Is300 Shuddery Brakes/warped Disc?

[Leozack]

So I've noticed recently on my 03 IS300 that it was a bit shuddery under breaking, and that if I listened with the windows open while driving slowly I could hear the typical soft whooshy sound every cycle of the wheels as I drove past things - seeminly from the driver side.

I got my mate to take a look and he said it appears my driver side front disc is warped as the rubbing on it wasn't uniform and seemed to skip sections. I just tried to take some photos of it just now in hard sunlight and couldn't really see my phone screen well so the results aren't good but to me they appear identical mostly on both front sides - this may be because it hasn't really moved since I hosed it down a couple days ago? Maybe it needs some driving/breaking to be visible. He also said he could get me lexus discs at trade prices and I shouldn't bother getting the local lexus dealership to do the job as it's only an hour to do them both if he did it. But then I like the simplicity and peace of mind of just paying for a garage to sort parts/labour and get the job done in a visit.

Anyone have any thoughts? Pics may be useless until I've driven it a bit. I think the part numbers are RS3445 according to herehttp://www.carparts-direct.co.uk/?i=390&ModelDetail=LEXUS+IS&ii=474711
And online I see them for less than that in $US which is annoying to see high prices in £GPB as usual >_>

Edit - seems despite making pictures small in here they're showing massive - sorry

Passenger :

Driver :

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Cant really tell from those pics but it does look as though your discs have a bit of a lip. They also don't look in that great condition either. It could also be a siezed calliper causing the vibration.

As for discs, I bough OEM from the lexus dealer, front 2 discs. Changed them myself, took about 30 mins including a tea break. :)

[petayV8]

theres no way of knowing if there warped from looking. A garage will use a little tool that checks the surface, spin the wheel and look out for a reading. I dont know what there called but there prob cheap. If there warped you should feel it in the peddle when rotating too. Why not quickly jack it up and give it a spin also this will show any obvious signs of either a sticky caliper or warped discs. Being a auto its inevitable there going to get a little warped a bit quicker than normal but its only if its causing vibrations in the steering wheel its serious enough to need new discs.

Ive seen pairs of good makes such as mintex online for around £100 with pads too. If you do get new discs in future try and knock it into N when stood still for long periods of time in heavy traffic

[Leozack]

[NB - just dug through invoices and found MOT notes from last December - says "front disc worn, pitted or scored - but not seriously weakened" - it says the same about "rear disc" but doesnt' say which. Maybe I'm looking at 4 new ones then? Tbh I'm used to Toyota garage replacing everything rather than just leaving notes about it like Lexus have it seems]

Thanks for the thoughts - well before it was washed the other day the driver side one looked clearly different to the other because instead of the usual signs of radial wear, the wear would skip little bits on its way round - as it were. Hard to describe but it made sense that in places it wasn't being rubbed and others it was. And yes when turning sideways hard things don't seem quite right and the wobbling under heavy breaking is indeed concerning and a big clue - and primary motivation to get it sorted.

Now you mention holding brakes on a lot I guess I am rather guilty of that and have generally only thought about the consequences on brakelights staying on rather than the discs staying clamped - especially when you have 5 like I do now :D Perhaps I'll switch to N+handbrake more often if it will save on discs too.

In the meantime I guess I can look for discs or disc+pad combos online and compare to tradeprice OEMs. Anyone have any particular recommendations? I've been driving this one 1.5y and its only recently bringing the wobbling to the forefront.

[petayV8]

[NB - just dug through invoices and found MOT notes from last December - says "front disc worn, pitted or scored - but not seriously weakened" - it says the same about "rear disc" but doesnt' say which. Maybe I'm looking at 4 new ones then? Tbh I'm used to Toyota garage replacing everything rather than just leaving notes about it like Lexus have it seems]

Thanks for the thoughts - well before it was washed the other day the driver side one looked clearly different to the other because instead of the usual signs of radial wear, the wear would skip little bits on its way round - as it were. Hard to describe but it made sense that in places it wasn't being rubbed and others it was. And yes when turning sideways hard things don't seem quite right and the wobbling under heavy breaking is indeed concerning and a big clue - and primary motivation to get it sorted.

Now you mention holding brakes on a lot I guess I am rather guilty of that and have generally only thought about the consequences on brakelights staying on rather than the discs staying clamped - especially when you have 5 like I do now :D Perhaps I'll switch to N+handbrake more often if it will save on discs too.

In the meantime I guess I can look for discs or disc+pad combos online and compare to tradeprice OEMs. Anyone have any particular recommendations? I've been driving this one 1.5y and its only recently bringing the wobbling to the forefront.

Yeah theres always that forward motion in D of course, and after heavy use with hot pads, to hold it on the disc will slowly but surely warp them.

I just had a quick look, get a pair of standard brembo discs for £60ish. easy to fit yourself like Chris said too. Wheel off 5 mins, caliper off 5 mins. pull disc off. simples