I have a Civic EX 99 with 86,xxx miles. The problem with my car is my car will vibrate violently after i start braking at 65+ mph.

Last tune-up Honda said something about resurfacing my rotors? They said it's something I should consider on my next tune up (at 105,000 miles)

Is this why my brakes are acting up? Honda also tells me the previous owner put on aftermarket brakes, however there is still plenty of brake padding left.

Should i get my rotors resurfaced? I read some where it'll be more cost effective if I pick up a set of aftermarket rotors and new brake pads.

Can anyone suggest a good combo? What's the approx price range for my two options?

thanks

 

Yup your rotor's war most likely warped. get them resurfaced.

As for aftermarket, i would just get gsr front, rears if you really need an upgrade. Otherwise I like my lightweight stock rotors =D

 

If your going to upgrade, Id go with OEM parts.
I've got GSR four-wheel discs on my hatch, and I love them!
More than enough stopping power.

 

So GSR Rotors fit Civics???

 

You defentily have a rotor problem i would turn the rotors on it but if you want to upgrade the rotors you could do that too. it's up to you brembos rotors are good with some ebc or hawk pads

 

Read this about Brake Rotor Warping....

http://www.stoptech.com/whitep...h.htm

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mushu315 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So GSR Rotors fit Civics???</TD></TR></TABLE>

The rotors for the 99-00 EX and Si are the same size as the GSR. At that high of a milage, I would not resurface your rotors.

Rotors warp due to heat cycling. If there is not enough mass, they cool too quickly causing warpage. By removing more mass from the rotor by turning or resurfacing, you'll only make it more likely to happen. This is common on Civics, because they are notoriously underbraked. Also, the rotors for them are so cheap, it's not really worth it to have them continually turned.

OEM rotors suck. Mine only lasted about 20K, my girl's about 30, and my mom (who doesn't do much spirited driving) was about 30 or 35K. Get Brembo blanks. I've put them on all the cars I work on and they're fantastic. They've lasted about 60K on my car, and are just starting to warp / wear; and I've tracked it every weekend since march, not to mention last season. An H-T sponsor sells them for a good price (where I always get mine): https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=831188. These with a set of Axxis/PBR ultimates is more than you'll ever need for the street.

 

Thanks for the help

 

One last question...

What's the difference between Cross Drilled and Blank?
And... do i need to replace front and rear?

 

86k, most likely you have to replace the fronts and the back.

get some good pads and fluid.

autozone rotors are not bad to consider.

 

okay, sorry i'm a newbie.

Is Axxis MM sufficient pads to use?
or should i go for the Axxis Ultimate?

 

Resurfacing rotors is always the best to do as long as the thickness is within service specs. Resurfacing rotors ON THE CAR is always the best way to get your rotors true to the car...wheel bearings, axles, hubs, etc can all throw a rotor, which may be true to itself, fail prematurely.

I run stock rotors with OEM pads...and never have a problem. Even if you do get new rotors, they should be resurfaced on the car- cause guaranteed they will not be true to the car!

 

What do i actually neeD?

i'm confused about these parts.
Cross Drilled vs. Blanks
Rotors vs. Drums

?!?

sorry for being such a newbie.

Do i need to replace the rear drums too? Rear shoe?

or do i just need the rotors/brake pads in the front?

 

You have disks on the front, drums on the rear. Disks use rotors and pads, drums have a hub and shoes. You do very little of your braking with your rear (and they're a pain in the *** to change) so I'd leave them alone until you can hear the wear indicator. I've had cars where I've never touched the drums, even at over 200K.

Brembo 'blanks' are just a plain rotor (disk). Powerslot 'slotted' rotors use the blanks and CNC machine slots onto the surface. I have them on my car, and thought I needed the slots because I track it. My next set will be just the blanks; 1/3 of the cost, and excellent performance. If you're just daily driving the car, the Ultimate pads will be a great choice for those rotors.

Do not get cross-drilled. The cross drilling reduces the mass (heat capacity) of the rotor, and the driling causes stress fractures to form in the metal. Combine those factors with heat cycling, and it's not good news. Yes, high performance cars use them, but they cost at least 10 - 100x the cost, and are engineered to be cross drilled; they don't take a blank and throw some holes in it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EX_AutoXer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You have disks on the front, drums on the rear. Disks use rotors and pads, drums have a hub and shoes. You do very little of your braking with your rear (and they're a pain in the *** to change) so I'd leave them alone until you can hear the wear indicator. I've had cars where I've never touched the drums, even at over 200K.


</TD></TR></TABLE>

Reason why you didn't have to touch them in 200k is because they were probably way out of adjustment. I like to adjust the rear shoes every 15k....and you WILL notice a huge difference. Takes 2 minutes

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Emerika &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Reason why you didn't have to touch them in 200k is because they were probably way out of adjustment. I like to adjust the rear shoes every 15k....and you WILL notice a huge difference. Takes 2 minutes </TD></TR></TABLE>

What do you mean by adjusting? All the drums I've had had automatic adjusters on them. My Civics needed them changed at about 80K (the parking brake was dragging because of a corroded cable), and I'm pretty sure it had an automatic adjuster as well, but I'm having trouble picturing it in my head.

 

They are "auto adjusting"....but you do need to adjust the shoes out manually. Pop off the drum, and right below the wheel cylinder, you will see a lock tab and some threads with a nut with one way grooves. I adjust the shoes out, so that with the drum on, the drums spin one full revolution before stopping. This puts just a slight bit of drag on the drums, for better pedal feel and ebrake operation. All of the rear drum cars I have worked on showed HUGE differences after adjustments.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Emerika &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Pop off the drum, and right below the wheel cylinder, you will see a lock tab and some threads with a nut with one way grooves. I adjust the shoes out, so that with the drum on, the drums spin one full revolution before stopping. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Your right, I just checked my manual, and now I remember there being a star bit on there. When I was installing them, I played around with them a bit, and I thought that the bit would automatically get turned by the self adjuster bit in the pic when the shoes moved enough.



I had the star bit on fairly loose when I installed them, and put a clamp around the shoes to test them. I hit the brakes a few times, and the shoes tightened right up. I assumed that it would do this on it's own while driving. It's definitely not as tight as you described, but there's not much play. I went to check them a few weeks ago, and had to loosen the bit to get the hub off.

I'm only asking because this is the first car I've had with an adjustment like this. All my VWs had a fully automatic system (which I assumed this was) that was non adjustable. When the shoes moved out, a little wedge shaped peice of metal slid between a connector peice between the shoes preventing them from retracting all the way. To get the drum off you had to stick a screwdriver in there and push it out of the way to get the shoes to retract.

Damn, I realy, realy hate drums.