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Rotors And Brake Pads


Wes

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I just bought my 94 LS 400 and it is sweet. I put some great rims on it but here is my problem:

The rims are gunmetal grey which matches the bottom of my car. My rotors are gunmetal rusty red. :( SO I am going to replace the rotors and paint the middle of the rotor gun metal gray and the caliper is going to be black which matches the top color of my car. This should look very cool when I am done.

Question: Do I just get regular rotors and primer and paint them with high temp paint or should I get some other kind of rotors and pads. I read that some do not rust if coated with some product.

Bottom Line: I want it to look great and stop my car.

Any advice form the Lexus Guru team!!

Thanks!! :cheers::cheers:

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You can buy cadmium or zinc coated rotors in either cross-drilled, slotted, drilled and slotted or OEM styles. The unswept areas won't rust so they'll look good for a lot longer. I bought rotors from these guys for my Jeep and I'm very pleased with the performance and look.

http://www.powerstoprotors.com

If you want to paint your calipers or rotors check out Dupli-Color products. They make paint specifically for brake calipers.

http://www.duplicolor.com

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i would recommend OEM toyota rotors and pads since they do the best job and were originally designed for the car and its weight. you can paint them with the high temp paint just make sure you do it couple of times. me and my friend did it on his GS400 and it looks great. third party cheap rotors are not reliable and i would not trust them. good aftermarket rotors are really expensive and if money is not the issue you should get brembo drilled rotors. otherwise stick with OEM

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i would recommend OEM toyota rotors and pads since they do the best job and were originally designed for the car and its weight

Try telling that to my friend that has a Tundra ... he's on his third set of OEM pads and rotors because the rotors warp within 10k miles ... so much for Toyota "designing" the best hardware for the job. Powerstop rotors are a QUALITY rotor and are certainly SUPERIOR to anything available from Toyota (with the possible exception of TRD). And while we're on the subject of Lexus brakes, both my SC and LS have the WORST brakes of ANY vehicle that I've owned in recent memory!!!

I will certainly be installing powerstop rotors on both of my cars in the near future!!

:)

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this is strange, i have original rotors and they are very good. i had aftermarket rotors and pads and i had to resurface rotors once in 3 month coz they were bent all the time and pad squeaking like crazy when car was coming to complete stop. i installed new rotors and pads from toyota and even that the squeakin is still there sometimes they brake much better and dont bend. my experience with aftermaket "quality" products has not been that good and proverb what you pay is what you get really works in this case.

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Or you could try my solution and upgrade the entire setup. I had a company make me a 13" big brake upgrade kit. Very nice. Best stopping ever. :pirate: This is providing you changed your wheels to 18" Rims and tires. :D

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Thanks guys. The OEM Rotors on the front are warped right now so I think I am going to try the aftermarket.

K9....

cross-drilled, slotted, drilled and slotted or OEM styles.
Are these all the same? Does one work better?

I will let you guys know if these rotor work or if OEM was the way to go. I am going to experiment on this one.

Thank you for all your help and opinions!! :cheers::cheers:

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When I was searching for better aftermarket brakes, I saw Stillen selling some nice Cross drilled/slotted brakes that can fit the LS400.

You'll have to get the built month and year of our 94 LS400. That's located on drivers side door, near the hinge. That determines if the brake kits will work.

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Stillen

Are these camium covered? I like the no rust.

I was thinking of the AP Racing versions, but that's better than non-crossdrilled. You should also check with other vendors, because Stillen has a 15% markup.

You should also check out Autobacs. They might have the Japanese Kits for you.

If you go through the club's LS gallery, you'll come across a picture of my rear brake kit.

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Are these all the same? Does one work better?

Wes,

You can buy OEM (solid), cross-drilled, slotted or cross-drilled AND slotted rotors ... four different styles. Personally I've only bought cross-drilled rotors but others swear by slotted rotors. The holes allow gasses generated during braking to escape resulting in a more positive contact between the pads and the rotor. The holes also reduce unsprung weight and help in the dissipation of heat. The circumference of the holes on cross-drilled rotors are radiused to reduce stress, but from what I've seen the slots on slotted rotors have sharp inner and outer corners. The corner at the surface of the rotor acts as a cutting tool removing a thin layer of glazed brake pad material. This may improve braking but the pads will have a shorter life.

I currently have cross-drilled rotors and 911 pads on my Jeep. I installed the same cross-drilled rotors on my '95 Tbird SC and on my '99 Cobra. Not one set has warped or cracked and in every case I noticed a significant improvement in braking with a HUGE reduction in brake fade. Combine good rotors and pads with braided stainless steel brake hoses and you'll feel like you're driving a racecar!!

:)

P.S. I forgot to mention ... the powerstop rotors and 911 pads are QUIET ... no squeaks or squeals ... just effective, reliable, vibration-free stopping every time!! By the way, at $125 per rotor I wouldn't call them cheap. I guess you do get what you pay for!! ;)

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Wes,

If you have the money you'd be hard pressed to find a better upgrade than this ...

http://www.stainlesssteelbrakes.com/

Stillen's web server must be down so I couldn't tell you if the rotors are cadmium coated or not. Typically the gold/bronze looking rotors are cad coated and the silver looking ones are zinc coated.

:)

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Wes,

I just checked out the Stillen link that you provided ... those rotors look like they're cadmium coated. The price is very similar to what I paid for my Powerstop rotors. Are you going to purchase STILLEN Metal Matrix Brake Pads as well?

:)

P.S. I just noticed that Stillen is offering FREE brake pads with the purchase of their sport rotors!! :D

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K9,

Thanks for the help. If i go with the stillen then I will go with their pads as well.

Not sure. :wacko:

Those stainless steels look nice but i did not see Lexus on the make area. That concerns me. So I am thinking of trying your power stops and those 911 pads.

Where can I get those pads from. How long can you expect those rotors to last and what kind of warranty do they have? I cannot wait too see my car when I have those new rotors on and painted. It will be Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

:whistles: :whistles: :whistles:

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Wes,

I just checked out the Stillen link that you provided ... those rotors look like they're cadmium coated. The price is very similar to what I paid for my Powerstop rotors. Are you going to purchase STILLEN Metal Matrix Brake Pads as well?

:)

P.S. I just noticed that Stillen is offering FREE brake pads with the purchase of their sport rotors!! :D

I missed those free brake pads with Rotors. Where did you see that?

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I was thinking of the AP Racing versions, but that's better than non-crossdrilled.

You should also check out Autobacs. They might have the Japanese Kits for you.

If you go through the club's LS gallery, you'll come across a picture of my rear brake kit.

UCF,

What is Autobacs?

I can't seem to find the racing version for the LS.

Damn this Lexus world of fine parts can get confusing. So many options and not enough cars to try them on.

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Wes,

You can call John at 1-888-428-7278 to order Powerstop rotors. They have a web page as well ... www.powerstoprotors.com ... I forget what kind of warranty they have. You can expect the rotors to last as long or longer than the OEM rotors without any warping but like everything in life it depends on how you use them. If you go to a race track every weekend they won't last as long but for "normal" street driving they'll look good and perform well for years.

I can't find the free brake pads deal on Stillen's web page but I saw it last night. Their server has been acting up so I'm sure if you call them they'll be aware of the promotion.

:)

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I was thinking of the AP Racing versions, but that's better than non-crossdrilled. 

You should also check out Autobacs.  They might have the Japanese Kits for you.

If you go through the club's LS gallery, you'll come across a picture of my rear brake kit.

UCF,

What is Autobacs?

I can't seem to find the racing version for the LS.

Damn this Lexus world of fine parts can get confusing. So many options and not enough cars to try them on.

Wes:

have you heard of the JGTC and Autobacs Race.

here this willHelp

Autobacs-USA

Autobacs is the Japanese market parts directory. Licensed to sell int he US.

AP Racing is not available for the our LS400s (D'oh, my mistake), but it won't hurt to call Stillen,a nd ask them what other rotors are worth it. The rotors listed, are crossdrilled, which is better than stock rotors. Don't forget to write down the Make date before calling them.

The powerStop rotors and pads sounds interesting. Anybody got any pictures?

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Wes,

That's definitely repairable but if you rebuild the caliper you'll need to make sure that the cylinder walls are in good shape and not scored by dirt. Rebuilt calipers from Thepartsbin are quite reasonable at $80.00 each. If you plan on painting them at least the "new" ones should be nice and clean. The savings in time alone could make it worth buying them. If you decide to rebuild your calipers, compressed air works great for removing the pistons ... remove the bleeder screw and blow air in the port, the pistons will pop right out.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

:)

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