New Brake Calipers?

[bjflatley]

Hello All,

Recently purchased a pre-owned 95-97 series LS400. All books, records, dealer maintained every 5K miles and clearly well taken care of.

Noticed not too long after my purchase that when I would press down on the brake pedal especially when stopped or in park a tension type crunching noise was coming from the brakes and could be clearly heard with windows down or standing outside the car. Had the brake pads and rotors checked at a non Lexus shop and all was fine, but they had never heard this sound before.

Went to my Lexus Dealer (Kuni, Portland, OR) and they stated that this sound was somewhat common on this model, but they would check them out if the sound bothered me. Well.... the sound bothered me and didn't seem right to be coming from a "Machine" of this caliber.

Upon the tech inspecting them, I was advised that the Calipers and brake pads need to be replaced... quote-"Caliper pistons binding up inside caliper housings. Brakes are dragging. Brake rotor is touching brake pad sensor.

In addition, they said they hardly ever see calipers go out and it may have been caused by the brake fluid running low at some point in the car's life.

Thats fine.... but it is going to cost $1100.00 and change to fix. $600.00 + for the calipers.

Any advise on more cost effective fix options? Used Calipers maybe?

[SRK]

The first clue that you were talking to a BS artist is their contention that "letting the brake fluid get low" would cause the calipers to "go out". Put that stuff on the garden and watch it grow....

The low speed groan is usually the result of non- OEM brake pads. The wear indicators on our cars ground out the light circuit, whereas the older indicators on domestic cars put a small steel tab against to the rotor to "squeal" an audible warning.

At most I would change the brake pads. No calipers needed.

Sometimes moving the pistons back into the calipers frees them up. If the dust boots are torn, or water has got in, perhaps the calipers are hanging up a bit, but I doubt it. My 12 year old calipers work like new.....

And of course calipers can be rebuilt for a lot less, but most "technicians" don't like to do that anymore, they just like to "hang parts" which relieves them of responsibility when the part doesn't work. I rebuild calipers frequently, and they work just fine.

[silvermate]

i had a caliper lock up on me...........it wasn't a 1200 tab though...........i just rebuilt it, the kit was around 60 dollars i believe.

if you want to check to see if your calipers are hanging or locked up, just get in there, swing the caliper assembly off the rotor clean it all up and put some high quality caliper grease around the pistons and depressed with a c-clamp.....that will tell you how your looking as far as calipers.

[CaVleX]

I am going throught the same thing with my 96 ls400. I hear grinding sound, I notice that my back right rotor is shot. I take the car to the mechanic and he tells me (4) calipers are seized????????? How is that possible. $1200 in work. He wants me to put on 4 new calipers, with new pads and new rotors. I am assuming that the moron b4 me put on cheap pads. I don't know much, so I ordered 4 rotors off ebay (this should be interesting). But trying to find brake calipers is a nightmare. I want to do this myself If I can. Anyone wanna give me a quick DIY on how to go about this. If I don't need to change my calipers I don't want to. I am willing to try to do the job myself it is simple. How would I take off the calipers and clean the pins? Any advice is appreciated.