Honda Civic Brakes and Rotors

maismore

Hi: I just had my front brakes and 2" cut from my rotors. Atleast thats what the mechanic said? I paid $145.00 with tax, is that a decent price or was I taken for a ride. The civic is a 2005 two door Lx.

Mandy

shipo

Two inches cut from the rotors??? Yikes, they aren't two inches thick to begin with so I'm thinking that that isn't exactly correct. :confuse:

drmbb

I'm guessing that should be 0.002 inches

And I'd say $145 for a full front brake job (new pads, turn rotors, repack wheel bearings) is not bad at all. Most places charge $75-$100 just to replace the pads.

cz75

I doubt the wheel bearings were repacked, as it's pretty involved on a Civic just to pull the hub. I believe that they are sealed also and must just be replaced.

tanyasue

Hi, I am totally new to this. I am planning on buying a new CIvic this week. (I went to a Mazda after having a Civic for 13 years and was dissapointed). I am trying to figure out what model I want.

I am super hard on brakes. I drive fast and ride my brakes. I can't seem to figure out if drum brakes of disc brakes are going to last longer. Does anyone have any insight? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

kiawah

Everything now a days has disc brakes in front, disc brakes are superior in stopping capability as well as fade resistance under heavy braking.

Almost all but the cheapest vehicles will also have disc brakes in the rear. Rear brakes do less actual braking (vehicle weight shifts to the front), therefore could be drum. Rear brakes also have to have a parking brake capability (manual cable), which you can do easily with a drum brake. When you put a disc brake in the rear, it actually has both a disc caliper for normal hydraulic fluid stopping, and a small set of drum shoes for the parking brake. Because of this, rear disc brakes are more expensive than rear drums, and aren't used in the cheaper vehicles.

Your driving style driving fast and riding your brakes (for some very bad reason), I would definitely insist on a model with disc brakes all around.

shipo

I'm currently looking at a Civic as well, and by virtue of the fact that the EX and the Si models have rear disks and the DX and LX do not, I'll seriously consider the former and completely ignore the latter. Why? Because when the time comes for new rear brakes (which is a fairly infrequent event for FWD models), they are significantly easier to replace (I do my own by the way). As for stopping power and longevity, I rather doubt that you'll notice a difference either way.

Best Regards,
Shipo

tanyasue

Thanks! I am a bad driver, that is why I ride my brakes. Seriously, have been in muliple car accidents of people running lights, etc so it is a nervous thing. I am working on it...

cz75

Buy a stick and you can just shift to a lower gear rather than riding your brakes all the time, not that you couldn't do the same with an auto.

tanyasue

Good point about down shifting. I used to do that when I had a manual before. I will have to think about that for this one....Thanks for the suggestion. And for some reason it feels better to down shift in a manual.

shipo

"And for some reason it feels better to down shift in a manual."

Probably because it's the driver that controls the speed and the intensity of the gear change/clutch engagement. When asking for a change (begging sometimes) from the control circuitry in an automatic, it puts your request in the queue and then decides for itself what to do and how to do it. :P

Best Regards,
Shipo

warshocked2

i have a 07 civic si... i got 3 questionsa to ask..
1. the problem about the rear tires are for 06 only orfor 07's too?
2. my car ALWAYS skids in snow even tho im rele careful drivin.. do i just need snow tires or theres a problem with the car..the abs always kick in..
3. im considering buyin a set of 16's steel wheel from an 07 ex with snow tires just for winter.. would it fit 07 si sedan? i think they have same bolt pattern but i dunno bout the offset, width stuff like that... need help..

cz75

1) I don't believe they ever applied the TSB to any of the Si models, but they do have a lot of negative camber even for 07. I replaced the upper control arms on mine to get rid of this.

2) Mine doesn't, but I have VSA on my 07 and I have very good A/S tires with decent tread left (around half). It did handle better last winter when I had full tread. Check your tread depth and make sure you buy a quality A/S tire. The OEM Michelins are awful.

3) It should work, but try tirerack.com to see what they say fits because I'm thinking that it will be the offset that determines if the wheels fit, not the diameter difference. I recall the old RSX-S put 16" wheels over 11.8" diameter rotors like we use; in fact, the RSX-S has identical front brake rotors and pads to the Si.

warshocked2

the offset is different... the lx steel wheels are like $32 and for si is $55... with the tires it came out to $617.. thanx!

civicowner3

lawsuit -class action for 06 07 08 civic tires. your problem is the car-it is junk. I have one

cz75

BS. The car has two options - Honda's new non-adjustable upper control arm or SPC's adjustable UCA (there are others, but SPC is the best). I did the later so I could control the camber difference between sides, as most cars usually have some difference between sides with factory parts.

The car is far from junk and has been fine for 60,000 miles, especially after the change. You just need to have enough brains to make the correct changes.

im911

I've had my 96 Civic for 12 years now and love it. It has 246,000 miles on it. Ever since I've had the car, there is a bad vibration when breaking. It happens most of the time when I brake but not all of the time. I've had the rotors machined and the vibration will stop for a few months but it just comes back (a few months seems too quick to need a new rotor service). When I was getting my pads replaced a few months ago, I noticed that one pad was worn significantly more than the other (same wheel). I'm wondering if there has ever been calipers that have squeezed (for lack of a better term) unevenly and that's what might be causing my rotors to go out so often?

cz_75

The slider pins need lubing, maybe replacement. Consequently, the pads stick and rub, getting the rotors hot and melting pad material on them in uneven patches that cause vibration. Brakes need service, even if the pads are good, after a few years. New quality rotors for your generation Civic should be dirt cheap, $25 each, if you're not going to a stealership.

noblemulhall

i just bought a '94 Civic CX hatch, and when i brake theres a scraping sound from the drivers side front tire. would i need new pads/rotors or is it something more serious