[ND120883]

About a year ago i bought some aftermarket rotors for my accord. I know I should be posting about tC's here but I've come to trust you guys' opinions and I don't want to repeat mistakes on my tC.

My brakes were fine before this happened, and then i put these rotors on. They are slotted cross-DIMPLED rotors. I looked around and found that cross-drilled rotors were prone to cracking, so I decided that this was a compromise. Cool. I put the the rotors on and instantly my braking SUCKS. Whenever they are used heavily for more than 30 minutes in stop n go traffic, they fade like hell. Then at some point where I have to brake really hard, i feel the pedal just STOP and not go any farther, like i'm pressing it against a brick wall. I have to really mash it to actually stop. At first I thought it was the ####ty pads I put on it. With those pads, i managed to break my first set of calipers. Got new ones, put Hawk Pro Streets on, and the problem is lessened by the upgraded pads, but is still noticeable. Plus when i start the car after its been sitting over night and back out into the street, when i go to put it in drive, the kick from my tranny actually moves the car despite me pressing the brake. The first 5 minutes of driving the brake response is terrible.

In the past year all my brake system components have been replaced, and done so by my mechanic, not me. The only thing I can break it down to is those silly rotors, and replacing them will cost me $$$ since its a hub over rotor design.

I'm thinking about still doing slotted rotors (maybe, prolly gonna go with brembo blanks) on my tC, but this whole situation has really put me off on the aftermarket rotor thing. Thoughts on this?

 

[mrbrace]

I used to have an accord myself before I got the TC. What brand of rotors did you get because sometimes I heard that some companies make them too wide for your application and try and stretch their applications to different cars. When indeed it does mess up your car. Now however I am not 100% on this so bear with me.

I bought Brembo Blanks instead of the slotted ones because the slotted ones make your pads wear down extremely faster than blanks. So if you are having trouble or had trouble its because they may have been the wrong rotors. Secondly, you want to go with a name brand that people trust like Brembo, Baer, ya know other import and domestic names not some ebay bought taken off a 86 volvo shined up really nice to look new rotor.

Just my opinion and you may not have done this but through my 3 years of owning an accord I know where you are coming from.

 

[ND120883]

They were brembo blanks before they got to the company i bought em from I believe, because they were in a taped up brembo box...could just be a random rotor slapped in a box though and i'd never know.

Here is the link to the website I got em from.

 

[mrbrace]

Yeah I hear ya man sometimes you just can't trust other companies. I got mine from

http://www.coximport.com/

They are a respectable company that has recieved a lot of my business I would trust them next time that you need something cause I know mine were brembo because they have brembo insignias on the back of them

 

[lo bux racer]

Why not put on a set of stock rotors and see if the problem goes away? Stock rotors are usually pretty cheap, and it will instantly answer your question.

BTW, I use stock rotors on all my stuff. You can't beat the cost/performance ratio of stock.

 

[Stefan TC]

Originally posted by ND120883@Feb 13 2005, 05:18 AM
My brakes were fine before this happened, and then i put these rotors on. They are slotted cross-DIMPLED rotors. I looked around and found that cross-drilled rotors were prone to cracking, so I decided that this was a compromise. Cool. I put the the rotors on and instantly my braking SUCKS. ?

Generally fading is attributed to pads........ Did you happen to change your pads lately? If not get new pads and try them with thesem new rotors...
When you change rotors you should change your pads...
I do not think you can make rotos so bad that would introduce fading...........

 

[lo bux racer]

If they're stainless steel, the coefficient of friction is much lower than cast iron, and it could cause what he is experiencing. Stainless looks really nice, but doesn't perform nearly as well as cast iron.

 

[ND120883]

The hawk pros I have on right now will be gone in another month or so, so I'm gonna change rotors back to stock then. I'm gonna go with w/e brand my mechanic uses, so as to eliminate any errors on my part.

There's been about 5 sets of pads on these rotors in a little over a year now. All of them got rocked.

I'll just go stock for the rest of time. Everytime I think I've learned enough about what parts work for cars and what parts don't, I just get hit with things like this. Expensive lessons.

 

[Azrael]

Really can't go wrong with stock.

 

[pyroman2000]

I'd go with the oe honda pads if I were changing them.
My friend just put the slotted/crossdrilled rotors on his 03 accord sedan and didnt notice any problems but he put the oe pads on again. They may be expensive but thats because they work.

 

[torqued]

Hd the same problem on my del slow, the brake fade was horrible so I changed the pads and the added stainless steel brake lines and the problem was solved. ohh by the way with upgraded rotors stay toward softer brake pads they don't last as long but cheaper to replace or resurface your rotors just food for thought.

 

[ND120883]

update on my little situation here, not the best news either.

I had the same shop i've been doing everything at change the rotors and pads. went completely back to stock. The problem is now worse than before. I am running out of options. I took my car by a friend of mine who is a former mechanic and had him drive it. He says the fade is quite bad, and that it feels like it is gliding instead of stopping. He thinks it is probably an assist issue with the brake booster. I'm leaning towards this too.

I'm about to walk into that place and start throwing people. I am pissed off. What should I do now?

 

[lo bux racer]

In your original post you said everything in the brake system had been replaced. Did you replace the master cylinder?

 

[ND120883]

yes. the master cylinder was replaced. The time after that they took it out again, bench bled it, and put it back in.

I just took it back again today. This place is 5 minutes from my house, and by the time i got there and he took the temp. gun to my rotors and they were 400 degrees. There was blue smoke comin from my brakes. I already have 100 miles on the pads, and he kept givin me all this runaround bull about needing to break in the pads or whatever. Ya I know that...but in the meantime my car SHOULD STILL STOP, at least partially. It doesn't stop. It just burns. Now he's tellin me that I locked up my driver side caliper again, but its under warranty since its only 6 months old. At least that's good news. Whenever my junk breaks its still under warranty. I still get to pay for their labor though. Good times.

I'm taking it to another shop monday for a 2nd opinion.

If I can't get this thing fixed, I'm prolly gonna have to junk it cuz nobody wants a car that doesn't stop. I'm pissed.

 

[Labfish]

Damn, man...sounds like a case of a total crap-ass install from the shop you went to.

 

[lo bux racer]

The root problem is the pads aren't retracting. There's a tiny hole in the master cylinder that facilitates a slight retraction of the pads when you release the brakes. If the pedal isn't adjusted right, the pads never retract because this hole never gets exposed to the piston stroke. It sounds like you need a pedal adjustment to add a little more freeplay into the rod that pushes on the brake booster. If the piston in the master cylinder never fully retracts, the brakes are constantly in hard contact with the disc. This causes exactly what you are experiencing: pad fade just driving the car. I'd start looking there if I were you. The service manual usually specifies a certain amount of freeplay in the pedal before the rod contacts the booster, make sure it is to specification.

The reason I asked about the master cylinder is because sometimes the little hole gets blocked and also causes this same symptom, but it's unlikely this happened with two different master cylinders.

 

[ND120883]

One thing about the calipers. Whenever I go to get brake parts at like advance or pepboys they always ask me if the calipers are "akebono" or "Nissin" calipers. I have no clue what these differences are, and i've tried looking online with no result. Perhaps I shall look again...

 

[Hudnut]

sounds like a bad bleed job or crappy fluid to me.

 

[lo bux racer]

Akebono and Nissin are caliper manufacturers. It shouldn't make a difference for this problem, but it might.