Genuine Toyota, I mean Lexus clips.
8mm x 1.25 bolts, used the driver a little on each side to pop off the frozen rotors. Much faster than hand tightening.
This really helps putting the tires back on.


Front ready for the pads.

Pretty Brembos. Make sure you clean off all the oil, especially on the rears where the parking brakes hit.
Rears all done.
My little Ryobi from Home depot
Forgot to show the Purel and the silicon spray.
Hi all,
Just did all 4 corners. After reading the sticky DIY above (thank you everyone !) and watching YouTube videos, things were very straight forward. Took about 4.5 hours, took my time, cleaned things etc. Here's a few things I learned:
1. Air tools would make things much faster. To take off the wheels had to jack up the car til the wheels were just touching, then hand loosened, then jacked up the car and placed it on the stands. Air tools would eliminate that extra step. I used my little Ryobi impact driver and that made removing and tightening the lug nuts much faster. Always hand start them to avoid stripping them.
2. Doing the first corner, I was cleaning my hands a lot with hand sanitizer (Purel). It got rid of the grease. What I learned is, do all the dirty stuff first, clean the caliper bracket, pull off the old shims and low pad warning clips, push back the piston, clean the hub and put anti seize on it, put anti seize behind the clips, etc. clean your hands and then handle the new pads, clean the new rotor, put it on, put on the pads etc.
3. You have to "roll" the outside pads into the clips. Stick the bottom in, then roll it into the clips. Took me a while to figure that out.
4. Buy new clips. Mine were 11 years old and cleaning things took the most time. The part numbers are shown in the pics. You need 1 bag as there are 4, two for each side. Cheap insurance to protect your new pads, rotors, and all your time.
5. I used Brembo rotors. Autozone ships for free to their store here in Hawaii. They are really nice. Also went with Akebono pads. I reused the toyota shims from the old pads.
6. Use the silicon paste to clean the rubber around the piston. It will help the rubber go back in place nicely when you push the piston back.
7. Put a little brake cleaner on a rag and clean the gunk on the outer edge of the piston, just below the rubber. It's a little thing but should help prevent the piston from having issues.
8. Turn the front wheels toward the side you are doing. Makes getting to the bolts etc. much easier.
9. The pic attached shows all the products I used. The high temp grease went behind the shims, on the edge of the caliper, and on the part of the caliper that touches the outer pad. Also on the clips where the pads touch. Used the 3M silicon (got it on Amazon because no one here carries it) on the slider pins, rubber piston gasket (or what ever it's called), and the rubber parts covering the sliders. Used anti-seize on the hub (after a good cleaning with a wire brush and some WD40). Sprayed some silicon on the inner part of the lug nuts, axle, and studs as there was a little corrosion. Used locktite on the slider bolts as those aren't torqued down very hard. Also used anti-seize behind the clips. The Toyota clips are anodized so that was probably unnecessary, but I'm a belt and suspenders kind of guy.
10. Use your lug wrench under your tire to lift it correctly into place. See pic. Hand start a lug nut and use your driver to tighten it, repeat. Makes putting back on the tires by yourself just a bit easier.
11. Use your torque wrench on everything.
12. Last and most importantly, start the car and pump the brakes til you get a firm pedal. Then enjoy your test drive.

Hope this helps, its pretty easy job, just take your time.

 

Of course, you bedded in rotors and pads, right?

 

You used loktite on caliper guide bolts? Oy way. Why? You do not use loktite on any of those bolts, use antiseize. Loktite is only on caliper bracket bolts and what they put on at the factory is a plenty to reuse again. Same goes for studs - dab of antiseize onto each stud before lug nuts are turned on.
You packed caliper guides channels with brake grease, right? That silicone paste can should have brush in the cap, you dab it into the grease and then force it inside the guide channel. Back and fore, to spread lubricant inside.
Thing is, brakes get pretty hot, especially should you go down a long curvy mountaine road. Like they do in Hawaii. Then loktite cakes from the temperature.

 

Nice garage floor! You should have painted your calipers. Great DIY.

 

Nice write up!

 

To ukrrkoz. Great point on bedding the pads. The below is from Akebono's website, but I broke them in anyway !
In addition to dramatically quieter braking, Pro-ACT Ceramic Pads provide best-in-class braking performance, including enhanced initial effectiveness (no break-in required), high resistance to fade, consistent brake pedal feel, and ultra-low dusting for cleaner wheels and tires. Akebono’s ceramic technology also causes minimal wear on brake rotors.

• Virtually eliminates noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH)
• Vehicle-optimized ceramic formulas for superior performance
• Unrivaled stopping power
• Clean wheels
• No break-in required
• Rotor-friendly with proven longer rotor life
• Perfect upgrade for all braking systems
• 100 percent made in the USA

 

Thanks mandyfig ! Your write up was super helpful and a must read !

 

Do you have the torque specs needed to change the pads and rotors by any chance? Thanks!

 

05 RX330 Torque Specs (shouldn't differ for RX350)

Disk Brake Assembly/ Front 25 ft.lb
Disk Brake Assembly/ Rear 32 ft.lb
Wheels/ 76 ft.lb

 

Do you know what the torque is for the caliper mounting brackets? Thanks!

 

Front Disc Brake Cylinder Mount/ 77 ft.lb
Rear Disc Brake Cylinder Mount/ 58 ft.lb