2008 Accord Eating rear rotors, rotor swap

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Brybo86

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So I love this car but this thing warps rear rotors in about 20k miles. Now the rotors I'm currently using are autozone duralasts, single disc. Pads are Duralast Cmax ceramic front and back. I bought them after the OEM rotors(new OEM's@30k when I bought the car) warped at 50k.
These duralasts are $25 each and I am on the 3rd set of replacements now(getting my pennies out of the 2yr warranty)
The last time they warped I was getting a low spot on my tires as the brake applied more grip at exactly the same spot everytime... I just got new tires and I really don't want this happening to my nice new conti's.
Caliper pins slide freely when I change pads/rotors. This car is just heavy and I think the brake controller gives to much clamp on the rear brakes.
I have contemplated buying more expensive rotors but @up to $75 and no warranty I am very hesitant as these may get warped just as fast and then I'd be screwed.
So tell me if this idea is completely impossible or is it possible. Could I buy another set of front calipers, heat shields and front rotors and put them on the rear? This would give me bigger vented brakes in the rear and allow for better cooling, less chance to warp, etc? Toss my quarter into the wishing well.
wishing-well-256x306.jpg
 
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How are the pads wearing? Our Acura MDX is on its original rear rotors at 100k miles, and it must weigh at least 1,000 pounds more than an Accord, possibly 1,250 pounds more.

I learned a lesson from SteveSRT8 on this board. He has repeatedly said that what most people perceive as a "rotor problem" is often a "pad problem". I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, my rotors are warped, they need to be turned again. After turning the front rotors on our Acura a few times, I thought to myself, "hmm, maybe there's something to what he's saying..."

I put a different pad on the front (and also had the rotors resurfaced again) and our problems haven't returned since. I'm getting ready to put these same pads on the BACK of our MDX this weekend; not because they're warping the rotors, but because at least one of the caliper pins was stuck in the slide and the pads were wearing uneveningly. And despite that, the rotors still were not warped or producing uneven braking, so I believe the rotors to be good still.

I'd try Akebono Pro-ACT pads on your Accord. It could be that your rear pads are transferring a lot of friction material to the rotors when hot and stopped.
 
Originally Posted By: Brybo86
So tell me if this idea is completely impossible or is it possible. Could I buy another set of front calipers, heat shields and front rotors and put them on the rear? This would give me bigger vented brakes in the rear and allow for better cooling, less chance to warp, etc?


That is not possible, nor required in my opinion. The rear brakes are completely different from the front. And this application should not require vented rear rotors. It's a relatively light duty application. I'll bet that your rotors are not phyiscally warped; instead, they are probably experiencing Thickness Variation, or TV, which is likely pad material that gets transferred to the rotors under certain conditions. I would suspect faulty pads here.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
How are the pads wearing?

They had no uneven wear as far as my eye could see, I didnt check them with a micrometer.
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I'll bet that your rotors are not phyiscally warped

I checked the rotors with a dial indicator when removing them, limit is .004in
rear left was .006in,
rear right was not too bad at .002in
new rotors I put on were checked with the dial indicator and checked out with 0 runout
 
I would not suggest you try and put front calipers on the rear. Always possible but doubtful the ABS is not working properly.

You do know that rotors almost never warp. They become of non uniform thickness.

I would check for lateral runout on the hubs. Once that is ruled out then replace the rotors, calipers and pads. Where you can return a core, calipers are pretty cheap. Spend your money on quality pads, you need decent rotors but not super duper rotors.
 
My wife's Accord, while a generation older than yours, was having similar problems with the rear rotors/pads. I switched to the Raybestos Advanced Technolgy rotors and pads and haven't had a problem since...been years. Awesome pedal feel and stopping power as well. She travels out of town for work so she is hyper-sensitive to anything her car does. 236K on it now and keeps on ticking!
 
Originally Posted By: Ken2
turned out to be friction pad material transferred unevenly to the surface of the disc."

So if the rotors aren't actually warped but it is transferred material, Is this something I will be able to see with my eyes? Rotor will be darker or lighter in the wider spots?
 
Have you checked to see if your calipers are sliding properly and the caliper piston is not rusted or hung in anything? You live in the salt belt right? I would check those first.

Sticky calipers will eat rotors. And the more you machine rotors, the thinner they get and easier to warp.

Btdt
 
I had this happen on our Accord at 29,000 miles. I was aware of Honda info on this, but it wasn't a big deal to put on some new rotors/pads. I used Raybestos rotors from Rockauto and Akebono ceramic pads. I just checked the rotors/pads at 88K and all is fine, lots of life left.
I had done the front rotors/pads with same brand parts at 47K miles, they are also doing fine.
I'm a real fan of these pads.
 
I have heard of the class action lawsuit and the dealer acknowledged that my car was already fixed per the tsb. also the tsb doesn't say anything about pins just replacing the pads
 
Originally Posted By: Brybo86
I have heard of the class action lawsuit and the dealer acknowledged that my car was already fixed per the tsb. also the tsb doesn't say anything about pins just replacing the pads


Actually it does. Some of the pins were installed in the correct order. The updated pads also have the springs that most of the aftermarket pads lack.
 
Originally Posted By: Brybo86

The last time they warped I was getting a low spot on my tires as the brake applied more grip at exactly the same spot everytime... I just got new tires and I really don't want this happening to my nice new conti's.


I don't understand this line. If you were getting a low spot on your tire (flat spot) the brakes would have to be locking up. Is that the case?
 
I don't know if I would call it locking up but yes, with the back tire off of the ground I could spin the wheel all the way around but it did get pretty tight in one spot. coincidently when the brake began to grab the low/ flat spot on the tire was straight down.
I guess the first set of pads I removed from the rears did have some extra spring looking things attached to them... New pads came with hardware but not the thin wire pieces. also the new pads that I have now don't have a hole for the extra spring hardware.
 
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