glilly

OK, so my IS350's brakes start to grind, ...I promptly schedule a visit to Lexus for an examination (also to kock out an oil change and headlight adj.)

17,500 miles and they tell me my pads and rotors are toast. $540.xx for repairs.

Isn't this a warrenty item? ..I know pads area wear item, but the rotors?

They claim the IS x50 and GS series have "special soft" rotors and cannot be re-surfaced. That rotor replacement with pads is common.

I've driven many high-performance cars and never needed pad or rotor replacement this soon. Granted, the brakes on the IS350 are freakin' amazing, but I just can't imagine all 350 owners are having to fork over $500+ dollars everytime the need pads/service.

I'm due to pick up my car tommmorrow morning, so any quick replies would be appreciated.

Greg

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

I have over 43k on my rotors and they're still in great shape. I'm also on the TSIB pads, but I had 21k on my original pads with a tiny fraction of the rotor's life worn away.

I have no idea what "special soft" means in regard to rotors. They're gray cast iron. There is no such thing as a soft rotor in my experience. Sounds like an excuse to me.

Giggity

sounds like the're trying to stroke you...
End of Novermber I took my 06 350 in for an oil change and asked them to look at the brakes because the pedal was starting to feel a bit mushy, they did the TSIB pads () and resurfaced the rotors under warranty (). You may have chewed into the rotors too much
I had 25k miles on the car at that point, but it seems to me I have read some threads were people were going through pads in the same amount of miles as you have.
I think I would ask to see the pads and rotors to verify that you had gone all the way through the pads and that the rotors were beyond resurfacing...
Good Luck!

jsl55

Low dust pads will reduce wear on the rotors.

carchitect

iTrader: (1)

Greg, the dealership is right these 4-pot brake cars (IS350 & GS350/430/460/450h) endup using the rotors up when the pads wear out. You can notice the lip on the end of the rotor and the inner edge too. Its from the high mu brake pads that come from the factory. You could ask them about the condition of the rotor and the thickness and how far from the minimum it is. Its not advisable to reused rotors that are below minimum thickness but you could see how much of a difference there is and have them attempt to resurface them. If after the rotors are resurfaced, they endup below the min thickness then they would require replacement.

The replacement low dust pads are low mu and they consume less rotor materials. The high mu pads have more sintered metal content. I'm debating about switching to the low mu pads myself. I'm not sure how effective they would be with the Radar cruise and Precollision system I have on the car.

I'm seriously considering using the racingbrake rotors (2-piece) on the car. On the 1" brembo BBK i've seen on the MKIV. The pads do endup using the 2-piece rotors up. Brembo charges over $400/ rotor disc with the hardware to mount to the rotor hat. That combined with the pads it becomes a $1K brake service!! I have the guys purchase replacement rotor discs from racingbrake and hawk or carbotec pads and the cost drops to about $600 and the racingbrake rotors will outlast the brembo rotors so the materials they use is much better.

4WS@TLA

I'd had racingbrake rotors f+r rotors on my evo for 30k and they still look mint with a few autox and one road course day under their belt.

Cheers!