Last year I switched from stock Honda pads, to Carbotech Bobcats, with only 10-11k miles on the odo. I used 80-grit non metallic sand paper to get the old pad deposits off of the 11k mile rotors. I installed the pads with shims, AND CRC anti-squeal goop, and followed the bed-in instruction sheet as closely as possible.

The following morning I was amazed at how much of an improvement braking was over the stock pads. However, I've had a hard to describe problem with my pads since day one, and I suspect that I may have not correctly bedded them in properly (even though they seem to work very well).

My car is completely silent during braking, up to the last few inches/feet of car travel. After this point it makes a terrible/cheap sounding rubbing/vibration noise, that you can actually feel. If I were at a stop, and let the car creep forward by letting off the brake pedal just a tad, I can easily reproduce the noise. Sometimes I'd challenge myself to see how long I can keep the noise going; my current record is about 15 seconds (car moved about 6 inches during this 15 seconds).

I've taken out the shims and have been running pad+goop ever since, with no change with the noise. Later on I took the rotors off to have them resurfaced. I put them back on and noticed instantly that the weird rubbing noise/vibration was gone (at the expense of braking ability since the pad<->rotor film needed to be developed again).

I went and did the moderate 45-30mph stops again, and let the car sit overnight. The following morning, I noticed the pads were back to normal (better braking), along with the stupid noise.

At this point, I accepted the funny noise as a normal property of the pad, since they are so good at stopping the AccordBoat. I've learned to live with the noise over the past 9 months, and haven't worried about it since.

However, I just stumbled upon this a few minutes ago, which describes exactly what I am experiencing:

http://realbig.com/detomaso/2001-06/576.html

Should I perhaps try to take it easy and daily drive on them for a week, next time I install new pads and rotors? I only bring this issue up yet again so I can do the right thing next time...

For those who've seen my frequent posts about here about my tire/suspension/frame/alignment problems, I just wanted to let you know that everything is OK now! I've regained my lost caster by fixing the frame, and the tires don't rollover anymore thanks to the -0.9* of camber I gained by installing new adjustable UCAs. The bigger rear sway makes autocrossing fun again, and I'm finally starting to better on course


Modified by LX4CYL at 12:05 AM 1/16/2005


Modified by LX4CYL at 12:07 AM 1/16/2005