Small Brake Rant

[JeffKeryk]

My niece Wendy and 2 grand nieces came over; we ONR'ed her 2015 Odyssey EX-L and spiffed it up. I noticed a Honda brake pad spring on the garage floor next to the left front tire. A shop had recently done the brakes to cure a shudder.

So I pulled the wheel and swung up the caliper. Sure enough, Only the top spring was on. I have never seen this before. So I just reassembled everything and torqued the fasteners. I'm not sure how much this affects braking, but it is disappointing. The quality of the work was poor, IMO.

 

[TheLastWord]

You say spring, do you mean spring or retainer?

Honda brakes are easy, surprised you don't do this yourself.

Did they lube the pins?

Do it yourself means doing it right with no time constraints.

What did they charge for this substandard work?

 

[John105]

When I did my 335i rotors and pads in 2016, I like to take my time so it took about 3 hours front and rear. Then, it took one full hour to get the anti rattle clip back on, front right. Was bizarre. Maybe in a professional setting they give up?

 

[Astro14]

And people wonder why I still work on my own cars…

 

[paulo57509]

I get anxiety just having tires installed.

 

[michaelluscher]

I get anxiety just having tires installed.

I suspect mount/rotate/balance and NYS inspection triggered wheel R&Rs is where I pick up my warped rotors
Because I lovingly follow the proper torque spec and clean the wheel flange/hub when I do it, there's no problem

It seems a few weeks after a shop touches it, shudder begins
Can't have nothing nice anymore

To the OP, a shop fumbling a simple brake job is concerning
I get the odd human error, but I'd expect a certain level of safety/competence from a paid job at a brick and mortar business/establishment
A phone call or in person chat with the parties responsible would be reasonable IMO

 

[JeffKeryk]

You say spring, do you mean spring or retainer?

Honda brakes are easy, surprised you don't do this yourself.

Did they lube the pins?

Do it yourself means doing it right with no time constraints.

The 2 springs that push the pads away from the rotor. They install just prior to the caliper.
Kinda long story. I did the brakes a year ago April, used the Raybestos Element 3 rotor and pads. All good.
A shudder started; she took it to a Wheel Works (Firestone) shop near her home. They diagnosed it as bad LCA bushings.
She lives an hour away; I did not get to see her van. There is another shop that has good reputation; she took it there. They felt it was the front brakes, which I found hard to believe. They offered to resurface the rotors. This seemed reasonable and solved the problem at least until now. I took Wendy to pick it up and talked to the owner mechanic. He told me the Raybestos parts were poor quality but everything else looked fine.
The service was late April. Wendy put 25K on the brakes in 1 year, almost to the day.
I will have a set of front tires installed and ask her to keep me informed.

Others have told me these Oddy's can be hard on front brakes. My rant is over the pad spring falling out.

 

[Johnny248]

Do you know how much business we get from people who are going "save money" by doing things themselves and then it ends up in my shop and costs them more than it would have if they would have just taken it in to have work performed my a professional? Not to offend anyone, but there are far too many people who have no business working on their own or anyone else's vehicles. Just saying...

 

[JeffKeryk]

Do you know how much business we get from people who are going "save money" by doing things themselves and then it ends up in my shop and costs them more than it would have if they would have just taken it in to have work performed my a professional? Not to offend anyone, but there are far too many people who have no business working on their own or anyone else's vehicles. Just saying...

I'm sure that's true. My brother owned and operated Comprehensive Mechanics in Santa Cruz, CA until he passed away at 44. Incedently, the shop Wendy took her Oddy to is the same shop, now called West Side Auto Repair.

 

[bdcardinal]

I'm sure that's true. My brother owned and operated Comprehensive Mechanics in Santa Cruz, CA until he passed away at 44. Incedently, the shop Wendy took her Oddy to is the same shop, now called West Side Auto Repair.

We have a shop here with that same name, yet they are on the East Side of SB.

 

[scotty.honda.dog]

Others have told me these Oddy's can be hard on front brakes. My rant is over the pad spring falling out.

The Odys (and Pilots and Ridgelines) are hard on front rotors especially, probably a little too small rotor for a heavy vehicle driven a lot of times by hard-driving Mommas. I have had decent results from Honda pads on our 3 Honda vans/suvs. They changed the rotor design but surely a 2015 has the redesigned rotors from the factory.

 

[edyvw]

The 2 springs that push the pads away from the rotor. They install just prior to the caliper.
Kinda long story. I did the brakes a year ago April, used the Raybestos Element 3 rotor and pads. All good.
A shudder started; she took it to a Wheel Works (Firestone) shop near her home. They diagnosed it as bad LCA bushings.
She lives an hour away; I did not get to see her van. There is another shop that has good reputation; she took it there. They felt it was the front brakes, which I found hard to believe. They offered to resurface the rotors. This seemed reasonable and solved the problem at least until now. I took Wendy to pick it up and talked to the owner mechanic. He told me the Raybestos parts were poor quality but everything else looked fine.
The service was late April. Wendy put 25K on the brakes in 1 year, almost to the day.
I will have a set of front tires installed and ask her to keep me informed.

Others have told me these Oddy's can be hard on front brakes. My rant is over the pad spring falling out.

Only thing that can help you is rotors from EBC, Hawk, maybe Brembo if they have aftermarket compound and not OE.
Two problems with Honda of that generation: 1. Undersized rotors (I cannot emphasize this enough) and 2. poor material for that weight and size of rotor. It is generally an issue on Asian vehicles.
Only new Pilot/Oddy, Highlander/Sienna have size of rotors that is match to weight. I wouldn’t bet on material.
I solved that issue on Sienna by using EBC rotors. Raybestos won’t solve an issue.

Edit: also, there are no outside vanes to evacuate heat. I think in 102,000 miles on this Pilot, rotors were replaced 5-6 times.

 

[SC Maintenance]

This is not new. I had 3 or 4 similar incidents 20 years ago that got me working on my own again.

 

[edyvw]

This is not new. I had 3 or 4 similar incidents 20 years ago that got me working on my own again.

Pilot that is with us now, was my father in law. He left with us and just use it when visiting.
So, he brings it, I lift a car to change oil, and used breaker bar to unscrew oil pan screw. Dealership did oil change before!

 

[BMW Dom]

When I did my 335i rotors and pads in 2016, I like to take my time so it took about 3 hours front and rear. Then, it took one full hour to get the anti rattle clip back on, front right. Was bizarre. Maybe in a professional setting they give up?

Hmm, I had same issue with mine. I couldn't get the front right anti-rattle clip on for like an hour. Was very difficult

 

[CanAmAndMore]

If you want it done right...do it yourself.