Dear Experts,

I have a 1996 Honda Accord
2.2 VTEC engine
278K miles
Manual 5 speed transmission


Recently, in the slippery winter streets, there have been a few symptoms:

The emergency brake keeps requiring adjustment.
I'd only adjusted it tight a few weeks ago, and today the
lever went to the end of its travel.

In the slippery winter streets, the right front wheel spins a lot.
While the left does not.

When I coasted, the car felt like it was braking, even though, I was not braking.


Some diagnosis:

Today, I jacked up each wheel and tried to spin them by hand.

The two front wheels spun easy enough.

However, the rear wheels did not.

The left rear wheel did turn with some effort

But the right rear wheel, I couldn't budge with hand pressure.


Seems that the rear caliper(s) is/are seized or binding.
Does this make sense?


If the calipers are the issue, what is a good brand of calipers,
that will last another 10 years in salty winter streets?

That is, will not require replacement in another year or two.

Thanks

 

You mat not need new calipers. You will need to inspect the pins that the calipers slide on and see if they just need new grease or if they are rusted or seized. But before you do that, you need to adjust your parking brake lever properly. And by properly I mean by following the proper procedure, not by "adjusting it tight." whatever that means.

 

Anybody else?

It's 1996 (27 years old) Honda Accord, with 278K miles,
and the original rear calipers.

If the calipers are the issue, what is a good brand of calipers,
that will last another 10 years in salty winter streets?

Thanks

 

I dont know man, my own is a 1996 and i've never had issues with calipers seizing on these cars. Admittedly there is no salt where my car is, but that isn't that common a failure point.

IF you were to change calipers just get something affordable on rockauto unless you are planning to upgrade to something larger. Im with luke though, start with the free/basic things. Why not clean up the calipers and service the slide pins and see what happens.

 

Mine is 1997 LX with 255k miles. Front brakes not serviced in over10 years, brakes still work perfectly fine. Plan to service in the next few weeks.
Like others suggested, clean and service first before replacing.

 

Update:

Replaced the calipers and brackets (where the pins are).

All were very bad.

Brakes working great now

 

Thanks for following up

Always good to hear back and find out the conclusion

 

What brand calipers did you use?

 

Hello,

I used these calipers and brackets:



NAPA Adaptive One Rear Right With Bracket - Remanufactured Brake Caliper Single Piston Floating
Part #: ADC 1430XA
Line: Adaptive One Brake Calipers
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/ADC1...pressionRank=1

...


NAPA Adaptive One Rear Left With Bracket - Remanufactured Brake Caliper Single Piston Floating
Part #: ADC 1430XB
Line: Adaptive One Brake Calipers
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/ADC1...pressionRank=2



So far, so good