I need to upgrade my front Brake Pads and I will be replacing the calipers as well. I noticed that there are different part numbers for the 88-89 and 90-91 pads. Are the calipers different? If the 90-91 caliper/pad combo is better can I just buy 91 calipers and pads and bolt them on my 88 CRX Si?

Thanks.

 

the 88-89 is the D273 caliper vs. the D373 caliper on the later car. The pads are not interchangable as far as I know. I would just replace the D273s if that's what is on the car now unless you want to switch out the front and rears to the 90-91 rotors front and rear. I personally don't see a big downside to keeping the rear drums but that's just an opinion.

 

Thanks - I just thought if I was going to put on new calipers anyway, that if the 90-91 caliper/pad combo was better I would go that route. I do plan on keeping the rear drums.

 

The 90-91 CRX Si caliper is a wee bit larger but not enough to justify it IMO. The rotors are the same but the calipers and caliper brackets change. The shape of the pad changes but I'd say functionally the change is moot. Stick to what you have or change to something bigger if you are allowed to.

My '89 street CRX has the larger 90-93 Integra/91 Civic EX front brakes but it does require the entire upright, hub and brake assembly from ball joint to ball joint to change and you will likely change the master cylinder too for added volume. The rear drum to disk swap (to the 90-93 Integra/90-91 CRX Si rear disk) nets no braking advantage but less maintenance and is not worth the effort IMO.

 

Experience talking here....if you switch to the D373's you're gonna want to go to the later (and slightly larger) master cylinder as well.

There was no end to my problems last year with not pushing enough fluid to the fronts after the pads wore down just a bit.

That said, I think the difference is gonna be negligible.

 

O.K. thanks guys,

I'll just stick with the stock 88 calipers and stuff them with good pads.

Tim

 

another reason to stick with 88-89 calipers is that pads are the same as later civics and going to be in much more supply when you need to order new pads.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CRX Lee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The 90-91 CRX Si caliper is a wee bit larger but not enough to justify it IMO. The rotors are the same but the calipers and caliper brackets change. The shape of the pad changes but I'd say functionally the change is moot. Stick to what you have or change to something bigger if you are allowed to.
. </TD></TR></TABLE>

The 90-91 Civics use a 2mm thicker rotor than the 88-89 Civics.

88-89 Civic rotor - [45251-SB2-990]
90-91 Civic rotor - [45251-SR3-A10]

Big difference IMHO.

One thing I notice is that almost all aftermarket companies only make the thinner rotor (which is why they only offer 1 rotor for all 88-91's) The braket for the 88-89 caliper does not have a large enough opening for the thicker later rotors.

As for the pads, the later pads are a tiney little bit thinner (to accomodate the thicker rotor) and a very different shape. Not much of a difference really.

 

the (slightly) bigger rotors is only for hatches and sedans, not CRX. they dont fit nicely in the later 90-91 CRX calipers. trust me, i tried. the SB2-990 rotor is still the part number for the CRX 90-91. you can get the SR3-A10 at autozone, which is also the same rotors for civics 92+.

sorry for all the edits, ive made sure the info is correct.



Modified by Tyson at 2:44 PM 6/7/2004

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MightyMouseTech &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
The 90-91 Civics use a 2mm thicker rotor than the 88-89 Civics.
88-89 Civic rotor - [45251-SB2-990]
90-91 Civic rotor - [45251-SR3-A10]
</TD></TR></TABLE>

That may be true for the Civics but according to the Honda Parts Catalog (mine is the August 1991 printing), some '88 CRX Sis and DXs used front rotor 45251-SB2-780 and 45251-SB2-781 before they switched over to 45251-SB2-782 in '88 and they kept it through '91 on the Si but the DX switched over to 45251-SH3-A00 for '90-91.

They show the '88-89 CRX Si and DX shared the same caliper/brackets assembly by Akebono for '88-89 then in '90-91 the Si got a Nissin caliper/bracket assembly and the DX got a different Akebono caliper/bracket assembly.

Therefore all of the CRX Sis can use the same front rotor so regardless of the caliper and bracket model. Honda may have superceded or shared part numbers after that but from the beginning it shows they could all be the same rotor.