. Like I said, I haven't had a problem with mine and its been about 400miles. So its still brand new on my car.

Post this question in "your" thread too and also do a search. I decided to this job on my own after reading a procedure posted by another member on this forum.

 

Thanks! I will just go that way.

 

No need to replace bleeder screw if stock ones are perfectly functional. Mine was rusted so I had to replace them to bleed brake fluid.
Bleeding concludes the brake job, any work on the brake is consider by many to increase the chance of introducing air into the system. Therefore bleeding is a standard safety procedure.

BTW, the difference of cast vs drilled holes is the amount of stress introduced to the rotor. Rotors take a beating every time you brake, drilled rotors have higher chance of cracking. This is the reasons many professional racers prefer slotted rotors. But I agree cross-drilled rotors look nice, and casted cross-drilled rotors are expensive for a reason.

 

Thanks for the explanation... I stick with Brembo OEM blanks because I have seen quite a few cases of crack rotors on the track from those "drilled" rotors that are for looks only.

 

I have not looked, but do autoparts stores carry the grease that Lexus suggests using when installing new pads?

 

This forum is real great. I just ordered a set brembo & AKEBONO for my front wheel. Hopefull I won't have to touch it untill it is time to retire it.

 

You only need to replace bleeder valves if you damage them. Get a bleeder wrench (closed hexagonal with a long stem) and you won't strip them.

Yes, RR, LR, RF, LF is correct, the order is farthest from the main cylinder to the closest one.

I would change all pads/rotors first, then bleed, since you will be pushing some old liquid back when compressing the calipers.

 

I've got the same thing installed 3 weeks ago and it was one of the best brakes I ever had on any of my cars. Just go easy on them for the first 200 miles or so. And, there will be some black dust in the beginning but after a 1000 miles there is almost none.

 

I just did my fronts last weekend, $40+ for the akebono pads, had the rotors turned for $12 each. My 02 Rx stops on a dime.

 

AMEN to that.

I did the job yesterday because I also had a shimmy when brakes were applied, and the rotors had grease on them. This caused theglazing to be uneven and created the vibes.

Took them out turned them and installed with the same pads after rubbing them against rought concrete.

Stops great and no vibes.

$20 repair for me

 

When replacing the rear brake pads this afternoon I noticed that the pivoting pin on the rear-driver side is frozen with the caliper - the caliper doesn't slide on this pin.

Upon searching on the net, I found that there are two types of rear brake calipers - one uses a pivoting pin and privoting bolt to mount the caliper to the mounting braket; the other uses two pivoting bolts instead, as most other vehicles do. What is the advantage of using the pivoting pin instead of a pivoting bolt?

Also, I like to have the rear disks machined. They seem to stuck. The vehicle is in park and the parking brake is not engaged. With the calipers and mounting brackets cleared from the disks, I tried with my two hands to shake the disks, but they don't seem to move even a little bit.

Need your advice on how to take the rear brake disks off.

 

Do a search on ebay and you will find all 4 corners drilled/slotted with good brake pads for less than $300.00 They will improve your braking and they also looks cool.

Check the link below

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lexus...spagenameZWDVW