Rear Pads

[ghong001]

Just changed the rear pads on my 00' RX300 AWD @48k miles.

Fronts had plenty of meat on them and looks like they will last another 20k miles.

Replaced the OEM's with Repco ceramic pads and they seem to be working well for now.

If anyone attempts in the future, just make sure you compress the caliper piston with the caliper still mounted on the car first before you unbolt and dismount the caliper.

HTH

[cruznroadking]

You can also buy a tool that will compress the caliper pistons off the the car. Large channel locks & a rag will also do the trick.

[ghong001]

I used a Big A$$'d C clamp with no problem.

[cruznroadking]

That works too. I've been known to use them in the past.

[jgr7]

Auto Zone will loan with refundable deposit the tool that you can use for

compressing the piston.

Jeff

[mikey00]

I find it unusual that your rear pads needed replacement at 48k and the front were still good. The pads on the RX usually wear evenly (front and back) and last an average of 70K, depending on driving habits.

As far as compressing the piston before unbolting the caliper, how do you do that with the pads and rotor in the way at that point? I just used a quick-grip mini bar clamp from Home Depot. Lastly, it is not necessary to completely remove the caliper. Just take out bottom bolt and pivot caliper up the change pads.

[ghong001]

1. True, on all the other vehicles I have owned the fronts have worn out first before the rears. Don't know why on this vehicle the rears wore out before the fronts. The caliper piston wasn't frozen and retracted smoothly back into place and both sides on the rear were worn to the same level so it seems the calipers are OK.

There is another post on this forum with another owner mentioning their rears going before the fronts, so I know it's not just my vehicle.

2. As far a compressing the piston, by using the large c-clamp and putting the stationary end on the caliper housing and the rotating end on the brake pad side and then applying pressure, you can easily compress the piston back in while the caliper is still mounted.

3. Yes, you don't have to completely remove the caliper to change the pads, you can just pivot once you have the mounting bolt off.

4. Lastly, the reason I suggest compressing the caliper piston while still mounted is that when I didn't, once the new pads were mounted the caliper would not slide over the rotor. It seemed as if the new pads were too thick. I pinpointed the problem to the little metal bushing that the caliper mounting bolt bolts through. It appears that that metal bushing is designed to slide in and out ever so slightly and when I compressed the piston with the caliper off the vehicle it didn't push that bushing back. It was only by compressing the caliper piston while mounted that the bushing slid back, and allowed the new pads and caliper to mount properly.

I've done dozens of brake jobs and this is the first time I ran across this and found it puzzling. I use to work at an auto parts store and remember that once in a while customers would come back, after purchasing brakes, and complain that the pads were too thick to mount and we had sold them the wrong ones. We use to think they were crazy, but now I think maybe it was because of the above mentioned issue.

The rear pads were pretty well worn so that may have something to do with that metal bushing moving.

Hopefully this will help anyone who runs into the same issue.