Hand (foot brake adjustment )

[Steven9233]

My foot brake was not brilliant , found I was having to stamp on it for it to hold before putting in park rather than the dreadful habit people get into of holding on the gearbox ! Not good I’ve been told. And my drive is only slight incline . Looked on YouTube and found a few vids relating to adjustment on the foot brake type with a drum set up internal to disc ! Not Lexus is250 specific but other models of same set up and some useful instructions I found  on google Had no idea , I assumed was calliper .  Very easy - wheel off , calliper off (one bolt ) , you can either slide disc off or use the inspection hole after removing rubber grommet , click one at a time on the cog using a screwdriver towards the front of car until disc no longer turns then back off two clicks , I’ve tested and driven , now holds lovely without having to stamp on it , still around 7 clicks on the pedal but holds as should and without excess effort . I should have made a vid for the feeling of pride !! But very easy to do . I also cleaned the set up and inside of hub with brake cleaner lots of brown brake dust cleared . The shoes were around 2.5-3mm thick which for this service I believe is as they should be . Most if you probably know all the above - but one comment I’d make is the cleaning of internals where the shoe meets face of hub has probably had most effect . It’s now shiny and clean rather than brown coating of dust . Took me 10-15 mins a side also cleaned up the arms and springs of dirt - why not as there anyway . 

[true blue]

Hi Steve ,well done on adjusting the parking brake if you have not done it before ,it is as you have described and as in your case usually quite straight forward.All I would add ,especially for someone who has not done it before is you may find the calliper pins seized ,this is common and can vary from difficult to well nigh impossible to move depending on previous maintenance.Also some wear may occur to the drum which means a ridge forms making the drum difficult to remove you will need to back off the adjustment first before removing the drum ,do not use too much force to lever the drum off or the spring and pin mountings for the shoes will be damaged .as well as your clean up you also have the opportunity to grease the slider pins to prevent seizures.This is common and well documented on here

Dave

[Steven9233]

Thanks for the good advice !   As it happens I had the slider pins checked and lubricated not long after I bought the car as I had seen the issue on the forums . My car had been sat for 6 months as the previous owner was abroad , he then sold it as decided to live abroad “good choice I say “. Not long after having the sliders checked and callipers checked and lubed the OS Caliper stuck on (dragging ) as the car under warranty it had new Caliper and I insisted on new discs and pads that I paid towards as there was nothing wrong with them , I just wanted it done. 
I’ve  been told to get the callipers and sliders serviced once a year which I will do , likely will use lextech in Southampton for yearly service . I will also change my oil my self at 6 monthly it’s just something I’ve always done . So two oils changes a year , slider check , and always super unleaded .  Another member also recommended some valve cleaner in the tank every few thousand miles . To be fair the brake job was easy likely as it’s all been recently serviced and new discs- I say recently around 6 months ago now . And I don’t reckon they cleaned the shoes and system as lots dust . Shame they didn’t adjust the foot brake then . Thanks 

[Steven9233]

I have a vested interest in keeping it tip top, it’s the last of its kind i reckon . I test drove the newer Shape 250 , and it just is not as well made (sorry if that offends Mk3 owners ) I think my car is the cheapest out of my work mates , they all have 40-70k cars , a horrid line up of 1.0 turbo engines or diesels or even worse a hybrid !!  I’d much rather have an older car that’s special In my opinion - V6- effortless , power to the rear . Magic .  She’s just hit 48k now so barely run in for a Lexus (everyone says ) at least , I’m an ex Honda man and they were pretty much unbreakable - or the old school ones at least . I always said if god forbid we ever were to have nuclear war , three things would still be ok - cockroaches , Honda F20 2.0 petrol engine , Honda 3.5 legend engine .  I’m sure Lexus must be the same , but have absolutely no faith at all in the hybrid set up in the newer 300h my friend has one of those perfectly pleasant but give me v6 any day 

[true blue]

Great to see the car looked after properly ;I agree with you the IS250 is a reliable car well worth keeping and lasting well with regular maintenance ,I have had mine 8 years and I don't know what I would replace it with .I find it strange that a garage changed the pads and discs and did not clean out the inside of the hub and reset the handbrake to the required clearance ,if you are sure the discs are new which would have needed their removal I would not be taking the car there again for any work as their standard appears below industry standards

Dave

[Mr Vlad]

Hi Steve. Excellent thread you've started. So you press your foot operated hand brake down 7 clicks? That to me seems a lot. I'm sure my car only clicks 4 or 5 times. My car goes to Lexus every year as it has a full lexus history and they check it and in 4 services in my ownership have adjusted it once. 

[Sundance]

My RX400h had new rear brake pads fitted 20 miles before I bought the car 7 weeks ago. The play on the parking brake goes almost to the floor and I was surprised that it wasn't adjusted at the same time but it may not be as straight forward as it is on the IS250. We'll see on Wednesday as it's booked in to my Indy for adjustment.

[Mr Vlad]

Steven I've just re read your thread. You mentioned adjusting the handbrake towards the front of the car. 

Using a clock face where is the adjuster? 12 o'clock 3 o'clock 6 o'clock or 9 o'clock?

Reason I ask is a few weeks ago I serviced my rear calipers and took off the rubber spyhole grommet but could not for the life of me see the adjuster. 

Reason I wanted to adjust was because I'm having an issue with the handbrake warning light flickering on and off and sometimes staying on. Yes possibly a dodgy sensor or a wire I know but since I stopped using the handbrake no warning light issue. So it's a culmination of adjusting at the rear wheel and at the foot pedal. 

[Beamish]

 

On the drivers side the adjuster is at the 9 o'clock position and at the passenger side it is at the 3 o'clock position.

Before you adjust at the rear wheel, slacken off the cable completely in the footwell. Adjust at he wheels till they are just begining to bind, slacken off a notch then adjust the cable 

in the footwell to take up any free play in the foot lever.

Hope this helps.

Dec.

[Mr Vlad]

Thanks Dec 👍