Noisy Rear Brakes

iain57 · June 10, 2015

Hopefully, someone has experienced this and is able to advise.

RX300 LE 2005

When braking, gently, there is a grinding noise coming from the rear, near side, wheel.

The noise is consistent with the speed at which the wheel is turning.

My wife describes it as being similar to the noise a washing machine makes as it is slowing down from the spin cycle!

You do not get the noise when the car is cold, I.e when you, first, set off in the morning but after a few miles and some braking the noise starts up.

You don't get it with very light braking or with heavy braking, only the bit inbetween.

My local garage, not a Lexus dealer, has stripped down the brake assembly, twice, freed up any sticking calipers etc, but the noise is still there. The only thing they found was that the caliper pin on that side did not have a rubber bush on it but they didn't seem to think that would causevthe noise we are getting.

I will be replacing the bushes on both sides in the, vague, hope it solves the problem but, in the meantime, any other suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks

Iain

ColinBarber · June 10, 2015

Normally this is when the surface of the disc is corroded, normally at the edge. This occurs when you have a sticking calliper meaning the disc surface isn't being used and therefore corrodes.

Parrot of Doom · June 11, 2015

If you're certain it's the caliper then I'd have it removed and completely reconditioned. Could it also be the dust shield?

ChrisKaye · June 12, 2015

Hi, this should be a fairly simple diy fix to strip the calliper and bracket & remove the disc.

Wire brush the corrosion / rust off the parts, if you have any problems moving/removing the sliding pins by hand then you will have most likely found the issue! It's all simple to do at home but takes a lot of time - no special tools are required.

To be on the safe-side there is an eBay chap that sells RX calliper refurb kits for a few quid, which includes the lithium soap great for the pins, rubber grommets and new pins. The Lexus/Toyota parts are eye wateringly expensive for what they are!

Once my parts were off, I sprayed them to stop them rusting up again.

Be warned that if you get any rubber grommets with the metal collars (see pic below) they will not work! 2 rubber grommets from dealer was £55! It's about £23 for the kit from eBay!

Hope this helps.

iain57 · July 9, 2015

Thanks to all who replied to my query.

An update on where we are.

The caliper has been stripped down and reassembled 3 times now, the most recent by a Lexus dealership.

In all of this, they have been unable to find the cause of the rattle. Dealer has given the caliper, disc and pads a clean bill of health so the annoying mystery remains!

I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and replace the discs and pads to see if it cures it.

ChrisKaye · July 9, 2015

Could be the parking brake shoes.

Just had EXACTLY the same problem with near side rear wheel on our 53 plate celica, changed pads, cleaned up disc and totally refurbed the calliper and noise was still there!

Wound the cog so parking drum shoe was totally backed off, spun wheel by hand and hey presto, noise gone. Readjusted cog so drum shoe was back in the right position and balanced with the offside, spun wheel again and annoying light "grinding" sound was back!

Hard to explain the noise but VERY similar to the sound a pad makes against the disc when only the backing plate is left...

When I can be bothered to take it ALL apart again, and finally fix it, I'll let you know what & how!

Rest assured it is merely annoying and not life and death.

Hope this helps,

Chris