LS400 front caliper rebuild service - Any recommendations?

[TimUK]

Front caliper on my '97 LS400 is just starting to stick slightly.  Seems like new calipers are unavailable, so will have to get them rebuilt.  Big Redd charge £220 for a pair, but I recall someone on here had some problems with them in the last few years, although they do seem to have generally good reviews.  Anyone else used them in recent years, or can recommend anyone else?  

[Supafly]

How do you know that it is the calipers that are starting to stick?  Are you feeling heat from the wheel or a bind/pull while you are driving?  Only asking to further my knowledge of the situation.

I have a weird bind when braking lightly while turning, I'm fairly sure it is down to degraded flexi's.

 

Regarding the refurb, I'm sure I've seen refurb kits with the pistons (four pot) somewhere but struggling to remember where now.... I'll go check my bookmarks to see if I saved it anywhere.

I've bought refurb kits from BigRed in the past but that was a long time ago.  No complaints from me.

[Supafly]

It was on eBay that I saw the rebuild kits, the kits come with new pistons too and seem relatively cheap.

 

No idea on quality etc as I've never used these.

[Supafly]

LS400 caliper upgrade & rebuild - Page 2 - ClubLexus - Lexus Forum Discussion

This might help if you fancy doing them yourself

[TimUK]

28 minutes ago, Supafly said:

How do you know that it is the calipers that are starting to stick?  Are you feeling heat from the wheel or a bind/pull while you are driving?  Only asking to further my knowledge of the situation.

Thanks for the replies.  Not noticed any heat/pulling, but I think that will just be a matter of time.  The past month I've been getting a slight vibration under light braking at high speed, so suspected a disc issue.  Local garage has just confirmed this, but said the root cause is a sticking offside caliper because one of the pads is more worn than the others (rather annoyingly the discs & pads were only replaced 10K ago).  Also, I can now see a build up of brake dust on the offside wheel.  

Rebuilding the calipers is definitely beyond my ability, so I'll leave it to the experts!  I did see those rebuild kits on eBay, but the garage have said they would prefer to use a rebuild service. 

[Malc1]

............. probably too late for you now that there seems to be the issue .  sadly

BUT

over 245k miles and 28 years my car has never, not yet anyway, had replacement calipers nor parts ...........  ok, they have at each and every service in my ownership ( 12 years and 120k miles )  with my indy servicing the car, always given the calipers the attention a diligent service guy would give them

There is zero Lexus servicing schedule for the calipers to my knowledge ...  it's just the diligence of the owner and the servicing guy to simply know that the calipers need checking over and making sure all is well and adjusted 

It's simply called preventative maintenance 😇

Malc

[TimUK]

2 hours ago, Malc1 said:

over 245k miles and 28 years my car has never, not yet anyway, had replacement calipers nor parts ...........  ok, they have at each and every service in my ownership ( 12 years and 120k miles )  with my indy servicing the car, always given the calipers the attention a diligent service guy would give them

Well, my car has a mere 160K and pretty much a complete service history, so this could well be the original caliper.  However, I doubt very much the calipers have been regularly checked over, other than when pads have been changed.  So maybe the extra diligence has paid off in your case.  Or maybe it's the higher mileage that's meant that your calipers have never remained still for too long 😀

[Supafly]

I haven't used them but a quick search brought up:

Lexus LS400 Brake Caliper Refurbishment Specialist (bcs-automotive.co.uk)

I've also checked GSF and Eurocarparts but nothing there....

Autodoc however, does list them and they are cheap from what I can tell circa £80 per caliper.  You'll need to check the fine print to see if there is a surcharge for sending back your calipers etc.  The pictures show a single piston caliper but the detail text specifies that it is four piston.

[TimUK]

12 hours ago, Supafly said:

Autodoc however, does list them and they are cheap from what I can tell circa £80 per caliper.  You'll need to check the fine print to see if there is a surcharge for sending back your calipers etc.  The pictures show a single piston caliper but the detail text specifies that it is four piston.

Thanks for the reply.  No front calipers on Autodoc are showing as in stock.  However, I did contact BCS who have quoted a similar price to Big Redd.  So it'll come down to which one I think will offer the better service.   

[Howplum]

There do seem to be a few caliper rebuilding companies listed, but whether they do an exchange service, or rebuild your own, would need checking.

I could only find one OE seal repair kit in the UK listed on eBay, although a few are listed in the US, so perhaps Toyota still make them.

The calipers listed on Autodoc and their associated websites all appear to be by manufacturers I have never heard of before, even if they in stock. I assume you want to stick with OEM though.

Have you asked another local garage if they are willing to refurbish the calipers? It's actually not that difficult once the pistons are extracted.

[Razor61]

I've used Brakes International for brake stuff and calipers for other cars in the past and their Budweg refurbished calipers have always been excellent.
The ones I bought were refurbished OEM calipers i.e. BMW E46 M3 calipers had the M/// logo in the casting. I'd bet the LS400 calipers are the same. They have the RH LS400 caliper in stock but not the LH. You can email them to ask about availability and when they are likely to be in stock.
Buying the seal kit and 8 x new caliper pistons from Amayama is around £140 with a refurbed caliper from Brakes International being £140.
So £280 for the refurbed calipers, used ones on eBay are around £300 for a pair.....................
Me personally, I would replace them with refurbished calipers from Brakes International (if they can provide the LH one at some point), which is the quickest option with no need to be without the car while the calipers are refurbished, then sell the old calipers to someone who can/will rebuild them.

 https://brakeparts.co.uk/shop/Lexus/Ls400/95-00/Ls400 Ucf20 4.0 Petrol/Front - Brake Calipers and Wheel Cylinders

[TimUK]

48 minutes ago, Razor61 said:

I've used Brakes International for brake stuff and calipers for other cars in the past and their Budweg refurbished calipers have always been excellent.
The ones I bought were refurbished OEM calipers i.e. BMW E46 M3 calipers had the M/// logo in the casting. I'd bet the LS400 calipers are the same. They have the RH LS400 caliper in stock but not the LH. You can email them to ask about availability and when they are likely to be in stock.
Buying the seal kit and 8 x new caliper pistons from Amayama is around £140 with a refurbed caliper from Brakes International being £140.
So £280 for the refurbed calipers, used ones on eBay are around £300 for a pair.....................
Me personally, I would replace them with refurbished calipers from Brakes International (if they can provide the LH one at some point), which is the quickest option with no need to be without the car while the calipers are refurbished, then sell the old calipers to someone who can/will rebuild them.

 https://brakeparts.co.uk/shop/Lexus/Ls400/95-00/Ls400 Ucf20 4.0 Petrol/Front - Brake Calipers and Wheel Cylinders

Thanks a million Paul!  I've just bought the RH Caliper (luckily that's the one that's currently sticking), and have asked about the availability of the LH one.  There was also a £36 surcharge on the old caliper, however, I would've thought they might be worth a bit more to someone whose willing to refurb them with one of the cheap kits on eBay.  Anyway, the main thing is it prevents the car being off the road for too long as although I don't use the car daily, it is my regular transport.

[Razor61]

2 hours ago, TimUK said:

Thanks a million Paul!  I've just bought the RH Caliper (luckily that's the one that's currently sticking), and have asked about the availability of the LH one.  There was also a £36 surcharge on the old caliper, however, I would've thought they might be worth a bit more to someone whose willing to refurb them with one of the cheap kits on eBay.  Anyway, the main thing is it prevents the car being off the road for too long as although I don't use the car daily, it is my regular transport.

No problem, Brakes International are really good. Handy for me being so close to where I live as well.

[TimUK]

23 hours ago, Razor61 said:

No problem, Brakes International are really good. Handy for me being so close to where I live as well.

I certainly can't fault their service - caliper arrived in less than 24 hours!  Unfortunately their supplier doesn't have the L/H caliper.  So I'll just keep my fingers crossed that my L/H caliper doesn't start sticking, at least not until I've had some decent wear out of the new set of discs & pads.  At which point I will probably have to go back to the refurb option unless in the meantime I get lucky and find a caliper elsewhere (eg eBay).