old car fan

The front brake pads have lasted more than 12K miles on my 05 LX 4dr. I've tried different brands and types, OEM and OE spec. I've even tried adjusting the rear brakes to see if that would make a difference. I've cleaned lubed everything as they needed to for reassembly. The only thing is I've never replaced the calipers since they've performed well and have not leaked. We do have some down hill driving for about a 1.5 miles but that should cancel out on the way back. The other cars we own that are driven the route have had normal brake life. What could possibly be wrong?

ezone

Rotor finish?
Pads wear even or uneven?

Who drives the car?

Driving habits? (Delivering pizzas/papers will wear out brakes much faster than strictly highway driving.)

old car fan

Driving habits are normal. No delivery work. The pads have been wearing evenly. The rotor finish has been good. Pads wore out no differently even with brand new OEM Honda rotors with a factory finish.
My wife drives it most of the time and she has been also drives the MDX. The MDX is no where needing new brakes at 30K.

mac25

It could be normal, I replace mine at 50% each year (usually about the same mileage as you mentioned).

But I drive her extremely hard (track).

Who is telling you they are due? What depth are you replacing them at?

they should measure around a 1/2inch new 50% is about a 1/4 inch, lots of people run them down to 1/8 inch (though i wouldn't advise that).

old car fan

I've been replacing them when the wear indicators start making noise. If I replaced them at only 50%, I think we'd get no more than 6K miles.
Braking quality seems fine even toward the end of pad life as the car is never driven very aggressively.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

Sounds strange... mine I dont remember how long it been... more than 30k... I don't brake on corners, though, mostly, in street. Car can take most corners in streets higher than posted limit...

mikey1

definitely not normal in my opinion,

i replaced my front rotors and pads last in August 2012, i checked them when i did my last oil change a few weeks ago, and they are still well above 50% left,

i have put at least 50k miles on since then

ezone

Does Mama drive with both feet?
Do you drive with both feet?
Is the left edge of the brake pedal rubber worn?


Would you be able to notice if a brake were dragging just a little?

bsmiley

Does you the car have a burning smell and or a trail of smoke as it drives down the road?
Does your Civic struggle to get to 50 mph?
Do you have to floor the gas to move the car?
To perform a panic stop all that is required is letting your foot off the gas pedal?
Are you towing a 4 ton load? 600 gallons of liquid? Gold bricks? -its the gold, isn't it?


If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you have frozen calipers or you need to lighten your load.

12K to the wear indicators? No way! Even IF you're calipers were clamped down tight, there is no way you wouldn't notice. You'd be getting 12 mpg and being chased down by fire engines.

mikey1

in addition to the other suggestions....

when you jack up the front end, do the wheels turn freely/easily by hand?

ezone

Is there a teenager in the household?

mikey1

old car fan

No teenagers, two footed driving, stuck or dragging rotors, etc.
It brakes normally and the car easily exceeds highway speed limits and still gets around 30 mpgs.
I've thought about replacing the calipers but they aren't leaking and they've retracted easily when replacing pads.
I've driven the car for as long as a set pads lasted as well as my wife and we've gotten about the same amount of life from the pads.
I've done brake jobs on all kinds of cars for over the last 30 years and I know what I'm doing. This car has had the shortest brake life of any car I've owned,
I recently replaced the pads with a lifetime warranty so I can deal with the short life with less expense.
I also have to currently deal with a automatic transmission rebuild at 97K.
My luck hasn't been very good with this car. Did I mention it has "666" in the Vin? Seriously, no kidding.

danilo1

Very Strange My Wife's 04 Acura EL autobox ( drive it some as well) Still has it's OEM pads.. showing about 40% life (F and R) Discs look brand new ie: Dead flat smooth wear.
I pulled the wheels just yesterday to check for brake condition/wear.
The car goes through the Rockies (google) every couple of years.
So the brakes Do get a workout... albeit sporadically.

Clearly there is (based on My experiences) a ..Serious!.. problem with your car.. somewhere.
Not a hope you've been fitting OEM Honda pads :-)
Suggest spending large, at least Once if only as experiment.

That said.. this car's OEM battery at close to 12 years old Still tests "fine'.
Is this the worlds' best Honda then? Unlikely.

old car fan

We also have an 06 MDX approaching 33K miles and it is still on its original brakes. It's driven the same way as the Honda was and the brakes look like they have lots of life left on them.
There probably must be some sort of problem but I won't be worrying about it anymore. I got rid of the Civic last December because of a bad bearing in the transmission (there's a thread about it). I didn't want to bother with the expense of transmission rebuild. I figure the amount of money I got for it plus what I would have to spend fixing will get me a much better car than that Civic.