Brake Disc Ware

[Cookep]

Can anyone help regarding expected brake disc ware on a Lexus RX350? My local dealer is suggesting my wife's car requires its second set of discs in less than 50k miles!

[steve2006]

Hello and welcome to the LOC.

There are a lot of variables to be taken into account.

Are we talking front or rears here?

Driving style and conditions determines the wear rate of discs, if there is a lot of heavy braking involved they wear faster, every time it rains and the discs get a layer of rust on them thats life used.

Lexus will check you discs by the book, this will involve measuring the thickness of the discs and if this falls below the minimum recommended figure they will recommend replacement.

Can you visibly see any wear lip on the edge of the disc?

I would also ask the dealer the reason they recommend replacement.

There are also good after market discs and pads available so they don't have to be Toyota/Lexus branded, you also don't have to have them fitted by Lexus any decent independent garage should be able to do the job.

As an extreme example my 18 year old LS400 has done 78,000 mile from new and it is still on the original discs with no sign of wear but there again it doesn't go very far or very fast so the discs last longer.

[Cookep]

Thanks Steve. My wife has a Sept 2007 RX350 which has done ~48k miles. Mostly a 17ml daily commute plus occasional longer motorway runs (1/2 a month) My local dealer is suggesting the discs are 80% wore on the front and need replacing for the second time. The rears are also 75% wore and will require replacing next time. So the RX is managing ~25k miles per set of discs.

The dealer suggests this is normal for a "large heavy 4x4" but I have an Audi A8 quattro, also a large heavy 4x4, and that has just had its first set of replacement discs 48k miles. My previous Mercedes E320CDI managed 60k+ before needing new discs, but that did more motorway driving.

The RX wear therefore seems excessive, for no apparent reason. Any thoughts? I'd like to contact Lexus regarding this as I'm very unhappy with this level of wear and the resultant maintenance costs!

[steve2006]

It does seem low mileage for disc wear out, my brake pads last for that long nevermind the discs.

When lexus say 80% worn ask what the figures actually are i.e. new disc thickness is ?? and the discs present thickness is ??.

As I asked before can you actually see any wear on the discs usually indicated by a raised ridge on the outer portion where the pads do not contact?

You could also get a second opinion, some fast fit centres offer a free brake check which normally includes checking the disc thickness although I wouldn't use them for the actual work.