Jim,
Have an 06 lx470 and the brakes are starting to squeal. I also need new tires. But I HATE dealers--especially the one in my rural area. How should I go about replacing them both. My husband is a farmer and could do it all except the balancing of the tires. Do you recommend or no?
Need advice on what brakes and tires to buy and where to get. Had been looking at General grabber hts, continental crosscontct lx, kumho roadven apt kl51 and cooper discoverer cts. Many sources seem to have them on backorder and local dealers say they cant get them.
Not sure where to even start on what to do about brakes. Should I get an inspection/estimate to find out what is needeed? You seem to be a wealth of information. Any advice you have would be appreciated. It is mostly used as a grocery getter/kiddo carter, but gets to go off road on occaision...
Also, seat heaters quit working a few months ago, but when accidentally flipped on make the console and under the gearshift really hot. Best way to handle??
Thank you,
Amanda
asuapplepie@yahoo.com
Don't bother resurfacing rotors. BTW, it's usually not the rotor that warps. Rather, it's an uneven depositing of brake pad material on the rotor from an improper break-in process. To properly break-in new pads/rotors, you are supposed to pre-warm the rotor (very easy braking a few times), then accelerate to 60-70mph fast, brake hard (not so hard that the ABS kicks in, but almost as hard) down to 5mph, immediately accelerate back to 60, brake hard again down to 5. Do this 3-4x. Now drive easy for 10 min or so w/o using brakes at all. Then repeat the sequence once more, drive home (trying not to use the brakes), park in the garage (don't use the e-brake!), let sit overnight. The break-in process burns off the deposits on new pads and deposits pad material evenly on the rotor. Stoptech has a good description of what really happens...
http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_warped_brakedisk.shtml
Now that said, the OEM toyota rotors/pads are so-so (OEM honda rotors/pads are better, IMHO). I installed A.R.T. cryogenically frozen slotted rotors w/ Porterfield R4s carbon/kevlar pads (and stoptech braided stainless hoses, added on 6 months later). Braking is excellent, no signs of rotor/pad wear after 2 yrs of use. The harder you brake, the better they brake. BTW, the ART rotors are considerably heavier than the OEM lexus/toyota rotors, which means more iron/higher density inside (more heat-sinking ability). The alternative I was going to go with are the Powerslot cryogenically frozen slotted rotors w/ the same pads. Price would have been about the same, but there's a guy on the ih8mud forum who has a LC w/ 35" tires and pulls a trailer. Nothing would stop his rig except the ARTs, so I decided to give them a try.
For some background, I've been using the Powerslot non-cryo slotted rotors (brembo blanks) w/ R4s pads on my 86 4runner for 7 yrs. After 7 yrs, there was still about 40% pad material remaining, and the pads/rotors were wearing together at the same rate. There was no sign of the warped feel, either. One key thing to remember when installing rotors is to evenly torque the bolts in a criss-cross pattern with a torque wrench. DO NOT use a pneumatic wrench to install, as they don't sense torque. I had a toyota dealer change my rotors/pads back in 2000 on my 4runner (ran $1K) and within 1 yr, they had that warped feeling. That's when I tore it down myself and installed the Powerslots w/ Porterfield pads for $300. I recently sold the car and the brakes were still good 7 yrs and 95K miles later!
I would avoid cross-drilled. You lose too much surface area from the holes, plus if you don't drill them correctly, they tend to crack around the holes. Slotted are better, IMHO.
