Brake Wear Sensors

[Gibbon62]

Hello. My brake wear sensor warning popped up the other day. I have decided to replace all the pads and the disks as this is something I have been meaning to do for ages. The disks are grooved and at least one is slightly warped. 

My question is this. Is there a brake wear sensor on every wheel? Or is one per axle? 

And...is the sensor the same part number for both front and rear? I have found replacements for £10 each, so not massive money, but don't know how many to buy. 

I am also getting four shiny new Pirelli P Zeros fitted at the same time, so not a cheap month, but it will be very satisfying to know it is all done. Nothing nicer than seeing your car with new brakes and tyres.....

Kind regards. 

John

[Malc]

are these Pirellis the best comfort wise for your car then ?

I only ask in a circumspect way coz the Pirellis I had on my Honda Legend, whilst brilliant wear ..  never wore out ........  were goddam not comfortable a ride ........  thank god they did wear out eventually and now with Falken, which, as on my old Ls400  ............... perform very well in all respects .........  and not that expensive either

just a thought !

Malc

[Gibbon62]

1 hour ago, Malc said:

are these Pirellis the best comfort wise for your car then ?

I only ask in a circumspect way coz the Pirellis I had on my Honda Legend, whilst brilliant wear ..  never wore out ........  were goddam not comfortable a ride ........  thank god they did wear out eventually and now with Falken, which, as on my old Ls400  ............... perform very well in all respects .........  and not that expensive either

just a thought !

Malc

Hi Malc.

Oh mate, I have spent countless hours looking at tyre reviews lately and have gone around in circles (pardon the pun).

I value comfort and quietness in tyres the most, and the Pirellis seem to have those qualities according to reviews. I guess I won't truly know until they are fitted. 

I wish tyres were like shoes, where you could try them on before you buy.....

[Malc]

then why not ( or maybe you have already ) asked the Forum Ls430 Members here about their thoughts !

It's a big big spend and will last many years whatever you decide 

and Brake Wear Sensors, well, on mine they have now ( my indy tells me ) been cut off and taped appropriately ...  they always showed as " worn " when there was mountains of wear left .  so infuriating tbh .  they just had to go

There was always plenty of wear left until the next service but one, when that gave enough time to prepare for discs, pads whatever at that next due service 

I've never missed them, just avoided the red warning light, and never had issues with changing the necessaries

Malc

[steve2006]

There is a wear sensor on each wheel so 4 in total, different part numbers for each one but at over £100.00 each from Lexus I would stick to aftermarket.

If the sensors are OK I would leave them.

I have Pirelli P-Zeros ( 245/45/18 100Y) all around on my LS430, when first fitted they sounded like I was on a gravel track but quietened down after a few miles and are now almost silent with great grip and little wear.

[Gibbon62]

1 hour ago, Malc said:

then why not ( or maybe you have already ) asked the Forum Ls430 Members here about their thoughts !

It's a big big spend and will last many years whatever you decide 

and Brake Wear Sensors, well, on mine they have now ( my indy tells me ) been cut off and taped appropriately ...  they always showed as " worn " when there was mountains of wear left .  so infuriating tbh .  they just had to go

There was always plenty of wear left until the next service but one, when that gave enough time to prepare for discs, pads whatever at that next due service 

I've never missed them, just avoided the red warning light, and never had issues with changing the necessaries

Malc

Hi Malc.

That isn't a bad idea. I find tyre reviews really confusing. So much is based on peoples expectations and what they are replacing. Even the professional tests differ in findings, and then you need to be aware of the date is the test, if the tyre is XL or not and the actual version of the tyre. 

I will put something out and see what I get back!

Cheers. 

John. 

[Gibbon62]

4 hours ago, steve2006 said:

There is a wear sensor on each wheel so 4 in total, different part numbers for each one but at over £100.00 each from Lexus I would stick to aftermarket.

If the sensors are OK I would leave them.

I have Pirelli P-Zeros ( 245/45/18 100Y) all around on my LS430, when first fitted they sounded like I was on a gravel track but quietened down after a few miles and are now almost silent with great grip and little wear.

Thanks Steve. I will save the sensors of possible or could opt to bypass them.

Are those Pirellis XL (extra load) - I think this makes a difference to sidewall stiffness....

[steve2006]

Yes they are XL 😀

[Razor61]

On 4/22/2022 at 1:05 PM, steve2006 said:

There is a wear sensor on each wheel so 4 in total

I have only seen 2 wear sensors, one for the front and one for the rear. I stand to be corrected though but for the 95 LS400 I had and current 98 LS400 there were/are 2 wear sensors.

[BigBoomer]

I may have to try the Pirelli P-Zero PZ4's next time.
I currently have the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 which are supposed to be 69dB (A rated) for noise, but are actually pretty bad noise wise compared to the Avon ZZ5s (70dB) that they replaced.
Noisy enough that I won't buy them again. On that crappy section of the M25 from J8 to J11 the noise was so loud I actually had to raise my voice to speak with the missus. 
Nobody seems to be making quiet tyres any more. They all seem to be 70-72dB now with very few below that.
I guess they are focussing on "efficiency" and actually want noisy tyres because pedestrians can't hear electric cars (and Lexus LSes) coming.

 

[steve2006]

6 hours ago, Razor61 said:

I have only seen 2 wear sensors, one for the front and one for the rear. I stand to be corrected though but for the 95 LS400 I had and current 98 LS400 there were/are 2 wear sensors.

I know my 1994 had them on each wheel but whether this was an import thing or just the earlier models I’m not sure.

[Razor61]

1 hour ago, steve2006 said:

I know my 1994 had them on each wheel but whether this was an import thing or just the earlier models I’m not sure.

Just looked at epc data and it shows 4 wear sensors for the mk2, that is doing things properly! A wear sensor per wheel when normally it’s one per axle, impressive.

[steve2006]

When cars were made for quality not price 😀

[Peter Stott]

I have just replaced all brake pads on my 1998 LS400 which has pad wear indicators, one per axle, RHS. These pad wear indicators appear to be the same front and back but some suppliers only stock "front", therefore less choice of suppliers and higher prices . I am going to order both and compare them ......  

 

[ColinBarber]

3 hours ago, Peter Stott said:

I have just replaced all brake pads on my 1998 LS400 which has pad wear indicators, one per axle, RHS. These pad wear indicators appear to be the same front and back but some suppliers only stock "front", therefore less choice of suppliers and higher prices . I am going to order both and compare them ......  

 

They are a different design so you cannot use rears on the front etc. If you replace your pads before you damage the wear detector you don't need to replace them, just move from old to new.

[BigBoomer]

The best wear "sensors" ever were on my Vauxhall Carlton Diplomat. They consisted of a piece of spring steel on one of the pads on each caliper that touched the disk when the pads were at 2mm thickness and the SCREEEEEEEEECH that the spring made guaranteed that you changed the pads PDQ!! 🤣

[ColinBarber]

1 hour ago, BigBoomer said:

The best wear "sensors" ever were on my Vauxhall Carlton Diplomat. They consisted of a piece of spring steel on one of the pads on each caliper that touched the disk when the pads were at 2mm thickness and the SCREEEEEEEEECH that the spring made guaranteed that you changed the pads PDQ!! 🤣

That's pretty much how every Toyota and Lexus works if there isn't an electronic warning - built into the pad retaining clip:

https://lexuspartsdirect.co.uk/product/lexus-is-phase-2-front-pad-wear-indicator/

 

[DJT]

On 4/22/2022 at 1:05 PM, steve2006 said:

There is a wear sensor on each wheel so 4 in total, different part numbers for each one but at over £100.00 each from Lexus I would stick to aftermarket.

If the sensors are OK I would leave them.

I have Pirelli P-Zeros ( 245/45/18 100Y) all around on my LS430, when first fitted they sounded like I was on a gravel track but quietened down after a few miles and are now almost silent with great grip and little wear.

On my 2004 LS430 I only have 2 brake wear sensors. One at front and one at back. Bought a set of 2 of eBay for £22 delivered. Front and rear brake wear sensors are different lengths  

[Malc1]

Dave hi. Out of interest what tyres are you using ?

Malc 

[DJT]

Hi am on what previous owner had fitted Riken all season tyres. When these need replacing I'm going to a top tier all season tyre. As winter weather can last up to 5 months. 

[Malc1]

Wow. I had never heard of Riken but now reading it’s a Michelin manufactured tyre …… so they must be good, surely 🤔

Malc 

[DJT]

Hi malc not as good as Michelin all season tyres. Riken are fitted to my mondeo. On both cars are quite noisy. Have a very good milage life.  

[BigBoomer]

All Season/All Weather tyres are always going to be noisy. They need bigger blocks to get the grip which leads to more noise.
They are also a compromise so are never going to excel at any one thing.
In southern UK I have always stuck with summer tyres year round. In the winter they are a little harsher and noisier, but decent brands last well and in spring/summer/autumn they are quiet and grip well. Here it is rare that we get snow for more than a few days per year so All Season/Weather or Winter tyres are just not worth the hassle.
However, if I lived in Caithness I would get a set of cheap scabby wheels and fit winter tyres to those. They should last 7 or 8 winters. 😁

[DJT]

Bigboomer winter can last up to 5 months. All seasons beat summer tyres when temp drops to 7c. A hot summers day is 20c. My Michelin cross climate I've got on my renault scenic RX4 are very quiet compared to the riken tyres. They excel in snow don't how they perform on ice. Riken on LS with black ice are OK. Acceleration is fine braking is another story. Get no feed back from front of LS430. 

[BigBoomer]

21 hours ago, DJT said:

Bigboomer winter can last up to 5 months. All seasons beat summer tyres when temp drops to 7c. A hot summers day is 20c. My Michelin cross climate I've got on my renault scenic RX4 are very quiet compared to the riken tyres. They excel in snow don't how they perform on ice. Riken on LS with black ice are OK. Acceleration is fine braking is another story. Get no feed back from front of LS430. 

Winter tyres are softer and provide more grip as they warm up faster. They also have bigger blocks so grip better in snow.
However, if All Seasons work for you, that's great.

The only tyres that work on ice are studded tyres, but they trash tarmac.
When we lived in north Sweden, we had to change to studded tyres within a government mandated 2 week period.
They make a huge difference when driving on snow/ice.