John123Drury

Hey gang - this is actually more related to your opinions vs. help for a specific fix. I have a 2011 Civic EX Sedan with 56K on it (mostly highway miles). Earlier this year the rear passenger brake caliper froze...disintegrating the brakes on that side. Now just this past week, the FRONT driver's side caliper froze well. Both had to be replaced (along with the other sides of course)

Now I've been a fan of Civics for a long time. Had a 97 that lasted 240K before I sold it. But this 2011 brake issue has really disappointed me. I don't drive it hard at all, never even touched components like the brake fluid, and see no reason why two separate calipers would freeze up on a car that's only 3 years old.

So I'm really just curious to know if anyone else has had a similar problem with your brakes...as I'm starting to wonder if it's just a flaw in their design.

Your comments are appreciated!

Poopies

iTrader: (4)

Wow, that's pretty crappy! Obviously my car is older than yours but I haven't heard of that issue! Is it really dusty or something there?

ezone

Main problems I see here is rust, causing pads to bind in the brackets.


What was the exact failure in each caliper? (Deeper than just saying "they went bad".)
Without knowing that and probably other details, it's a guessing game.
You got brake fluid contaminated with oil or something?

John123Drury

To my knowledge the brake fluid is absolutely fine. Aside from visually checking the level from the outside during regular maintenance, the cap had never been removed prior. I live in northeast PA...far from being dusty.

Both calipers just 'froze'. It's hard to describe in detail. But in both instances, the piston was in a locked state...pushing pressure on the pads and wearing them down to nothing...but not an insane amount of pressure that car noticeably pulled to one direction or the other. When removed, I could not retract either one (back one wouldn't screw in, and the front one wouldn't budge when I used the c-clamp).

brags

how did the Caliper Pins look like when You broke them free from the
brake caliper. and took them out look.? I mean was there any grease left on the Pins themselves or were they dry.??

brags

[QUOTE=brags;4673347]how did the Caliper Pins look like when You broke them free from the
brake caliper. and took them out to look.? I mean was there any grease left on the Pins themselves or were they dry.?

John123Drury

pins were actually fine. not rusted up at all

brags

sounds like bad/defective calipers to me.
find it odd though on a 2011

usajags84

Interesting:
My wife has a 2010 accord
Rear brakes were completly distroyed at 15k she called me up from the honda dealer and I left work with a how dare you try to rip off my wife attitude

The brake pads had a wear issue that were replaced at a nice price tag and a print out for the class action law suite to get reimbursed for the brake job

I wonder if that problem trickled down

ezone

I don't see it being related to the OPs caliper problem.
JMO

felixowl

Responding to John123 Drury from 2014. Last night my Honda Civic 2012 rear driver side brakes caught on fire while traveling at 30-40 MPH. There was no obvious smell with AC on, no change in breaking, and no difficulty steering or noise. A kind family hailed us down and came running to our car and told us our left rear wheel was on fire. We then drove about 1/2 mile into a VA parking lot and noted that the wheel was frozen, and rotor extremely hot. I removed the pads and then drove home with use of the right rear emergency brake.