hometheaterman

I thought I was over my rotor issues with all the cars except the 96 Accord. It's always ate through rotors faster than any car I've ever seen. Not sure why. Well, apparently the 06 is going to be that way too. My truck seems to do fine with rotors but the brake pads don't last that long but what would with the truck that heavy and with those tires.

Anyway I have 36,420 or somthing around that on my Accord and finally today when doing a oil change decided to go ahead and replace the front rotors and pads. These luckily were only the slip on type which was nice unlike the hub over rotor design on the 96. I got OEM pads and rotors from the dealer. I though previously about ceramic pads but just ended up getting dealer stuff as I didn't think about the ceramics today until after I had started putting the dealer pads on.

Anyway the issue has been once it gets hot. Doesn't seem to do it when you first start out but does on some trips after a while or after you have had to use the brakes a little bit as in going across the mountains or something like that. Anyway once it gets hot it seems to get this horrible shaking everytime you hit the brakes like a bad case of warped rotors and makes this chattering noise that I've never heard with rotors. It does it fairly often after driving for a bit so hopefully this will fix my issues. I decided to replace them instead of turn them as I just don't like turning them and a shop I talked to about turning them said he thought it was better to just replace them.

The pads seemed to be at about 1/4th of life left maybe slightly more.

The rears still look fairly decent. Does anyone else find this extremely soon to have to replace the rotors and pads? My truck wears them out faster at 15-20k a lot of times but it's a huge truck with big tires. I'm just wondering if everyone else has had to change them this often or not. This problem has been around for a few thousand miles.

vtec.ftw

about 40k for me... on OEM pads

BLKFLSH

On my 03 V6 I changed the rear pads at 47k miles. The fronts are still going at 56k miles. This is the first car I've ever had where the rears wore faster than the front???? I didn't have the rotors turned, and my brakes work fine, so I'm not complaining. There are many people who have problems with warped rotors (and not just Accords). Driving in mountains, where brakes are used a lot more, I can see where it could be hard on rotors and pads. If I ever do need to replace the rotors on my car, I think I'll try some Brembo (blanks). People seem to have better luck with them.

When you changed the pads, did you reuse the shims, and apply the anti-squeal/chatter paste between the pads and shims?

hometheaterman

Did you need rotors too? Seems like I'm not too far below you then. I'm just used to people like my uncle saying how they got 60k on their pads on their suburban and hearing a buddy claim he got 99k or so on his Dakota on the original pads. I guess I did about average then.

spoonfedcrx

Why did you replace the rotors?

The cost of oem pads and rotors you probably could of got oem pads and had your rotors resurfaced by a professional.

hometheaterman

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spoonfedcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Why did you replace the rotors?

The cost of oem pads and rotors you probably could of got oem pads and had your rotors resurfaced by a professional.</TD></TR></TABLE>Thought about getting them resurfaced but I just never have liked having them turned. I only did the ones in my truck as it saved a ton and they weren't warped to start I just wanted to turn them for the new pads. I then called and talked to a shop that's always been good to me with telling me how to do stuff. They didn't turn them but he knew after that either way he would get any money from me and he said if they were as bad as I said he would replace them because it seemed like to him that a lot of times after turning them the vibrations would be back after 3 months or so from the metal warping because it's thin. I don't know if this is true or not but they have always been good to me in the past. I didn't ask the shop I used to work for and I really don't know I just know I don't like turning them. I figured if they got warped that easily when new they would really probably warp easily after being turned. I ended up just getting new ones because of that. They were expensive but if it fixes it I don't guess they were too bad.

hometheaterman

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BLKFLSH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">On my 03 V6 I changed the rear pads at 47k miles. The fronts are still going at 56k miles. This is the first car I've ever had where the rears wore faster than the front???? I didn't have the rotors turned, and my brakes work fine, so I'm not complaining. There are many people who have problems with warped rotors (and not just Accords). Driving in mountains, where brakes are used a lot more, I can see where it could be hard on rotors and pads. If I ever do need to replace the rotors on my car, I think I'll try some Brembo (blanks). People seem to have better luck with them.

When you changed the pads, did you reuse the shims, and apply the anti-squeal/chatter paste between the pads and shims?</TD></TR></TABLE>I know plenty of people have rotors warp but it seems like the 96 Accord wants to do it every 6 months maybe not quite that bad but it's worse than any car I've seen. This car was a little better but not a ton and it didn't get driven in mountains that much however it probably didn't get driven the easiest.

I run Brembo blanks on the 96 and have for a while now. All but this last set has been good. It warped a few months after putting them on. I have a new set in the garage but they only do it when cold. After it warms up they seem okay so I haven't changed them yet.

I didn't get Brembo's for this as Nopi didn't list if it was for the 4 or 6 cylinder and I wanted to do it today. I didn't decided to go through with it until today either and the dealer had them instock. It seems like half the time OEM stuff is of better quality anyway. I do like the Brembo's however.

As for the shims are you talking about the ones on the back of the pads or the ones on the caliper bracket that the pad slides on? Not sure which are technically called shims. The things it slides on on the caliper brackets I took some 320grit sand paper and sanded them clean so that they didn't have all the old grease and stuff gunked up on there. I then gave it a generous coating of the Caliper grease/ brake quiet stuff you get a Fishers. I've had good luck with this. I then coated the back of the pads in it where the piston and all hits the pad. This isn't my first brake job. Infact I've done quite a few. Not only at home but when I worked at a shop I did several. I have done quite a few at home on my personal or families vehicles though.

sky52

on my 08 coupe......85km yup thats right 85km around the track

cjo_28

You do not need to replace your rotors if they're just warped. Are you going to an aftermarket shop? Watch it, they love to sell you calipers and rotors with a simple brake job. Not only is it a waste of money, but the NEW crap they're putting on your car is worse than the "bad" OEM parts they're removing.

Don't feel to bad about you're mileage. In Phoenix, it's common to wear out a set of rear brake pads in 20K miles with the Accords. The front pads are usually good until about 40K miles, but rotors are usually warped before then. Honda has a new brake pad the is supposed to help with the warping issue.

hometheaterman

I put OEM Honda pads and rotors so not some crap. BTW I didn't go to a shop I did them myself.

cjo_28

That's cool. Probably would have been about the same price at the dealer for a front brake job, but some people like to work on their on car. Personally, I won't touch the damn things unless I'm getting paid.

hometheaterman

huh? You are saying that it would have cost me the same thing at the dealer for the same thing I did? I don't think so. Most brake jobs are easy and don't take much time at all but I've yet to see it be cheap anywhere.

If I had the rotors turned it would have been a lot cheaper but I didn't want to have them turned as I didn't want to have the rotors thined out. I just don't like turning rotors and never have liked it. I did it on my truck to save money but that's the only time I've done it and I'm not sure I want to again although I haven't had issues with it yet. I just like putting new rotors on much more.

I'm not technically getting paid by doing it myself but it's like I am since I save soo much money.

cjo_28

Well, it's your money. If you want to put new rotors on everytime you do a brake job, then do it. I'm just saying a front brake job at most dealers will run about $200, and that includes machining your rotors on the car. Online prices for OEM pads and rotors will run you at least that, and you have to do the work yourself.

Technically, Honda says to machine new rotors with an on-the-car latche, too, but it shouldn't be a problem. Honda is big on eliminating runout between the wheel bearing, hub and rotor with an on-the-car lathe. I'm not quite so strict.

hometheaterman

My dealer would have been lucky to take the wheel off for $200 lol. Anyway I did spend more than that but I could have gotten OEM pads and the rotors machined for about $100 or so give or take a little. That's around $100 savings. I'm willing to do a brake job myself for that.

dbbyleo

I've got a 2005 Accord I just bought (used) from a private party that seemed to take good care of their cars. I notice pulsation when braking hard, but none when light braking. I'm also hearing my warning squeel so the front pads must be running low (I have shoe in the rear). But I thought may be 55K was early for pads to wear down and I thought may be the original owner just rode on the brakes (we live in the mountains), but looks like this may be fairly normal for accords.

Anyway, I bought OEM front pads at the dealer ($55 - same as ceramic Duralasts at Autozone). When I asked the dealer how much for front pad replacement, they quoted me $137, which may not include turning rotors.

But as far as turning rotors, Haynes manual say to do so ... "it's a good thing even if no grooves or warping as it leaves a perfectly smooth surface". Rotors do have specification stamped on them that say the minimum thickness and my uncle is mechanic and he's never advice against turning rotors.

Having said that, my local NAPA will do turning for $14 per disc, which I plan to do before installing the new pads.

BLKFLSH

I see no reason to turn the rotors, making them thinner, if you are not having vibration problems. Paying extra, to make the rotors thinner/weaker, doesn't sound like a smart idea to me.

cjo_28

Honda says to use an on-the-car lathe to machine rotors with every brake job and even to machine new rotors.

I'm with you though. If there is absolutely no vibration at highway speeds, replacing brake pads without machining the rotors shouldn't be a problem.

dbbyleo

i don't think I'd be following the advise from Haynes that says to turn them even if there's NO problem. I wouldn't be turning mine if there wasn't the vibration.

But unlike the other poster, I don't think there's anything wrong with turning the rotors when needed. He/She seem to think it's better to buy new rotors than turning them, which I think is a waste of money.

Update...
Turns our my pads aren't worn, so I don't know where the sound came from, which I thought was my "low pad warning" sound. May dust? Anyway, I got the rotors off and is having NAPA turn them for me for $14 per rotor. We'll see if the vibration goes away.

briq4

Just purchased an 04 Accord EX V-6 from my buddy, he does a lot of highway driving but he goes to NYC quite often, anyhow the car has 115,000 miles on the original pads front and rear, The original tires were just changed back at 97,000 miles. THey were absoltuely awful beads were showing through and all.
I had a 93 Accord and the rears went out around 67,000 miles, fronts at 80,000.

Aunt has an 06 and she had pads and rotors replaced under warranty at around 10K due to excessive wobble in them.

Kinda hit or miss these days with Honda.

SleeperSedan6MT

at 50k miles now on the original pads/rotors and pads look okay for a few more - rotors are warped though - going to throw EBCs on there this month.

thisaznboi88

i dont know if this counts but I swap out my oem pads at 14k since they suck, and I added ceramics. They have 24k on it so far and still biting strong.

CBL9

This might sounds silly but I have a slight vibration from uneven pad runout when braking from 65mph -> 0mph, etc. The car has 41K on it, all original parts, I religiously clean the brackets, sliders, pins, etc. every oil change. The factory pads still have 60% life left up front and a little less in the rear. Would Honda machine the front rotors at the dealer and then put the used pads back on? Or is this completely defeating the purpose as the pads will wear similiarly into the turned rotors?

vdavenp802

Just over 40K when the left fornt rotor exploded. Brake fluid evrywhere. Replaced both front rotors/pads. Over $500. Thanks Honda.