Squeaking/squealing Brakes - Do I Need Original Equipment

[Gene]

A friend of a friend put new rotors and ceramic pads on my 1994 LS 400, 111K miles. The F of an F won't do anything about the squeak/squeal. The car does it mostly at low speeds like going through McDonald'd drive thru. It's embarrassing when the person at both the pay window and the pick up window say "It sure sounds like you need new brakes!". Do I need original rotors and pads put on. Or does it just sound like a miss match; bad rotors; dumb mechanic; or whatever? Any thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? If I can use aftermarket stuff I'm thinking of paying another $150 to a garage that'll stand behind t heir work. If I have to use OE I'll have to wait a while. Thanks, Gene

[TexasLexus94]

I had the exact same problem on my 1994LS with 114K miles 2 years ago. I put new rotors and pads, (not oem), and immediately had that awful squeal at the drive through. Hated it, so I replaced the new pads with the original oems put on the brakes by another owner at Lexus a year before. The noise went away, so I was happy. But 2 weeks ago, the brakes went to hell. No noise, but that give-and-take shimmy. So I just put on new rotors and ceramic pads on the brakes, and they work great. Except for some smoke coming out of the rotors after a drive. I'm hoping it's just the ceramic break-in. If not, it may be time to give the LS to Opportunity Village here in Vegas-The car is a great ride, but with its low value now, and the high cost of repairs, it has me thinking that it may be time to move on.

Best of luck...

[wwest]

I had the exact same problem on my 1994LS with 114K miles 2 years ago. I put new rotors and pads, (not oem), and immediately had that awful squeal at the drive through. Hated it, so I replaced the new pads with the original oems put on the brakes by another owner at Lexus a year before. The noise went away, so I was happy. But 2 weeks ago, the brakes went to hell. No noise, but that give-and-take shimmy. So I just put on new rotors and ceramic pads on the brakes, and they work great. Except for some smoke coming out of the rotors after a drive. I'm hoping it's just the ceramic break-in. If not, it may be time to give the LS to Opportunity Village here in Vegas-The car is a great ride, but with its low value now, and the high cost of repairs, it has me thinking that it may be time to move on.

Best of luck...

Chamferring the leading and trailing edges of the brake pads, many come that way, at about 30 degrees will help to alleviate brake squeal. Also the is a brake pad backing material, typically red rubber-like "goo" that will act to dampen the high frequency vibrations.

Many sports cars owners, Porsche 911, etc, put the high friction brakes pads in for track times but remove them in favor of QUIET (OEM) ones for street use.

[jsteb]

Most squeal while the brakes are applied is caused by metal contact. Although you have new rotors and pads there are a lot of metal on metal parts working in concert. All these metal parts should be cleaned and have brake grease applied very conservatively to all metal to metal contact points. I installed aftermarket drilled and slotted rotors on my 99 LS with ceramic pads and it is smooth and quiet. Also keep in mind the number one cause of warped rotors (the shaking of the steering wheel and brake pedal) is overtorqueing the lugnuts on the wheels.

Good Luck

JS

[SKperformance]

The squeal is form poorly installed pads. It is either missing or has a broken clip that hold it properly , or it was not installed using slider grease or the pads have no anti squeal coating on the back of the pads to keep them in place , simple fix and not the parts but the installers lack of knowledge.