Rotors-its Time

[maxed_out]

Hi everyone, its time to replace all 4 rotors on my 91. Just wanted to get your opinion of OEM vs aftermarket. She deserves the best, but at over 500 for all 4 from the dealer...thought I ask for some thoughts.

[SKperformance]

get brembo's which are cheaper and equal to OEM.

[nc211]

I agree 95%. SK knows my past experience with this issue, and I would recommend listening to SK about the Brembo's. But if you don't want the ones he recommends, then by all means, pay the extra "from the online vendors, not your dealership" and buy true toyota oem rotors, especially for your fronts. The rears aren't as important "since most of the braking weight is on the front", but don't go too far from oem spec on those either. Either Brembo's or OEM, that's my recommendation. I have some Mountains on mine, and they're ok, but the driver's side front has a hot spot that can't seem to "turn out". 1st thing in the morning backing down the driveway, that brake screams! Have oem pads, new fitment kit, shim, toyota grease, the whole shebang. oh well, small complaint...

[akewlguy]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...TRK%3AMEWA%3AIT

Man I just got 4 with new breaks for less then 310 shipped. They are really nice and I can not wait to get them on. The link is above and I called them. They provided information and shipped them quickly. They look awesome and I cant wait to get them behind my wheels

www.wholesaledirectparts.com

is direct link.

[jzz30]

i got my rotors from napa once for like 50 bucks a pop, but thats only because the dealer only had one in stock and i needed it changed that day. i had no problems no noise, but the only thing i didnt like was that there wasnt a spot for the rotor retaining screw. otherwise its good.

[Threadcutter]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...TRK%3AMEWA%3AIT

Man I just got 4 with new breaks for less then 310 shipped. They are really nice and I can not wait to get them on. The link is above and I called them. They provided information and shipped them quickly. They look awesome and I cant wait to get them behind my wheels

www.wholesaledirectparts.com

is direct link.

kewl:

Nice Snag!........................................Where were these 6 months ago when I did mine?

This looks like the way to go.

Please post a follow up as to whether or not you had any installation or operating issues.

Thanx.

[akewlguy]

Yeah the company has a good rating on EBAY and they provided great service for me. The rotors are Brembo and they informed me, "they are good, but not the best. They get blanks from Brembo and then machine them in house. This keeps the costs down."

When all is said and done they cost about $55 a piece and they are zinc plated. This means they are nice and silver. The machined holes and slots look really good and I am going to put them on Friday. Once I do this I will take some pictures.

[maxed_out]

Ok good replies...thanks..I'm gonna try the ebay route. Will post what I find and use. I looks to me that the difference is about $400 between the dealer and the folks on ebay. I suspect I'm gonna get what I pay for but its worth a shot. After all I can use the saving to pay for more gas!

[lexus400]

I would be careful, a couple of people posted that the Brembos were fakes. I would be a little leary

of these guys.

[akewlguy]

www.wholesaledirectparts.com

Man go with route. I can tell you these are sweet. For $212 bucks I do not see how one can get a better deal. The customer service was very good. Also they are zinc plated meaning they should not rust. I threw a few questions at customer service and they were straight forward, "we start with Brembo.. Then machine them.. Brembo is not the best, but they are good and obviously popular since they are cheap." More or less something like that.

The packing was awesome. Multiple boxes with paper in between. Total shipping was $40 bucks and total cost was $310 (8 break pads and 4 rotors). I should be able to put on this weekend and I will take a picture.

After seeing a BMW with similar rotors I am so excited. they look really great!

Also I truly dont know if it would be a fake Brembo and I did go throgh the EBAY feedbacks. What I saw was a few people who did complain and then their issues were corrected. I truly dont know what a fake would look like, but these look of good quality to me. For sure they were machined somewhere down the line and it takes about 3 weeks to get finished product. I suspect that is machining and shipping.

In the end for $300 BUCKS like my rear red and clear lights I am more then happy. Right now I sometimes feel shimmy when break and also squeaks so I am anxious to give these a shot. At worse they will look 10 times better and preform the same. At best with new breaks they will preform better (less heat and new pads).

Is changing the rotor a pain in the butt. I did it before, but that was 10 years on an Izuzu Trooper.

[Threadcutter]

www.wholesaledirectparts.com

Man go with route. I can tell you these are sweet. For $212 bucks I do not see how one can get a better deal. The customer service was very good. Also they are zinc plated meaning they should not rust. I threw a few questions at customer service and they were straight forward, "we start with Brembo.. Then machine them.. Brembo is not the best, but they are good and obviously popular since they are cheap." More or less something like that.

The packing was awesome. Multiple boxes with paper in between. Total shipping was $40 bucks and total cost was $310 (8 break pads and 4 rotors). I should be able to put on this weekend and I will take a picture.

After seeing a BMW with similar rotors I am so excited. they look really great!

Also I truly dont know if it would be a fake Brembo and I did go throgh the EBAY feedbacks. What I saw was a few people who did complain and then their issues were corrected. I truly dont know what a fake would look like, but these look of good quality to me. For sure they were machined somewhere down the line and it takes about 3 weeks to get finished product. I suspect that is machining and shipping.

In the end for $300 BUCKS like my rear red and clear lights I am more then happy. Right now I sometimes feel shimmy when break and also squeaks so I am anxious to give these a shot. At worse they will look 10 times better and preform the same. At best with new breaks they will preform better (less heat and new pads).

Is changing the rotor a pain in the butt. I did it before, but that was 10 years on an Izuzu Trooper.

Chris:

Worry not............'tis a no-brainer. You might want to consider rebuild kits for the calipers though. If you're slow (like me) it adds maybe 15 minutes per wheel. When you're done, it's a nice feeling knowing that everything is as it should be with the calipers as well. And, rebuilding them is EASY............After having re-built my calipers, I'd NEVER replace any of them in their entirety unless they had suffered some kind of massive damage.

PS.........Go to the Stealer & buy 4 new brass rotor retaining screws. They're soft & are probably chewed up by the previous ham fisted gorilla that last touched your brakes. Should only be a buck or so a piece. It's not critical, but they're nice to have.

[maxed_out]

any more info on the re-build kits? From the dealer? I think thats a good call too.

www.wholesaledirectparts.com

Man go with route. I can tell you these are sweet. For $212 bucks I do not see how one can get a better deal. The customer service was very good. Also they are zinc plated meaning they should not rust. I threw a few questions at customer service and they were straight forward, "we start with Brembo.. Then machine them.. Brembo is not the best, but they are good and obviously popular since they are cheap." More or less something like that.

The packing was awesome. Multiple boxes with paper in between. Total shipping was $40 bucks and total cost was $310 (8 break pads and 4 rotors). I should be able to put on this weekend and I will take a picture.

After seeing a BMW with similar rotors I am so excited. they look really great!

Also I truly dont know if it would be a fake Brembo and I did go throgh the EBAY feedbacks. What I saw was a few people who did complain and then their issues were corrected. I truly dont know what a fake would look like, but these look of good quality to me. For sure they were machined somewhere down the line and it takes about 3 weeks to get finished product. I suspect that is machining and shipping.

In the end for $300 BUCKS like my rear red and clear lights I am more then happy. Right now I sometimes feel shimmy when break and also squeaks so I am anxious to give these a shot. At worse they will look 10 times better and preform the same. At best with new breaks they will preform better (less heat and new pads).

Is changing the rotor a pain in the butt. I did it before, but that was 10 years on an Izuzu Trooper.

Chris:

Worry not............'tis a no-brainer. You might want to consider rebuild kits for the calipers though. If you're slow (like me) it adds maybe 15 minutes per wheel. When you're done, it's a nice feeling knowing that everything is as it should be with the calipers as well. And, rebuilding them is EASY............After having re-built my calipers, I'd NEVER replace any of them in their entirety unless they had suffered some kind of massive damage.

PS.........Go to the Stealer & buy 4 new brass rotor retaining screws. They're soft & are probably chewed up by the previous ham fisted gorilla that last touched your brakes. Should only be a buck or so a piece. It's not critical, but they're nice to have.

[Threadcutter]

any more info on the re-build kits? From the dealer? I think thats a good call too.

www.wholesaledirectparts.com

Man go with route. I can tell you these are sweet. For $212 bucks I do not see how one can get a better deal. The customer service was very good. Also they are zinc plated meaning they should not rust. I threw a few questions at customer service and they were straight forward, "we start with Brembo.. Then machine them.. Brembo is not the best, but they are good and obviously popular since they are cheap." More or less something like that.

The packing was awesome. Multiple boxes with paper in between. Total shipping was $40 bucks and total cost was $310 (8 break pads and 4 rotors). I should be able to put on this weekend and I will take a picture.

After seeing a BMW with similar rotors I am so excited. they look really great!

Also I truly dont know if it would be a fake Brembo and I did go throgh the EBAY feedbacks. What I saw was a few people who did complain and then their issues were corrected. I truly dont know what a fake would look like, but these look of good quality to me. For sure they were machined somewhere down the line and it takes about 3 weeks to get finished product. I suspect that is machining and shipping.

In the end for $300 BUCKS like my rear red and clear lights I am more then happy. Right now I sometimes feel shimmy when break and also squeaks so I am anxious to give these a shot. At worse they will look 10 times better and preform the same. At best with new breaks they will preform better (less heat and new pads).

Is changing the rotor a pain in the butt. I did it before, but that was 10 years on an Izuzu Trooper.

Chris:

Worry not............'tis a no-brainer. You might want to consider rebuild kits for the calipers though. If you're slow (like me) it adds maybe 15 minutes per wheel. When you're done, it's a nice feeling knowing that everything is as it should be with the calipers as well. And, rebuilding them is EASY............After having re-built my calipers, I'd NEVER replace any of them in their entirety unless they had suffered some kind of massive damage.

PS.........Go to the Stealer & buy 4 new brass rotor retaining screws. They're soft & are probably chewed up by the previous ham fisted gorilla that last touched your brakes. Should only be a buck or so a piece. It's not critical, but they're nice to have.

Max:

I bought the rebuild kit(s) from Schucks/Checker/Kragen (regional A/P supplier.....nothing special). Make sure that when you buy a front or rear kit that they don't sell you twice as many sets as you need. This happened to me, but I was able to return the extras because I told them to tell me what I needed when I originally bought them..........Their bad.

The kits are nothing unique. They contain new O-Rings & rubber boots for the pistons and some very, very, very, very "special" grease. I jest, but actually, it's not bad stuff. You know the little mustard & mayo squeeze pouches? The grease pouches have about 10% of that much in them. But you really don't need any more than that.

Also, buy a new set of the rubber caps that go over the bleeder valves. Throw away the old ones & install the new ones.

Like I said previously, It's brain dead simple. Refer to this;

LexLS Brakes

[VBdenny]

I will have to count myself as lucky with the Lexus brakes. I put some new Toyoto pads on that I got from irontoad and I was good to go. I guess I am not that hard on the brakes because I can go 25-30K miles on a set of pads and still have a little meat left.

I may look into the the Brembo brakes in the future so cool guy let me know.

[akewlguy]

Hey gents.. Actually my breaks feel fine, but there are times when the rotors at 105k miles (who knows if they have been turned) dont feel as well.

Since I bought the breaks and rotors I would replace all at once.

So should I rebuild the calipers? Thanks

[Threadcutter]

Hey gents.. Actually my breaks feel fine, but there are times when the rotors at 105k miles (who knows if they have been turned) dont feel as well.

Since I bought the breaks and rotors I would replace all at once.

So should I rebuild the calipers? Thanks

Chris:

Since I bought the breaks and rotors I would replace all at once.

Agreed.

So should I rebuild the calipers?

Yes, absolutely. It's too easy to pass up. The reason I did mine was because I was worried about one of the pistons not fully retracting, which would have resulted in the pad rubbing on the rotor. After having re-built all 4 calipers, I can say with 100% certainty that it is one of the easiest things you will do on your car. You've already got the job half done when you are replacing the pads. As I said previously, It's only about another 15 minutes per caliper from there.

[lenore]

Hey everyone, I ran into the weirdess problem on a brake caliper on my friends truck, I want to share incase you run into this problem. His right front caliper was hanging up and causing severe overheating and of course deadly disk failure. The wheel even turned yellow from the heat. He felt no drag while driving however. Well being conciouses he bought new calipers, disks, pads, and bearings. We installed all, but when we were bleeding them the fluid that came out on the right wheel seemed slower than when we bled the left wheel. Please note both calipers were pumped from the same T connection on the chassis. Well we thought we had done a great job, but a day later the wheel felt hot compared to the left wheel. I then suspected blocked in the brake line. We disconnected it and ran compressed air through it. Just didnt feel good. disconnected the rubber flex line and the air was great. Anyway we replaced the Rubber flex lines on both sides. The right one was definetly restricted. The Rubber had expanded internally. Now all is good. This could get any novice when doing breaks, we were sure the caliper was bad, but turned out being the hose. He is happy though since all brake system components are new, and his fuel economy went up. The restricted line was not allowing the brake fluid to retract the piston. When you pushed the pedal there was enough pressure to atuated the caliper, but not enough to release pressure. Just a tip for everyone. I thought I had seen everything over the years, but that was a new one even to me. Good luck, everyone.

[Threadcutter]

Hey everyone, I ran into the weirdess problem on a brake caliper on my friends truck, I want to share incase you run into this problem. His right front caliper was hanging up and causing severe overheating and of course deadly disk failure. The wheel even turned yellow from the heat. He felt no drag while driving however. Well being conciouses he bought new calipers, disks, pads, and bearings. We installed all, but when we were bleeding them the fluid that came out on the right wheel seemed slower than when we bled the left wheel. Please note both calipers were pumped from the same T connection on the chassis. Well we thought we had done a great job, but a day later the wheel felt hot compared to the left wheel. I then suspected blocked in the brake line. We disconnected it and ran compressed air through it. Just didnt feel good. disconnected the rubber flex line and the air was great. Anyway we replaced the Rubber flex lines on both sides. The right one was definetly restricted. The Rubber had expanded internally. Now all is good. This could get any novice when doing breaks, we were sure the caliper was bad, but turned out being the hose. He is happy though since all brake system components are new, and his fuel economy went up. The restricted line was not allowing the brake fluid to retract the piston. When you pushed the pedal there was enough pressure to atuated the caliper, but not enough to release pressure. Just a tip for everyone. I thought I had seen everything over the years, but that was a new one even to me. Good luck, everyone.

Lenore:

Excellent point!

When I did my brakes, I paid particular attention to the rate at which fluid came out of each bleeder valve when I was bleeding them. Not scientific, but it is a good initial indication if something is not right, such as what you found.

BTW............The reason that I suggest replacing the rubber caps on the bleeder valves is that a very competent mechanic told me that if you don't, there is a slight chance of air getting into the system (through the closed bleeder valve). If this happens, the pistons may not retract fully, resulting in the same kind of problem you describe above (albeit for different reasons). One could argue all day long that air cannot possibly pass through a closed bleeder valve, but for $2.49 worth of rubber caps, why not just replace them & get on with life?

I did my brakes 6 months ago & have had zero problems.

[akewlguy]

Maybe I should just pay my mechanic to do the whole job. Where can I get the parts for the calipers?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...mMakeTrack=true

These are nice, but not sure how good? Also I would rather have all silver then black centers.

[akewlguy]

Does anyone have a link to the caliper rebuild kit?

http://www.lexuspartsonline.com/index2.htm...l&siteid=214281

I see this link is an overhaul kit... Is this it?

Does anyone else think I should get the metal break lines? Breaks feel fine so I dont know if I need them?

Right now I have a mechanic who is going to replace rotors and breaks so I just want to have all parts...

Thread...

Do you have link for rebuilt kit or just autozone?

Also you stated "go to stealers to get brass screws." Where or what is this stealers?

I have a realiable mechanic, but want to make sure I have all parts. Last time I had them do timing we forgot the tensioner and berings. Found out they should be replaced next day... Ahhhhh.... Thanks

Also I work in Arlington.. I guess your right above (north) me some where? Just was up on Embassy Road and Georgetown.

[nc211]

Kewl...stealer is dealer.

[Threadcutter]

Does anyone have a link to the caliper rebuild kit?

http://www.lexuspartsonline.com/index2.htm...l&siteid=214281

I see this link is an overhaul kit... Is this it?

Chris:

When I clicked on the link, it came up with "Shift Control Cover".......so no, that 'aint it. I'd just go the Autozone route. There is nothing special about the contents of the rebuild kit. It's rubber O-rings, rubber boots & a little grease.

Does anyone else think I should get the metal break lines? Breaks feel fine so I dont know if I need them?

I put stainless braided lines on my car just for giggles. Not sure that I got anything more than giggles out of the deal.

Right now I have a mechanic who is going to replace rotors and breaks so I just want to have all parts...

Thread...

Do you have link for rebuilt kit or just autozone?

Naah.......just do the Autozone thing this time.

Also you stated "go to stealers to get brass screws." Where or what is this stealers?

I was trying to be civil.........................Some of my other posts sum up my feelings about dealers............Won't go there now.........

The brass screws are retainer screws to hold the rotors in place while you horse the wheel/tire into position & get the first lug nut started. Somewhat unnecessary because with the caliper in place, the rotor isn't going anywhere. Replace 'em anyway..........They're cheap & you're there......

I have a realiable mechanic, but want to make sure I have all parts. Last time I had them do timing we forgot the tensioner and berings. Found out they should be replaced next day... Ahhhhh.... Thanks

Also I work in Arlington.. I guess your right above (north) me some where? Just was up on Embassy Road and Georgetown.

I think you're referring to me/my home. I hate to confess, but we're talking opposite coasts here........I'm on the left one. Way up in the top left corner of the lower 48.......................60 miles North of Seattle. Our Arlington?................home of 3 front teeth, 3 finger shots of corn liqour, jake leg & 7 fingers 'cause of the lumber mill. The cops just chased most of the meth labs out & into S.E. Oregon..........Good deal.

Your Arlington however, is another story altogether..........Centuries of noble history among other things.

[Ross W.]

I did my brakes with Irotors' slotted and drilled rotors and high performance brake pads. I'm really pleased with them and the price was right. The dealer nearest to me wanted something like near one grand just for all four rotors out the door :o . I think I paid three hundred for the rotors and pads through Luxurymods. I also got some Goodridge braided lines, but I haven't had the time to install them.

And, by the way folks, it's BRAKES not BREAKS!!! :chairshot:

Sorry, I'm a good speller and I'm kinda anal about stuff like that...

[akewlguy]

Thanks for great data.

Ahhh.. How the hell did I say breaks instead of brakes... Maybe I need a break since I already bought the brakes.

Cheers

[Ross W.]

Thanks for great data.

Ahhh.. How the hell did I say breaks instead of brakes... Maybe I need a break since I already bought the brakes.

Cheers

Okay, I want a 1,000 word essay on my desk in the morning about the errors of your ways.

By the way what brand are the rotors you got?