Brake Problems?

es30014 · April 3, 2004

When I put on the brakes (hard or not hard) when I get close to coming to a stop the brakes or maybe tires(not sure which one it is) grinds really bad. Also, underneath the front of my car on the left side something rattles and shakes like it is flopping up and down....these both occur all the time. I'm going to take it in but I wanted to know what I'm dealing with first. Thanks. :D

allexus · April 3, 2004

It's your rotors. When did you do a brake job lasted. Your rotor are worp. And if you did a brake in the last month, and they cut the rotor to short, you would have the problem you are talking about. Or you stepped very hard on the brakes and that can worp then too. I would change the brake and rotor with the lexus ones. NOT AFTERMARKET ONE. Or it can be a branch under the car.

Allan :wacko:

es30014 · April 4, 2004

I have never had a brake job on this car. It only has 13000 miles........... :blink:

steviej · April 4, 2004

you fail to mention the year of you 13000 mile ES.

If it is a 2002 or 2003 there is a TSB covering the front brakes for vibration. There was a material mismatch and the rotors warp prematurely, especially when subject to lots of highway driving and heat. The noise you describe was one of my symptoms before they did the TSB work.

As for the flopping, is it a metal or plastic flopping sound. Have you peeked under the car to see if you can see anything. There is a large plastic shielding just under the front of the car. You say the flopping sound and grinding sound happen all the time, but did they develop simultaneously?

steviej

es30014 · April 4, 2004

I have a 2002..........sorry, I always forget to put that. I don't do alot of highway driving..occasionally...mostly city though. The flopping sounds more plastic than metal...I usually only hear it when I go over a bump.

I still feel that I have too many problems with this car for only being 2 yrs. old and not alot of miles and it's starting to make me mad. It's a LEXUS!!!!!!! You expect "perfection".....but looks like they're still pursuing it!

SW03ES · April 4, 2004

Well with all due respect, many if not most of the problems you've listed are the result of you being hyper about the car. The Lexus is a machine, all machines make noises. Its a quiet car but its not silent. The traction control makes noise, the brakes make a noise when they stop, if you run the tires at 10PSI its going to ride poorly. After running the tires at 10PSI for 10k miles they're going to be worn funny and are going to require replacement.

My point is if you're constantly looking for problems you're going to constantly find them. If you don't regularly care for the car by checking tire pressures monthly and having the regular maintenance done, then your car is not going to be perfect. if you treat your Lexus right, it will treat you right. If you don't, then it will age poorly just like any car. You have to stay on top of the maintenance and have all the TSB's and recalls performed. If you dont then its just going to pile up and its going to seem like the car is costing you a lot of time and money when in fact its just because you've neglected it so long

There's a TSB out on the brakes, the dealership should replace the front rotors and pads free of charge.

As for the flopping sound, look for something inside the car first, in the glove boc, or the console cubby, or the trunk. If not it sounds like one of the screws on the shield in front is missing or loose. This was most likely caused by whoever changed the oil last as that shield has to come down for them to do that.

Another thing you have to do is realize that yes your car only has 13,000 miles, but as you said thats 13,000 CITY miles. Thats equivelent probably to 60 or 70,000 highway miles. City miles are MUCH harder on a car than highway miles. I have about 20,000 miles, but they're 85% highway. IMHO highway is where this car really shines, if I did almost all city driving I'd be in something else, something smaller and more efficient.