spaniola

I just took my 2004 rx330 in for service, stearing wheel shakes during breaking.

Dealer replaced the rotors last april, now they need replacing again? and my breaks are at 3mm now??

Hmm. any help?

Frankr66

sounds like something isnt right for sure

spaniola

ANyone else?

Really need some expert advice.

Lexmex

What you describe is warped rotors. I have had these on my front rotors and had them machined not replaced. I would have asked the dealers to show you the actual burn marks on the rotors before your shelling out $$$ for new rotors.

Have you also checked the color and level of your brake fluid? Granted your car is still under warranty, but I never fell in love with Toyota brake fluid and switched to Valvoline Synpower and then later to Ford Heavy Duty as it has an even better boiling point.

The other thing is that something in the suspension or alignment could be causing undo wear. Sometimes I have had friends running lower tire pressure on the front tires (a drag racing thing) and since the fronts wear faster than the rears with a front engine vehicle, this no doubt affects the wear and the condition of the brake pads and rotors, respectively.

spaniola

Ok here is my question.

Last april i had the same problem. They replaced the Rotors under warranty.

Then last December my brakes started squealing. I took it in and they said its all good, 6mm left of brake pads.

Then Febuary 25th comes along, after a month of steering wheel shaking during braking i took it in. Rotors are warped and brake pads are down to 3mm.

How does a car that had 6mm in december go down to 3mm in febuary. When i never drove the car in January because i was on vacation.

Also my car has been pulling to the left since i bought the car, and i had them do an allignment at 19k, currently have 26k on it.

My tires are almost bald, and I am really upset with lexus. What should I do? Anyone have any help?

larryp

They replaced my roters at 8K under warranty. My wheel was shimmering during breaking again at 30K and they just replaced the Pads, calipers and front disc under warranty again.

My Service Invoice says that both front rotors, Pads and shims were replaced per Lexus Bulletin #BR004-04. Obviously, this is a known problem.

spaniola

Is there any way you could email me a copy of your service workorder?

They want to charge me $175 for new brakes now, If you have it done for free at 30k then that would be really helpfull if i could see that!!

Thanks
Nick

larryp

Hi Spaniola:

You can look up service bulletins filed with the NHTSA at www.mycarstats.com This is a great resource that will email you about customer complaints on any vehicle as well as update you on service bulletins.

As I mentioned in my earlier email, my service record put the bulletin number as BR004-04 and on Mycarstats the bulletin is listed as manufacturer bulletin 00404 (virtually the same). It lists the components - as Service for hydraulic brakes; Details - as Front Brake vibration; Date of bulletin of 7/29/2004.

Here is the link to the my mycarstats.com bulletin. If it doesn't work you can go to the site yourself and enter some basic information and pull the information. I'd fight the dealership on this one!!! Link: http://www.mycarstats.com/console.as...tTab=BULLETINS

Good Luck..

spaniola

Now I have lexus customer service involved.

Guess I am going to be keeping this ES330 rental for a few days??

Ughh ohh well it does good burnout, JK...

jfelbab

Holy Cr@p, there are a ton of reports of brake failures on the 2004 RX330. I'm now afraid to drive it. With the total failure of brakes that people are reporting, I'm surprised that someone has not been killed. Anyone have any additional information on what is going on?

Lil4X

At my regular 30K service I mentioned the front brake shimmy I only experience occasionally when braking from speeds over 55 mph. It doesn't happen every time, but has become a concern in recent months since it seems to have gotten worse. I've never been able to make this situation recur on demand, and had been reluctant to mention it without some assurance I could duplicate the problem for the service advisor. It didn't matter, they are aware of the problem and didn't need a demo, they just replaced both rotors and pads without question. Problem solved, shimmy has not recurred.

salimshah

I don't frequent this sub forum, so your post struck me as very odd.

Can you elborate on your driving habits, the terrain you encounter, weight you carry in the RX trailor etc...

What is the mpg you get.

What is the balding pattern (even wear on both fronts? etc)

I see an effort to get the reapirs done, but without addressing the root cause, you might be back to sqaure one in 3 months or less.

Salim

lexuslover

i got new pads at 40k. nothing has ever happened to my rotors, and i have never had squeals, shimmies, or noises. i have the car serviced every 5k at my dealer and tires rotated each time. the tread is still good, and worn very evenly, even at 50k miles...

Lexmex

I think given my driving habits, my pads last 6 months. So if you are getting this and you aren't racing your RX to a pulp on a track or highway, going up and down hills and mountains, there is obviously something way wrong.

HarrierAWD

My guess is that your Lexus dealer overtighten the lug nuts. That causes warped rotors. Then the warped rotors eat up the brake pads.

That happened to me at my Lexus dealer. Fortunately I found the problem early and they replaced my rotors and pads under warranty. Then I retorque the nuts myself.

At my 60K service, they did it again (well over 150 ft/lbs.) I couldn't get them off and had to run to CostCo for help. CostCo uses torque wrench, Lexus uses impact gun, go figure.