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Hi all,

Just had my car serviced (2006 58k) and was advised that both rear calipers are seized (the slide pins being the culprit).

They will hopefully be replaced under the extended warranty however my concern is the frequency with which these cars seem to go through them. Is there a revised design/modified part I should ask for to prevent further issues down the line as I can see another set being required in my ownership and probably when I'm out of warranty!

Never had a problem with the calipers on my old BMW 525d which I kept for 9 years and didn't expect the Lexus to throw up such things.

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Not sure if there is a modified design/part but I have just had my near side rear replaced which was sticking and mine is a new 2012 model just 5 months old. Seems to be a common Lexus problem as my IS 250 had the same problem

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Not sure if there is a modified design/part but I have just had my near side rear replaced which was sticking and mine is a new 2012 model just 5 months old. Seems to be a common Lexus problem as my IS 250 had the same problem

Surprising to hear it's something cropping up on a new design too.

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Watch them on the extended warranty, they tried to refuse my rear caliper claim saying " gradual deteriation is not covered" !! Argue hard, they always crumble and back down. Muppets! I think my 06 450h has had 5 or 6 rear calipers so it just keeps happening.

The extended warranty is sold by but not undewritten by Lexus so it really is just another dodgy insurance policy but they HATE it if you complain to Lexus Customer Services.

Good luck Tony

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I was told the same thing on my '06 GS450h, but as I'll replace them myself they said that I would probably just get away with sanding down the sliders with emery cloth and adding copper grease to keep them lubricated (which I will do soon as the rear discs and pads require replacement!). I'm hoping its as simple as this anyway!

I shall keep you posted on my progress (if I can get my pads and discs sometime soon anyway as not in stock :rolleyes: )

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Watch them on the extended warranty, they tried to refuse my rear caliper claim saying " gradual deteriation is not covered" !! Argue hard, they always crumble and back down. Muppets! I think my 06 450h has had 5 or 6 rear calipers so it just keeps happening.

The extended warranty is sold by but not undewritten by Lexus so it really is just another dodgy insurance policy but they HATE it if you complain to Lexus Customer Services.

Good luck Tony

Thanks Tony, one concern, the warranty I purchased was sold as a Lexus Warranty and I'm currently waiting on the dealership advising me on Lexus' decision on this. Was your warranty Lexus branded too?

5 or 6 rear calipers.......thats taking the royal ***** if you ask me.

I'm equally unimpressed by this, given how superbly well engineered other aspects of the car are.

I was told the same thing on my '06 GS450h, but as I'll replace them myself they said that I would probably just get away with sanding down the sliders with emery cloth and adding copper grease to keep them lubricated (which I will do soon as the rear discs and pads require replacement!). I'm hoping its as simple as this anyway!

I shall keep you posted on my progress (if I can get my pads and discs sometime soon anyway as not in stock :rolleyes: )

Great! Sounds like a workaround for the future depending on how I get along with the car. Do keep us posted on this, thanks.

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What I can't unserstand is when you remove the pins,regrease and reinsert where has all the grease gone the next time you do the same service, it can't leak out and the dust seal/cover bellows are always dry.

I have reservations about using copper based grease I feel it dries out very quickly and becomes abrasive as it does so tend to use molydisulphide (black coloured).

Finally old hat but perhaps grease nipples on the blind end of the slider hole would be an idea so grease can easily be pumped in there.

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Oh yes, but be assured they (Lexus ) farm it out to a insurance company, but the dealers are really good at processing any claims ( at least till it gets refused then you wade in)

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Yea perhaps coppper grease isnt the way forward and EP grease would do a better job! Good thinking! As said I'lll keep you posted...

I'm having a bit of a faff trying to get hold of my pads at the mo, as apparently brembo are low on stock of GS450h brake pads, front and rear and will be around a 2 week wait! =/

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I believe they have a dust boot on but until I've looked personally I can't confirm this.

Even though they have a dust boot it probably means water can still get in and cause corrosion, seems to be a common problem across the GS range!

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Lexus parts told me that their discs came as a 'handed' pair so they had to be fitted on the correct sides. Are the Mintex discs the same or does it really matter I wonder?

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Never heard of handed discs before, there must be some markings or specific part numbers stamped on them, I know tyres have the rotation direction arrows on them.

I would check the Mintex discs for any indicators or contact them if not.

I think the main thing is the hub mating flange is perfectly cleaned before fitting the new discs.

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Right, rear calliper issues. I'll just start by saying that if you are a complete novice and fancy a go at replacing your rear pads and discs and your calliper has been reported as "seized", STOP. It can get a little technical with plenty of profanities, large hammers, lots of tea drinking and finally when I plucked up the courage, a blow torch! I can actually see why Lexus replace the whole calliper as its not an easy/quick job!!!

As you probably know I had bought some Mintex rear brake discs, (£60) EBC RedStuff Pads Front and Rear (£144). I checked for likeness and the Mintex discs are practically identical to standard so that was fine! pads were perfect fit.

IMG_0195.jpg

73c673cd-84b9-4281-9e23-3c945330ca71.jpg

IMG_0200.jpg

As you can probably see from the pics the discs are not marked as handed in any way what so ever!

Now my pics start lacking a little as was on a tight schedule to get finished so missed the brake disassembly part out.

Anyway, I removed the calliper top slider which is a 19mm bolt head which then slides out of the calliper altogether. This wasn't corroded at all and came out easily.

Once this is out, the bottom slider (if in perfect lubed condition) should allow for the calliper to be folded over(pivoting on the bottom slider) away from the disc and then pushed backwards(towards the car), it will only be connected to the car via the flexi brake pipe which will allow you to move it out of the way on top of the hub/suspension assembly.

You then need to spin the hub around to find the brake shoe winder (star shaped thing inside the hole on the disc front) You need to wind this (in whichever direction makes the brak disc/hub easier to spin) with a flat blade screw driver to release the brake shoes from the drum. The disc should then be removable (with a bit of prying and brute force and ignorance, ie. big hammer to the disc face but NOT the braking surface, just in case you need to put them back on)

Disc and calliper removed it should look like this!

cf793b90-4c48-40a9-9ea8-0c8fd5691260.jpg

Now, if like me your slider is seized, then you may struggle to remove the calliper!

I can imagine in many cases where the rear discs and pads are replaced, that they don't actually remove the calliper from this lower pin, as you can remove the disc without taking it off completely. This is probably a reason why they get so corroded in the first place as they are not being removed and lubricated properly.

IMG_0201.jpg

In the picture you can see the lower slider is where the calliper sits, it becomes heavily corroded thus stopping you from removing the calliper. This side in the picture came off with a bit of a tap or two with a hammer, the other side I spent over an hour faffing about with a hammer and WD40 to no avail.

If you can imagine the calliper sitting there folded over to the side, I had to then get a blow torch and try not to melt the brake pipe, rubber boots and piston seals. (not as hard as it sounds) I then gave it a few whacks with a hammer and it came off! Like I said took me over an hour to pluck up the courage hehe!

You can also see a blob of copper grease which as Steve2006 said, has dried out which hasn't helped the issue!

I took some emery cloth and a wire brush and thoroughly cleaned up the slider and then applied a good smattering of Fuchs EP grease (molydisulphide) to the slider and also the hole in the calliper where it slides into.

IMG_0203.jpg

I then put it all back together with new discs, squeezed the piston back with a pair of pipe grips (on the old pads) and replaced the old pads with nice shiny redstuffs, made sure it slides back and forth nice and freely and that's it!

Not too bad to do, but if you do get into trouble you'll be stuffed, as you wont be able to move the car with the brakes in bits :eerrrmm:

I hope this helps anyone with this common issue in some way or form.

Cheers

Ben

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Oh and the side I struggled on, I ended up annihilating the lower slider dust boot, so there's not one on it at the mo. I've ordered a new 1 from Lexus so I shall have to dismantle it again to fit it. If anyone wants some more pictures of the whole assembly and dismantling procedure I shall take some then, probably next week.

I faffed about so much that I didn't even get to fit the front pads! So that's going to be tonight's task! :whistling:

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Excellent work, many thanks for this. Any other pics you can capture can only help!

I did the brakes on my 5 series many moons ago so not afraid to get my hands dirty if the time comes. Got new calipers and pads on the back now so keen to consider some preventative measures such as the EP grease on the sliders. Why do you suppose the lower ones are corroding and not the top pins? Proximity to water spray?

If so, are the seals not doing their job? Heat drying out the original lubricant??

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Lexus parts told me that their discs came as a 'handed' pair so they had to be fitted on the correct sides. Are the Mintex discs the same or does it really matter I wonder?

OEM front discs are sided and have a L and R engraved on the hub face of the disc

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The only reason I can see for the bottom sliders to corrode and not the top ones, is the fact that its static and sits inside a hole in the calliper, so if any moisture whatsoever gets in there it will stay in there and eventually cause corrosion!

Also I'm not pointing fingers or accusing any technicians of not doing there job, but I wonder if they are removing the calliper off of the lower slider, as you can remove the disc without taking it off of the bottom slider. If they're not taking it off, then its not being re-greased! On the other hand though, it's a very common problem to be lazy technicians :eerrrmm:

Oh and if you do replace your rear discs, make sure you get the hand brake adjustment right again by winding the brake shoe winder all the way on, so it locks the disc then backing it off 3 or 4 turns! If you don't, you'll get no parking brake or very poor operation at the least!

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The only reason I can see for the bottom sliders to corrode and not the top ones, is the fact that its static and sits inside a hole in the calliper, so if any moisture whatsoever gets in there it will stay in there and eventually cause corrosion!

Also I'm not pointing fingers or accusing any technicians of not doing there job, but I wonder if they are removing the calliper off of the lower slider, as you can remove the disc without taking it off of the bottom slider. If they're not taking it off, then its not being re-greased! On the other hand though, it's a very common problem to be lazy technicians :eerrrmm:

Oh and if you do replace your rear discs, make sure you get the hand brake adjustment right again by winding the brake shoe winder all the way on, so it locks the disc then backing it off 3 or 4 turns! If you don't, you'll get no parking brake or very poor operation at the least!

How dare you accuse me of being lazy :P

When I'm servicing them I generally find that the caliper sliders have siezed long before the rear brakes require renewing so they are as they left Japan

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How dare you accuse me of being lazy :P

When I'm servicing them I generally find that the caliper sliders have siezed long before the rear brakes require renewing so they are as they left Japan

I bet you worked on my car last lol :tomato: !!

Do you work in Cheltenham?

I can imagine you're completely correct about the sliders, as when you think about it, if my rear pads have been replaced once before and they applied copper grease then, it means they've been touched every 3.5 years. That's every 3.5 years for that slider hole to become full of moisture! Still blame you techs :hehe:

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Nice tutorial.

One thing to consider are the holes on the caliper into which the slider pins fit, these can also get clogged with old grease and rust so I tend to squirt some degreaser in them and then poke some rolled and twisted (tapered) kitchen roll in there and clean out as much as possible.

Also when pushing caliper pistons back release the bleed nipple to prevent back flow of the brake fluid which can damage seals but don't get any on paintwork!

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