petercs

I purchased a brand new civic on Sep/2010 and by Nov/2011 with 13000 miles on the car I heard some noise coming from front wheels. took it to the dealer and they said that it needs replacing front break pads machine rotors. is this normal for the pad to go bad in such short time with this low mileage?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

not unless you are really hard on brakes. depending on the user and driving conditions, they can last anywhere between 20-80k miles. altho i have to admit, the pads that come from the factory almost never last more than 20k miles. they seem to be "starter" pads put in there with half the pad material. when i got my car new, the pads were shot at 20k miles, the second set of pads lasted over 40k miles and i used em much more often.

petercs

I don't use my honda a lot and I don't press on breaks hard. I didn't have to replace anything on my Hyundai for years after I purchased it back in 2002 and I am the same driver. what a regret buying civic, what a piece of junk. I was shocked it is not covered by the warranty, and owner-link http://www.hondaownerlink.com/ doesn't have anyway to place complaints about their product except of twitter which is a joke.

MelJ

It's not covered because it's a wear item. Same thing goes with clutches. Pretty sure that's the same no matter what car you choose.

ezone

14 months and 13k miles, you ARE technically out of the 12/12 warranty. Technically, you own it if they are worn out from use.
Noise or other problems may or may not be covered by regular warranty. Depends on the circumstances.
I didn't notice any bulletins about this sort of complaint that apply to 11 m.y. Civic.


Now, some random thoughts:

That sounds like unusually rapid wear if they were really worn out, but none of us know how you drive and none of us saw them. No one here can know for sure that they were truly worn out. All we know so far is you complained about some kind of noise.
A fresh brake job is the quickest way to get you out of the shop and back on the road.

Brakes only wear when you use them. Highway travel racks up miles, but no brake wear. City driving- stop and go, wears brakes faster.

Do you deliver pizza or newspapers for a living? I would expect rapid wear if you did. Ditto for hot-rodding it.

Did you see and measure the original brake pads yourself?
How do you KNOW they were worn out?
Plenty of people see brake jobs as easy money and work.

Some noise can be acceptable, even if it is not desirable. "Glazed" comes to mind, from very light braking (squeal).
So does surface rust buildup (grinding), which is pretty normal, especially after rain or humid conditions, and/or sitting for days at a time. Even overnight with humidity and dew. First couple of stops they grind until the rust is "wiped off".
Gravel caught in the brakes is common too.

Forget ownerlink. Call the 1-800 customer assistance number in your owners manuals and ask them about this.
Be nice, be polite, be professional. Don't expect or demand anything, you may be surprised.

MelJ

Good post. I'd like to add, has stopping distance changed? What about pedal feel? A pulsating pedal could be a sign of bad rotors. Same goes for applying the brakes over a certain speed(my rotors were warped badly and any use of the brakes past 40mph resulted in a shaking steering wheel).

Gunner

The pads you got from the factory could have been crap too. Just get a decent set of ceramic pads and change them yourself..the front brakes on 8th gen civic is way to easy to pay anyone to change for you. If your second set of pads goes that fast then you have a problem.

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/2...nt-brakes.html

petercs

Honda agreed that they had a crappy pads put on their piece of junk civic and they replaced the worn ones for free. 13K miles for God sakes, it didn't happen on my Hyundai which is way cheaper car but yet more reliable.

MelJ

They replaced the pads and admitted their mistake. No car company is perfect. I can't see how an entire car is junk if the pads were just of an inferior material.

Gunner

They took care of it which is more than most dealers would do for thier cars...Honda cars last forever if you take care of them..Glad to hear its fixed tho.

2009civic

japanese>korean

jordan1794

guy has one issue with the car and calls it junk?
lolwut? Like stated below, the car will last forever if you take care of it...

I have a 2006 that I take perfect care of, always checking fluids/tire pressures/brakes etc. I've put it through a lot, some eh...less than legal speeds and some fast cornering on a friends private road out in the country and it's doing great. Meanwhile my other friend has a 2008 with all sorts of problems, tires are worn from incorrect tire pressures, engine is sludged up from lack of oil changes, bumper is falling off because of bottoming it out numerous times.

give the car a chance and take care of it, you'll be amazed.

MindBomber

Your complete dismissal of Honda quality is consistent with your mechanical knowledge, the correct spelling is brake.

Worn brake pads are not a mechanical failure, rapid wear is not a reflection on Honda quality.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

yup, but since they are "breaks", then i suppose they were "broken" from start.
naturally, if they were brakes, they are just worn.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

Way to revive an old thread. This guy probably sold his civic and bought a way more reliable Kia, he'll never have to change the brakes on that.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

yeah, that's why i just joked there :P