While diving for an ABS sensor at the junkyard I noticed that they had an Acura CL 3.0 there with ROH hubs. I did some research to check here beforehand that the V6 hubs would work with the 4-cyl Accord and my initial finding was that they are not. Then I checked to see if they had any Odysseys (for the 5-lug ROH conversion) and they indeed did. And while looking up the axle nut size for the Odyssey, I found that the Odyssey and the CL 3.0 use the same wheel bearing. And the Odyssey 5-lug conversion uses 5th-gen Accord V6 wheel bearings...which are also the same part number as the CL 3.0 and Odyssey.

So would the CL 3.0 hubs work with 5th-gen Accord v6 bearings on a 5th gen 4-cyl car?

 

The CL (97-99) and the Odyssey (95-98) have the same part number for the knuckle. The part no. for the hub is different. This doesn't necessarily mean it won't work. Looking at the specs for the CL rotor, I would say that it would work. The 4-cyl knuckle is different from the V6/Odyssey/CL knuckle, so you will need that as well as the hub and bearing.

Then that leaves the rear.

 

Back brakes are still ROH and I don't see any advantage for going 5-lug except rim availability. I'm looking at the parts specs on Oreilly's and the 96 Accord V6 rotors are the thickest, 2mm thicker than Prelude or any other similar rotors. So it seems I don't even need to go Roh to get the best brakes possible using factory bits.

 

No you don't need to go ROH to get good brakes, just ease of replacement and other suspension work. BUT, for improved braking, using factory parts, you need to go to 5-lugs and Acura brakes. The V6 is 282mm diameter and a 25mm thick rotor. So is the Odyssey, only ROH and 5-lug. The Acura RL (99-04) is 300mm in diameter and 28mm thick and makes for some great front brakes. There are ways to go bigger but require some machine work.

Here's the catch to the whole brake/rotor thing. The Honda and Acrua CL and TL all have 64.1mm hub diameter where the rotor fits over the hub. The Odyssey and Acura RL have 71mm hubs. That means if you want to use Honda or CL/TL rotors on Odyssey hubs you will have to machine them out. Easier (and better) just to use RL parts. So when you are deciding what to do, throw that in the mix.

 

I'll keep the RL kit in mind for a later point in time. Even from work, 350z rotors and reman RL 4-pots are going to be expensive and overkill for a lightly modded h22a. But thanks for opening my eyes on that one. V6 rotors and Legend calipers will be fine for now.

 

One more thing. If you should go the 300mm RL route, the caliper brackets that come on the 99-04 RL will also work with the Accord V6, 95-98 Odyssey single piston calipers, and also with the two piston Legend and NSX ones. So what I have on my Gen 5 is Odyssey knuckles and hubs, RL 300mm rotors and caliper bracket, and NSX calipers. I am very happy with that.

Note: If that seems a little biased to the front, it's because I am running 313mm rotors and calipers with 38mm pistons on the rear.

 

Bigger rotors in back than in front?

 

Yeah, but I also have larger tires in the rear than the front. Mostly because that is what I can get under the fender. i wanted more brakes on the rear than the 262mm rotors I had, and Fast Brakes had this kit that used the Pilot rotors. I didn't know how that would work out, but with my setup it is fine. Plans are to go to 320mm rotors on the front, but I have to figure out a caliper mounting arrangement. I plan to keep the NSX calipers. But I am not really sure I need larger fronts since everything is working so well now. Another thing is that I don't run very "aggressive" pads, so not as much danger of locking them up. In the dry I have never had any problems.

And, yes, I have a LOT of brake parts laying around the garage.

 

I'd be interested in something vented for the back if not bigger. I don't mind making brackets for calipers as long as they reuse factory parking brake linkage and have the same piston diameter.

 

By vented I assume you mean they are constructed like the fronts with the vents in the center of the rotors. I think the NSX calipers are that way, but I am not sure. Most are not. I have found that the calipers that are the same pattern of design so as to use the same parking brake arrangement as the Gen 5 are the Vigor and early TL (to 98) ones. The sedan/coupe use a 34mm piston and the wagon, Vigor, TL uses a 38mm piston. I thought about using the NSX calipers so as to match the fronts, but they have 43mm pistons and the parking brake is made differently, and the rotor is 21mm. That's a lot of work and a big change in brake balance. Just not worth it.

 

I'll look into the Vigor/TL calipers, though doubtless that will involve redrilling rotors. So will the larger piston apply more force to the rotor, or will the master cylinder (96 EX) not be able to move enough fluid to the pistons to apply as much clamping load?

 

I really didn't notice much, if any, difference in feel when I went to the TL calipers. It is the same as the difference between the V6 and the wagon for a Gen 5. Just a little more pressure in the rear. It helped to balance out the larger rotors in the front.

 

Well then it looks like I have my path of upgrade, thanks for opening my eyes. I wonder why the TL caliper thing doesn't come up more often when googling brake upgrades for the rear of a 4th/5th gen Accord. Is it just not common, or not necessary to upgrade them? Sure the rears do less than 30% of braking but it seems silly not to at least want vented rear rotors if people drive these cars how the Prelude was designed.

 

I looked for a long time for wagon calipers before I realized the Vigor/TL would work. The problem I had finding wagon calipers was that most of the wagons I found were the LX with drum brakes. When I finally found one with discs, the calipers turned out to be the 34mm ones. Probably some mechanic went to Advance and just asked for 94 Accord calipers and never realized there was a difference. So now I check all that I buy as soon as I pull them.

As far as vented rears, the only Honda ones I know of are for the NSX and it's a lot of work to do the switch.

 

Ah, your post (#10) implied the TL rears were vented, something I was contradicted by at work today looking up parts on the computer. So the Wagon/TL calipers have a bigger piston, but would use the same rotor?

 

It seems most Honda's use a non-vented rotor of around 9-11mm on the rear. The calipers are different in how they bolt up and in how the parking brakes work. The RL and larger models used a shoe arrangement instead of the caliper. The Vigor/TL didn't. At least in the 90's. But even though my rear rotors are from an 03-08 Pilot which uses parking brakes shoes, and the depth of the rotor is different, the Gen 5 caliper will still work because the rotor thickness is about the same. The bracket accounts for the size and depth differences.