vlad_a

I always had rears go first, even on the IS300, which makes sense given that the pad size is smaller.
On the RX450h, the rears lasted exactly 50K, down to the last millimeter, and fronts still had some life left in them.
At that point, I did a full service, including new OEM rotors all-around.
I often remind, don't forget to lubricate front calipers' sliding pins. It's a Toyota pain-point.

RX in NC

I also do my own brake pad replacements. Been doing so since the late 1970s. Rear pads wearing out before front pads on my Jaguar S-Type sedan was the norm for that model. My wife and I have owned more than 30 vehicles since we both began driving way back in 1969. My now-sold Jaguar S-Type sedan was the only vehicle we have ever owned that always wore out its rear pads first. As previously mentioned, rear pads are usually smaller than front pads on most vehicles. More friction and more heat build-up may cause accelerated rear pad wear in some of these cases.

lexusrus

Or maybe the traction/ABS control kicks in to slow down the rear wheels (assuming rear wheel drive)........

Droid13

True enough, depends on lot on highway vs city, and the hybrid version is a bit easier on brakes. I just replaced my rear brakes for the first time a couple weeks ago, 192,000km (~120,000 miles). Fronts were done at about 160,000 km (100,000 miles). That's mostly city driving as I don't take highway for daily work travels.

Clutchless

Never thought my case would stir up such a discussion. A few more facts. I too have always done my own brake jobs since the 1970s and have never seen rear brakes wear out first.
However, I bought this RX350 used from Long Island, NY with 21,000 miles. Maybe the first owner did a lot of city driving or stop and go in horrible New York traffic. We will never know.

Another observation for all those posters talking about their hybrid RX450 vehicles. You are comparing apples and oranges. Hybrid brakes last far longer than ICE vehicle brakes due to the regenerative brake assist doing most of the work. So your comments have no relation to what happens on an RX350. I have another vehicle that is a hybrid Lexus and the original brakes look new at 75,000 miles!

N4TECguy

Some newer cars with variable brake apportioning abilities are skewing towards a rear bias for light braking. Applying braking force at the rear reduces nose dive by some amount, which helps with passenger comfort. The extra rear bias was prevalent in 03-12 Honda Accords, which saw rear pads chewed up as early as 15-20k miles due to a variety of reasons.

RealWing

Rear bias was primarily introduced to keep the rear brake rotors from premature rusting (but also helps with reducing nose dive). Just replaced my rear rotors/pads at 3 years and 50,000 Km (31,000 miles) and they were right down to the last couple of mm.

Kansas

It seems odd that brakes on the 2010-15 RX are wearing out so quickly since the exact same brake discs and pads on the Toyota Highlander and Sienna seem to last longer. Based on measurements of the pads and rotors on our 2014 Sienna Limited at 75,000 miles, I forecast that the front pads will last to 103,000 miles and the rear pads will last to 106,000 miles. The brake discs both front and rear "should" last the life of our Sienna, i.e. to 200,000+ miles. The rotor thickness both front and back are still within a hair of their thickness when new. The surface rust in the front disc vents is only cosmetic and doesn't affect braking ... I may clean the rust out of the front disc vents with a rat tailed file at some point to pretty them up although that isn't really necessary.

I've never found it necessary to replace brake rotors due to wear on any vehicle in my 50+ years of driving vehicles with disc brakes including a number of them that were driven from new to around 200,000 miles.

I can't begin to count the number of times that repair shops including Lexus dealerships have tried to scam me into doing premature brake jobs. I always have rotor and brake pad specifications with me to stop that kind of B.S.

RX in NC

In more than 49 years of driving I have never had to replace a rotor either. A couple of those vehicles did nearly 200,000 miles before I sold them. Most did between 110,000 miles and 130,000 miles before I sold them. The longest I have ever had a set of brake pads last was about 90,000 miles. The shortest was about 30,000 miles, but that was back in the 1970s when brake pads were quite cheap and relatively disposable.

703

Droid13

Back in the good ol'days rotors would easily and regularly warp due to minor heat stress and you paid someone $10 or $20 to machine the surface smooth again. Often brake service simply involved rotor machining as the brake pads still had plenty of life. You might get away with several of these services before the rotor was too thin. That was then, but I haven't had the displeasure of a warped rotor thumping the brake pedal in a long time now, not this century anyway, the quality and resiliency of materials is much better. Even having several times worn pads down to dust the rotor was never an issue. I can see the possibility of making a rotor last the life of a vehicle. The thorn for most people relying on typical garage service is that rotors are now considered as disposable as brake pads. They will either refuse service without replacing rotors or won't offer any warranty on work done without new rotors (and throw in some 'are you a baby killer?' looks your way if you suggest otherwise, and some of that might be from their liability insurance co). New pads on new rotor seems the right, safe, easy thing to do, if not actually medically necessary.

lex_rx

At what pad thickness do brake wear indicators start squealing?

I read some of the old threads on brakes but I didn't see this information. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/search.php?searchid=20185917

If I need to replace rotors and pads, I'm thinking that I may as well wait until the squeals, as long as I am still confident with the braking power.

TIA
EDIT: June 2018 measurements: 3.8 mm fronts; 2.4 mm rears

salimshah

Squeelers are attached on one pad (of each front pair and the mechanic has to transfer them as they service, and at times can forget/ignore doing it). In Ideal world (where pads wear evenly) you can count on the squealers. I am for visual inspection and also a written history at each inspection as the wear history is a good inidicator of the health of the vehicle.

New OEM pads have a groove in the middle of the pad and large scallops at the end. If you plan not to do actual measurement, those two are quick go/no-go. If the pads wear down to no spline left or scallops are gone then its time to replace the pads. The OEMs also increase in dust production. These are just rule of thumb guidelines.

Salim

iolmaster

iTrader: (1)

I am pretty sure it is 2/32 inch.

Onyx00

2014 model with ~55k miles on the odometer and this winter the brakes started squealing / squeaking at idle speed when the car is cold. Once driven for a bit the noise disappears. I looked at the pads and it seems they have ~1/4 inch remaining. Is this normal or do I need to go ahead and look in to replacing them?