Brake Pads ?

[agc]

Hey guys,

I think I might need new brake pads. I notice that when I want to stop the car I have to press down the brake pedal quite a bit (almost all the way down) and my wife also notice that you have to press the brake more to come to a complete stop. The weather has been real bad in my area so I have not taken off the wheel to look at the pads. Am I missing something, is there an adjustment for the braker pedal or is it just that I need new pads (car is a 2000 with 34k ).

Also if it is new pads that I need, which ones should I get. I read did a search and some say use the greenstuff and others says the OEM ones. What do you guys think.

Thanks all

AGC

[Reyi]

Hey guys,

I think I might need new brake pads.  I notice that when I want to stop the car I have to press down the brake pedal quite a bit (almost all the way down) and my wife also notice that you have to press the brake more to come to a complete stop.  The weather has been real bad in my area so I have not taken off the wheel to look at the pads.  Am I missing something, is there an adjustment for the braker pedal or is it just that I need new pads (car is a 2000 with 34k ). 

Also if it is new pads that I need, which ones should I get.  I read did a search and some say use the greenstuff and others says the OEM ones.  What do you guys think. 

Thanks all

AGC

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I had the Akebono Ceramic brake pads from TireRack.com put on my car about 500 miles ago. They're awesome. They have great stopping power (although the slightly spongier feel of ceramic pads takes a bit to get used to), they are ultra silent, and they leave negligible amounts of brake dust.

I don't try to drive my LS like a racecar, but there have been a few times where I've had to "emergency" stop and these new pads are great.

[bullfrog927]

I recently replaced my brake pads on my 94 ls400. I used the ceramic pads from car quest. They are much better than the ones that were on there previously. These are very quiet, give off much less brake dust, and have a very good feel when stopping. The only thing I dont like is the metal part of the pads are bright blue and you can see part of this through the rims. I paid about $85 for the front pads. If you are concerned about the look, you could paint the metal part before installing them.

regards,

Jeremy

[bullfrog927]

Also,

There is a nice pictorial about changing your pads on lexls.com. Its pretty staight forward though.

regards,

Jeremy

[lex4me]

Your symptoms don't sound like time for new brake pads to me. It sounds more like air in the line (time to bled the brakes, but you have to ask yourself how air got in there...), a bad master cylinder, or a bad (leaking) caliper.

Brake calipers are designed to squeeze brade pads in against the moving rotor to stop your car. As the pads wear, the caliper's pistons move out further and further, but then STAY moved out within the same distance from the ever decreasing thickness of the pads. I'd put top priority at looking at this problem. Brake failure is not a fun thing.

If, when you take everything apart to look, you find any wetness around the calipers at all, you've found your problem - bad caliper. If you find that the pads are worn out anyway, I've had great luck with the ceramic pads from Wagner - the Thermoquiet ones from O'Reilly auto parts.

Good luck.