Replacing Front Brake Pads

[mhawkin1]

If this is the wrong forum for this post I apologize.

Has anyone replaced the brake pads themselves?

Someone told me it was ‘extremely easy’ and for the price of the brakes I might as well change the front pads every 10k miles. (I live in a very metropolitan area and I am fairly hard on the brakes..)

I understand the concept of changing the front brake pads; does the Lexus differ in any way from the normal instructions? Any instructions, tools needed etc., would be helpful.

Does anyone have a recommendation for the purchase of the brake pads? Are ceramic brakes better than normal pads? Do you need special calipers for ceramic brakes?

Thanks in advance,

Matt

[earossi]

If this is the wrong forum for this post I apologize.

Has anyone replaced the brake pads themselves?

Someone told me it was ‘extremely easy’ and for the price of the brakes I might as well change the front pads every 10k miles. (I live in a very metropolitan area and I am fairly hard on the brakes..)

I understand the concept of changing the front brake pads; does the Lexus differ in any way from the normal instructions? Any instructions, tools needed etc., would be helpful.

Does anyone have a recommendation for the purchase of the brake pads? Are ceramic brakes better than normal pads? Do you need special calipers for ceramic brakes?

Thanks in advance,

Matt

Installing ceramic pads should be the same procedure as with other friction material pads. I haven't replaced any on my ES350, but the procedure is straight forward and does not require special tools. Not sure but would expect that the Lexus has wear sensors on the fronts and rears. You should replace the sensors when you put in new pads. They are a plug in and easy to replace. The problem with them is that you usually destroy them when trying to remove them from used pads. For both BMW and Mercedes, the sensors are about $15 each. You may have them on all four wheels or just on a single front and a single rear wheel.