TunedRX300

Well, burned tranny fluid look like chocolate milk. The man is thirsty...

Totally agree, whoever makes better pad at same or less $ gets my business. Value not brand for me. Tire Rack has a link that describes "Why ceramic brake pads", they sell both ceramic and semi-metallic pads. Everyone's experience is different, just want to provide information so people can decide themselves. http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/tech/techpage.jsp?techid=88 Direct quote:

Again not all ceramic is the same. Not trying to debate but I want to add some indepedent verification of previous poster's comment. Not all ceramic pad have high friction coefficient. In fact, as a lot of race pads are made with semi-metallic that are extremely harsh on brake rotors. Another direct quote on the link I provide to clarify confusion.

Be surprised in this day of age, how many Lexus/Toyota branded parts are made by someone else. A direct quote from http://www.babcox.com/editorial/bf/bf30322.htm

I second lenore on positive Akebono experience. Also keep in mind that it is highly depend on manufacturer's design. There is a difference in ceramic brake rotor and ceramic brake pads, they are not the same. Tire Rack has additional users reviews. http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brakecommen...Pads&group=null

Wow...I just love it when one speaks out the obvious. My personal favorite is the A/C cabin filter - it require no tool and instruction in PICTURES in the owner manual. RX owners still pay Lexus a hour's labor for a 3 minutes DIY job. UNBELIEVABLE is the word!!!

Is this the pill that Barry Bond is using to hit record # of home runs? :chairshot:

It is against U.S. federal law for Lexus or any automaker to void warranty because service is not performed by the dealer or using aftermarkets parts. Direct quote from http://www.enjoythedrive.com/content/?id=8128

Open the trunk, use a flat head screw driver to pry off two tabs, phillip screw driver to unscrew two screws uncovered. Pull and wiggle the light unit out. http://rx300how2.home.comcast.net/tail_light_lamp.htm

www.rockauto.com carries Denso A/F sensor. No tax, Google 5% coupon and you will likely to offset the shipping charge.

If this is true why won't Lexus put a speed limiter at 85mph? In California, anything over 75 mph is breaking the law (or 55, 65 depends on local hwy/fwy limits). Anything over 100mph get additional reckless driving fine. What is so magical about 110mph?

Mikey00, I wish this is a realistic approach. It would be a PR disaster for Lexus and it would not make sense financially to redesign and recall all RXs sold, especially most owners are willing to give anything came OEM an automatic "free pass". Personally, it is more cost effective to use aftermarket products that is avaliable to bridge the gap. Lexus has a strong brand, but that does not mean everything OEM is free of design tradeoff or flaw. I like OEM air filter during summer dusty months and OEM made-in-Japan oil filter. The new GS-FSE wins me over and I plan to buy a GS350 when it comes to the U.S. On the other hands, many aftermarket products have better quality and have better features. For example, Brembo's design and quality is good enought to become the standard OEM equipment for third generation Acura TL w/ 6 speed manual transmission. (Check out www.acura.com). Akebono's ceramic pads have been supplied to Japanese and U.S. automakers since 1985. Direct quote from http://www.babcox.com/editorial/bf/bf30322.htm "Enter Akebono, an OEM brake supplier to most of the Japanese automakers. Akebono pioneered the development of ceramic-based friction materials back in 1985, and began to market their ceramic linings to a growing list of vehicle manufacturers in Asia and North America. Today, Akebono supplies most of the Japanese transplant manufacturers in the U.S as well as Ford (Taurus up to model year 2002, and the new Ford Explorer), GM trucks and Saturn." Just my $0.02, afterall, what one put into his car is a personal decision. Hey many decisions are made based on emotions and perception and not reasonings and facts anyway. Have a good weekend. All this is really nice, and I do agree aftermarket parts do in many cases make sense. However, you were refering to the RX braking system as not being "safe and sufficient" and being "severly undersized". The RX was lacking in clamping power, number of pistons per caliper, not clamping on both sides of the rotor, rotor diameter and so on. Using aftermarket pads, rotors and brake fluid does not address any of these issues. If you truely feel that way about the RX braking system why in the world would you put yourself and your family in such a car. After driving 2 RXs for a number of years now and reviewing the data available on braking performance of the RX, I have no problem putting my family in mine. I know you said the "TREND" is that the Lexus sedan brakes better than the RX and discounted the Consumer Reports data, but after checking the stopping distance data available at the various sites I could find no evidence of this "TREND". The organizations I used that do 60-0 or 70-0 braking tests are Car & Driver, Motor Trend, Consumer Reports and Edmunds. Having better pad with consistent coefficient coefficient means higher friction force can be supplied to the rotor assembly across all temperature range. Ffriction=Coefficient * Clamping Force. Rotora offers a 4 piston 12.5 inch front brake set and a 6 piston 13 inch front brake set. In addition of having larger diameter and more mass, it has directional vented vanes for better heat dissappation. Last, stainless steel brake lines with clear plastic tube shrink wrapped will reduce brake line swollen so the pressure from the master cynlinder won't have as much pressure loss across rubber brake lines as it is the case for OEM. There are so many aftermarket products that I can only list a few examples. Last I find aftermarket parts save time for DIYers. ATE Superblue brake fluid offers two colors, blue and gold, so one can tell when to stop bleeding old brake fluid by color change. Akebono has integrated front pad indicator and a noise - no need to remove OEM clip-on indicators from old pad to new. Having cheaper than OEM price is just icing on the cake. Again this is not a holy war and I do not benefit financially one way or another. I could care less about branding, but more about features and value.

Monarch, High wet boiling point of a brake fluid means it can resist boiling better. This means you will less likely to have compressable air bubbles in your brake system. Do you know what is the wet boiling point of the stock brake fluid and who is Toyota supplier? Mikey00, I wish this is a realistic approach. It would be a PR disaster for Lexus and it would not make sense financially to redesign and recall all RXs sold, especially most owners are willing to give anything came OEM an automatic "free pass". Personally, it is more cost effective to use aftermarket products that is avaliable to bridge the gap. Lexus has a strong brand, but that does not mean everything OEM is free of design tradeoff or flaw. I like OEM air filter during summer dusty months and OEM made-in-Japan oil filter. The new GS-FSE wins me over and I plan to buy a GS350 when it comes to the U.S. On the other hands, many aftermarket products have better quality and have better features. For example, Brembo's design and quality is good enought to become the standard OEM equipment for third generation Acura TL w/ 6 speed manual transmission. (Check out www.acura.com). Akebono's ceramic pads have been supplied to Japanese and U.S. automakers since 1985. Direct quote from http://www.babcox.com/editorial/bf/bf30322.htm "Enter Akebono, an OEM brake supplier to most of the Japanese automakers. Akebono pioneered the development of ceramic-based friction materials back in 1985, and began to market their ceramic linings to a growing list of vehicle manufacturers in Asia and North America. Today, Akebono supplies most of the Japanese transplant manufacturers in the U.S as well as Ford (Taurus up to model year 2002, and the new Ford Explorer), GM trucks and Saturn." Just my $0.02, afterall, what one put into his car is a personal decision. Hey many decisions are made based on emotions and perception and not reasonings and facts anyway. Have a good weekend.

You can not use two one-run test results from two different setups and claim the comparasion statistically meanfuly. An average of statiscally sufficient number of test runs will tell the TREND better since variables tend to be averaged out. Your "why in the world would you drive one" makes me remember the same logical fallacy claim of "Love America or leave" by eliminating a third alternative. The short comings of OEM brake design of RX is precisely why some choose aftermarket brake pads, rotors, and brake fluid. We choose not because they are branded "aftermarket", because they have better features and performs better. I choose Akebono ProAct Cermaic pads because its friction coeficient is more consistant across temperature range over OEM semi-metallic, which gives RX better cold braking performance. I prefer Rotora rotors since slotted rotor cleans the pad surface to reduce glazing, which gives better hot braking performance. Brembo rotor also used better high carbon steel over OEM cast iron to increase its ability to store heat (see picture). Rotora also have heat and rust prevention painting on non-frictional surface, which RX300 OEM rotors don't have. Brake is a safety item, do you tell RX owners not to worry about their air bags not deploying 5% of the time? Aren't you the one that refuses to disclose whether you are on Toyota's payroll and claiming everything OEM is perfect including the RX AWD tranny?

Did you read my posting in THIS thread? Also when did consistency become NOT important to you? Are these done by the same driver, same track, same time? Even with test variables, the TREND is clear, RX SUV stop longer than a Lexus sedan. If the sedan's stopping distance is believed safe and sufficient, the SUV is not.

Are test setups the same? How can the test condition (driver, surface, car condition, temperature) stays the same across three year span?

My typo, just made correction to 3889lbs. Thanks

There are two ways to evaluate braking performance. One is by physical principles, StopTech has an excellent document on how each of these brake components affects braking. http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/The%20Ph...g%20Systems.pdf Kinetic Energy of a moving car = 0.5*mass*velocity_squared To offset higher energy generated by higher velocity or heavier car. One must increase rotor size, increase clamping area, or having more rigid caliper/line in order to keep braking distance the same. This is not someone's opinion, "guess", or fancy branding, just pure physical laws. These principles are the main reason automakers give sport cars bigger brakes AND design bigger brakes for heavier vehicles. The second way is exactly what you described, drive test data side by side with same setup, condition and driver. I have provided drive test data in another thread, mikey00 disbuted the result because one can not compare tests results with different setups. He is partially right, you can not find a RX test result with the same test configuration as the LS. But if you run enough tests, even with different setups, the trend should be clear: bigger brake stop better for a given mass and speed. The trend also agree with physical factors determine stopping distance apply to all cars on the road: rotor size, piston area, clamping force.

Gary, You are right, speed and mass of the car determines how big the brake should be designed. For a given speed, heavier car stop longer for the same brakesetup; similiarly, for a given mass, a car with higher speed stops longer. The performance of any braking system is governed by science and data, not by subjective feeling "SUV is not a Ferrari" or branding "OEM is always better". Take a look of brakes Toyota designed for LS and RX side by side. Car LS400 (94-00) RX300 AWD (99-03) Weight 3889lbs 3,924lbs Front Rotor Diameter 315mm 295.8mm # of piston per front caliper 4 1 Piston Clamp Both Sides of Rotor Yes No Rear Rotor Diameter 306.8mm 287.8mm Rear Rotor Vented Yes No Brake are larger and better for Lexus LS400 over RX SUV: 1) rotor and clamping force are much better both in front and rear 2) rear rotor has better cooling capacity 3) both front and rear rotors have more mass to store heat and resist to warping. This is all for a lighter conservative sedan over a heavier "Sport" Utility Vehicle. If Lexus believe LS's brake is properly design, then RX is severely undersized

The stock rotors and pads are one of the better features of the RX. They have good stopping power and I consider them as safe as anything out there. I rarely hear of the rotors warping. If yours warped, it is most likely due to something like stuck piston, or super heating the rotors then running through cool water, etc. I replaced my pads with stock pads at around 70k and will do the same around 140k. Hopefully, I will never have to touch the rotors. It also helps to realize you are driving a Camry station wagon not a Ferrari. Brake is a safety item. No compact car owner will say air bags are not necessary because he doesn't drive a luxury car. Same idea applies here, when a SUV owner needs to stop to avoid an accident, I don't think he will think "hey I have a SUV, if I hit that truck in front, it is OK". The fact is heavier cars with higher payload stop longer for the same brake setup. If one says a 4 ton SUV with brake borrowed from a family sedan is sufficient, well, that is the person I want to avoid on the road.

Doesn't look like streetbeatcustom.com has lexus rotors.. I didn't see it on there website? Any other place to look? I found the Akebono Ceramic pads.. thanks http://www.streetbeatcustoms.com/rotora-sl...xus-rx-300.html Rotora's E-coating is a heat and rust resistant paint on non-frictional surfaces (vanes and hub).

You can buy Rotora slotted and E-coats rotors from streetbeatcustom.com. Akebono Ceramic Pad from www.rockauto.com. Both are cheaper and as good, if not better than OEM. Do yourself a favor and don't buy ebay no brand.

Yes, service manual says 79 lb-ft for bolts that hold the bracket, 25 lb-ft for bolts that hold the caliper. Six point sockets only and soak bolts with PB blaster.

No, if I remember it right, a circular carving out of the differential "ball" houses the drain plug, but those six points of the plug are touching the circle, making it impossible for me to attach a regular craftsman socket or open wrench. Perhaps a thin wall socket will fit better.

All the nuts and bolts, drain and fill plugs, etc. of a Toyota / Lexus are METRIC sizes From my experience, it is the "claws" of your regular Craftsman wrench that are too thick, not the size of the opening. Toyota did not leave enough room to fit either a socket or a open ended wrench because the drain plug is carved into the metal differential "ball". rx300leo: I have no issues to have tiny amount of dino GL-5 to mix with Synthetic. Another member posted he changed to Mobil 1 synthetic, drove around for 1 month and drain & fill again. I did not since both Syn and traditional oil complies with API GL-5 oil standard and do not want to risk to strip the drain bolt. Just do what you feel comfortable, I don't believe it is an issue you should lose sleep over. Again, that is just me.