Rear brakes lexus ls 600hl

[Newbie777]

Hello,

I noticed my rear brakes squeal when I drive in reverse and brake.

I heard as part of the design and regenerative braking the rear brakes are not used/used much.

Recently when the tyres were taken off, I looked and the brakes and calipers, ..look like new.

Is there anything I can do to use them more? I have my MOT in 3months, not sure if this will be an issue.

Thanks

 

[wharfhouse]

11 hours ago, Newbie777 said:

Hello,

I noticed my rear brakes squeal when I drive in reverse and brake.

I heard as part of the design and regenerative braking the rear brakes are not used/used much.

Recently when the tyres were taken off, I looked and the brakes and calipers, ..look like new.

Is there anything I can do to use them more? I have my MOT in 3months, not sure if this will be an issue.

Thanks

 

My IS 300h brakes sometimes squeal a bit when reversing - done it for many years - going forwards no noise though and so not an MoT problem unless there are other issues with the brakes.

[steve2006]

When were the brakes last serviced?
I’ve noticed when it comes to servicing checklists the majority of actions are just that I.e. “check” so a cursory glance of the brake pads and discs to ensure they are above minimum thickness gets a tick.

Rarely in my opinion do the pads get removed and the callipers, shims etc cleaned and greased as required, in addition the rear combined drums/discs are unlikely to be removed for inspection of the parking brake components, condition and adjustment.

Providing nothing is binding I wouldn’t be overly concerned, a quick and easy check is to check the wheel temperature after a decent run to see if one is hotter than the opposite side either carefully by touch or using an infrared thermometer.

 

[donkmeister]

On 12/2/2023 at 7:27 PM, Newbie777 said:

Hello,

I noticed my rear brakes squeal when I drive in reverse and brake.

I heard as part of the design and regenerative braking the rear brakes are not used/used much.

Recently when the tyres were taken off, I looked and the brakes and calipers, ..look like new.

Is there anything I can do to use them more? I have my MOT in 3months, not sure if this will be an issue.

Thanks

 

Missed this when you first posted, but better late than never. Might help someone else too!

The significant bit here is that the brakes only squeal in reverse. The anti-squeal springs (those little ones that look a big like unfolded paperclips, that hook around the pad) are oriented only to work in one direction, which is forwards. So, if your brakes aren't squealing when going forwards but are when going backwards... Well at least you know your anti squeal springs are probably fitted correctly!

If you are comfortable with jacking up the rear and popping a wheel off to look at the brake pads side on, I'd echo Steve on doing an inspection of the brakes. As these are opposing two-pot calipers, you can't do the simple clean and regrease unfortunately, but what you can do is check for even wear across all four pads on the back axle. This this will show if any one piston is sticking. If you do see signs of uneven wear rather than a completely seized piston, you can generally wait for a more convenient time to sort it. The quick and easy solution is a new caliper or two, the cheaper solution is taking the calipers off the car and sending them off for refurb. The cheapest, but most involved option and one I wouldn't do on a daily driver, is to get the refurb kit and do it yourself. But TBH that's more a job for tinkering in your home workshop if you have time on your hands.