05 Accord poor brake performance
03-22-2012, 10:35 AM
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05 Accord poor brake performance
The car is a 05 Accord V6 EX with 118k miles. Currently the brakes are around half as strong as when the car came out of the factory, and I can't figure out why.
The main symptom is that the brakes just don't have the same power at the same pedal depth as they used to. The brake pedal has some resistance near the bottom, but I do not know if there is any more than when the car was new since the brakes used to be so strong that there was no reason to slam the brake pedal all the way down to the firewall. The brakes perform consistently at all speeds, and brake power scales with brake pedal depth as expected. Brake power has been deteriorating slowly as the car ages, and it currently is just unacceptable. Currently the car lacks enough braking power to cause ABS to kick in for any wheel when the brake is floored. I recently drove my mom's car and realized how much braking performance I was really missing.
The brakes have been bled several times. Each time no air came out and there was no increase in braking power. The brake pads have about 10k miles on them. The front rotors are still factory (but not rear), but I don't really see how thin rotors could impact braking performance so dramatically, could they? One thing I noticed that seems odd is that the front rotors are MUCH hotter than the rear rotors. I know that this isn't very scientific, but I can hold my finger on the rear rotors for around 4 seconds before I have to take it off. For the fronts, I have to take my finger off as soon as I touch them. I picked up the car from Honda today and all they had to say was that the brakes were "within Honda specification". If that's true, Honda has really low braking standards.
So what do you guys think I should look at? Are there any known problems with brakes on 7th gen Accords? I'm a little suspect of the ABS system. I know that front rotors should be a bit hotter than rears simply because the fronts will have more weight on them, but the temperature difference seems rather large. Even if the rears aren't getting as much fluid as they should be though, the fact that I can't lock the front wheels at all shows that the fronts are weak too, so I'm confused.
The main symptom is that the brakes just don't have the same power at the same pedal depth as they used to. The brake pedal has some resistance near the bottom, but I do not know if there is any more than when the car was new since the brakes used to be so strong that there was no reason to slam the brake pedal all the way down to the firewall. The brakes perform consistently at all speeds, and brake power scales with brake pedal depth as expected. Brake power has been deteriorating slowly as the car ages, and it currently is just unacceptable. Currently the car lacks enough braking power to cause ABS to kick in for any wheel when the brake is floored. I recently drove my mom's car and realized how much braking performance I was really missing.
The brakes have been bled several times. Each time no air came out and there was no increase in braking power. The brake pads have about 10k miles on them. The front rotors are still factory (but not rear), but I don't really see how thin rotors could impact braking performance so dramatically, could they? One thing I noticed that seems odd is that the front rotors are MUCH hotter than the rear rotors. I know that this isn't very scientific, but I can hold my finger on the rear rotors for around 4 seconds before I have to take it off. For the fronts, I have to take my finger off as soon as I touch them. I picked up the car from Honda today and all they had to say was that the brakes were "within Honda specification". If that's true, Honda has really low braking standards.
So what do you guys think I should look at? Are there any known problems with brakes on 7th gen Accords? I'm a little suspect of the ABS system. I know that front rotors should be a bit hotter than rears simply because the fronts will have more weight on them, but the temperature difference seems rather large. Even if the rears aren't getting as much fluid as they should be though, the fact that I can't lock the front wheels at all shows that the fronts are weak too, so I'm confused.
03-24-2012, 04:28 AM
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Re: 05 Accord poor brake performance
The fronts are gonna a lot hotter, they do 4 times the work.
Are you losing brake power gradually or did you lose it with the new pads? If it happened with the pad change then there's your problem. If it happened gradually the first suspect would be the master cylinder.
Are you losing brake power gradually or did you lose it with the new pads? If it happened with the pad change then there's your problem. If it happened gradually the first suspect would be the master cylinder.
03-24-2012, 08:52 AM
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Re: 05 Accord poor brake performance
Get axis ultimate ceramic pads front and rear clean and lube the pins and stations to make sure the new pads are moving properly and the pins are free. I would also install new rotors from advance or napa. You will have a night and day difference in braking power
03-26-2012, 06:46 PM
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Re: 05 Accord poor brake performance
Definitely going to replace the rotors due to the age. There was no difference in braking performance between the old pads and the current ones. The master brake cylinder has never been bench bled, so I think this Sunday I'll bench bleed it and replace the rotors.
As for the brake pads that is an interesting idea. My only concern is that if I get the rest of the braking system to perform at factory quality, then performance pads on top of that will lead to annoyingly powerful braking. If the new rotors and bench bleeding do not fix things then I'll just get high quality pads to compensate.
As for the brake pads that is an interesting idea. My only concern is that if I get the rest of the braking system to perform at factory quality, then performance pads on top of that will lead to annoyingly powerful braking. If the new rotors and bench bleeding do not fix things then I'll just get high quality pads to compensate.
03-31-2012, 08:22 AM
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Re: 05 Accord poor brake performance
Definitely going to replace the rotors due to the age. There was no difference in braking performance between the old pads and the current ones. The master brake cylinder has never been bench bled, so I think this Sunday I'll bench bleed it and replace the rotors.
As for the brake pads that is an interesting idea. My only concern is that if I get the rest of the braking system to perform at factory quality, then performance pads on top of that will lead to annoyingly powerful braking. If the new rotors and bench bleeding do not fix things then I'll just get high quality pads to compensate.
As for the brake pads that is an interesting idea. My only concern is that if I get the rest of the braking system to perform at factory quality, then performance pads on top of that will lead to annoyingly powerful braking. If the new rotors and bench bleeding do not fix things then I'll just get high quality pads to compensate.
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