I'm a former master wrench, but have been out of the game for a long time, other than taking care of family vehicles.
I've used Akebono pads almost exclusively for decades.
Yesterday, I replaced the pads and rotors on my wife's 2017 Honda CRV.
Something that drove me crazy were those spring clips on the edges of each pad, which push the pads away from the rotor.
I used Akebono pads which came with those clips.
I didn't realize their clips were a little smaller than the stock Honda clips. The part that clamped to the pad was shorter and narrower than OEM.
The clips flew off with every attempt to seat the pad. I thought I was missing a technique or perhaps a special tool.
After suffering through the fronts, I finally decided to reuse the clips from the OEM pads on the rears.
The OEM clip springs were a bit larger, providing more metal to clamp onto the pads.
No joke, the clip issue alone added nearly 2 hours of work because every time they popped off, I had to reinstall them without contaminating the pads or rotors.
The M77 grease worsened the problem by decreasing what little friction the clips had to hold them on the pad.
I've done hundreds of brake jobs, and this was the worst.
I will be digging the other OEM clips out of the garbage for future use, as they are apparently not available separately.
Going forward, I may have to use OEM pads/hardware to avoid this problem.
Bob
I've used Akebono pads almost exclusively for decades.
Yesterday, I replaced the pads and rotors on my wife's 2017 Honda CRV.
Something that drove me crazy were those spring clips on the edges of each pad, which push the pads away from the rotor.
I used Akebono pads which came with those clips.
I didn't realize their clips were a little smaller than the stock Honda clips. The part that clamped to the pad was shorter and narrower than OEM.
The clips flew off with every attempt to seat the pad. I thought I was missing a technique or perhaps a special tool.
After suffering through the fronts, I finally decided to reuse the clips from the OEM pads on the rears.
The OEM clip springs were a bit larger, providing more metal to clamp onto the pads.
No joke, the clip issue alone added nearly 2 hours of work because every time they popped off, I had to reinstall them without contaminating the pads or rotors.
The M77 grease worsened the problem by decreasing what little friction the clips had to hold them on the pad.
I've done hundreds of brake jobs, and this was the worst.
I will be digging the other OEM clips out of the garbage for future use, as they are apparently not available separately.
Going forward, I may have to use OEM pads/hardware to avoid this problem.
Bob