Do Not Sell My Personal Information Jump to content


Gs 2006> Important Rear Brake Caliper Failure


Recommended Posts

Dear All,

Can anyone who owns or has owned a Lexus GS 2006-2010 which has had either:

ONE or BOTH of the rear brake calipers FAIL/SEIZE please post below? (Regardless if it was done under warranty or not)

I am aware that Lexus/Lexus dealers know this is a problem, but want to know how widespread this issue is.

Kind regards,

TC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lexus did a rear brake recall but it wasn't for this, my car has already had this historic recall performed.

This rear brake caliper is not part of the Lexus "voluntary recall" or "safety recall" program... But Lexus are aware of seizing rear brake calipers but have not put it in the public domain!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, mine has had rear calipers changed twice! 1st time as a re call and then again about 2 1/2 years later this time as a warranty claim ( they tried to knock this claim back saying only sudden failures are covered, I dont think so!!) Does seem to be a problem and to be honest I could not tell mine was affected by driving it, only seems to show up on a brake tester.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Had one seized caliper changed, had to pay as I was told it wasn't covered under warranty.

Dealer said they had no knowledge of any other failures on the GS.

Bullcrap - rear caliper seizing is a well known issue with the GS - probably the most common after 'squeaks and rattles' and 'dodgy xenons'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just had full service on my 08 450h, and they told me rear calipers seized (" salt on the road" or some such nonsense) and replacements would cost ~£650. Car < 4 years old with 47K on clock!

This is obviously a basic problem with this part. Luckily remembered my 12 months' warranty - got car in Feb '11, so Lexus paid for it. Could it be that regenerative braking means that rear brakes not applied often enough (if you drive with fuel economy in mind, which I usually do) which increases probability of caliper seizure? What do people think? I am going to try an emergency stop about once a month and hope that reduces risk of seizing.

My previous GS 300 Mk 2 did 237K miles and one rear caliper seized once, and it was refurbed by my local mechanic (NOT LEXUS!) for about £100. Incidentally, he often said that the Mk 2 was a "lovely car to work on - so well engineered" - I wonder what he'll say about my 450h?

By the by, want to replace the original orangey side light bulbs with white LEDs to match the white HID headlights - has anyone done it? Do you simply yank out the bulb from its holder - mine appear to be stuck in with superglue! I imagine the Lexus garage would charge about £200 for that job ("complimentary cappuchino" tho'!).

General 450h update

ACC is great - single best upgrade I've ever had. Doing > 25K per year on busy motorways, it really makes driving less tiring.

Skinny spare is horrible - I've just bought a full-sized original Lexus spare wheel on eBay (the only one I've ever seen advertised) so I don't have to rush off and buy the first tyre I can find (and pay top-whack) in the event of a tyre-wrecking puncture (which they often are on modern heavy cars, in my experience) Unfortunately, it doesn't fit in the 450h's boot.

Do others find the 2008 version satnav a real pain in the a**e?

I've spent a long time with the manual (written in Sanskrit) , and have previously mastered computers, video recorders and mobile phones, but still find the satnav completely unintuitive - to the extent that I've given up using it.

All for now - look forward to other 450h owners' views.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

"Could it be that regenerative braking means that rear brakes not applied often enough (if you drive with fuel economy in mind, which I usually do) which increases probability of caliper seizure? What do people think?"

Mine's a 2008 GS300, so no regenerative braking, but this problem was identified at the last service. There is a Lexus TSB on this, SSC9LB JAN 09, so I don't expect to have to pay for a fix. It was identified as an  issue 2 years ago, and I'll be asking for it to be sorted at the next annual service. In my case, it shows up as a sqeaking noise from the near side rear, but only when reversing.</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

hello tom tom

i have a '06 gs450h which i have owned less than a year

went in for 80k service

all went well bar both rear calipers failed

thankfully both replaced under warranty

excellent service from dealers

peli0011

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a TSB in the US about this, I assume there is within the UK too. I think the US are doing more than just a TSB (which normally isn't acted on unless the customer experiences the issue), there is a service campaign which means they will check/correct as a matter of course during a service.

Seems to affect 2006/2007 models, not just the GS because the IS uses the same brakes, and involved replacing the dust boots with revised ones and regreasing the pins if it passes inspection, if not replacing the calipers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • 1 month later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share



×
×
  • Create New...