I'm having some pulsation when braking hard, so I'm suspecting rotors may need to be turned.

I worked on my brakes last night and got acquainted with those darm retainer bolts that hold the rotors in place on the hub. What a pain that was to get off.

I eventually bought a hand held impact screwdriver, which I've never known before until my Haynes manual suggested to use one. It's my new best friend as it worked like a charm (after some WD-40 soaking) on those phillips head retainer bolts that were frozen on the rotor/hub.

Anyway... the guy at NAPA said I "don't really have to put the retainer bolts back on ... since they were only meant to hold the rotor in place whiile car went down the assembly line ... to keep the rotors in place before the wheels came on".

This seems logical as the bolts are really small anyway and the lugs are really what keeps everything together. It does seem like it only a nuisance when you have to work on the rotor as they do have a tendency to freeze on the rotor/hub.

What have you guys done? Keep the retainer bolts ON or OFF??

Also, my front pads have a ton of life left in them. Should I put those back on after the rotors have been turned, or would that be NOT advisable??

 

You dont need them. Left them off more on more then one car.

 

You dont need them. I always put them back on. One guy at my work never puts them back on, annoying when you're doing brake work and rotor keeps moving around.

 

Honda wants you to use an on car brake lathe when machining the rotors. So the screws hold the rotor in place when doing that. If you're 100% sure you will never use an on car brake lathe you don't need the screws.

 

Ok... this is good to know. I actually did put it back on afterall. I put a little bit of the caliper grease on the bolt hoping that it will may be keep the bolts from freezing onto the hub again.

Also ... isn't advisable to re-use pads after I have turned the rotor. I mean, the pads that were on only were 50% worn, but I had to turn the rotors. Should I replace the pads anyway, or could I have put back the old pads?

 

probably shoulda put new pads on.

just my two cents

 

I actually did put new pads on, but just checking to make sure for next time. I'll probably just chuck the old pads. BTW, I've heard some honda OEM pad crack and I can see on the old ones I'll pulled off (which had about 50% thickness) a subtle crack has formed right down the middle. Probably would have gotten worse as it worn on.

 

Instead of using grease on the bolt use anti-sees. The reason the it was hard to get of was of rust of two different types of metals the anti-sees will fix that bolt better that grease will ever think about doing.

 

When you live in the rust belt, those little bolts can be a pain. Try to reinstall them, though. If your wheels are removed, the rotors can move on the hub and a piece of debris (rust) can get caught in the wrong place and cause a little unwanted runout.

 

I put the bolts back in the rotor/hub when I reinstall the caliper bracket, etc. THen right before I mount the wheel back up I unscrew those two philips head screws and put the wheel/lug nuts on.