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Hi all,

I've got an 03 EX that has gotten a little shake under braking at highway speeds, which is almost certainly warped rotors. I don't pretend it's a race car, and it's all stock, so I'm just looking to keep the factory level of reliability and consistency. It's going in on Thursday to have the rotors cut or replaced, and I'll probably have new pads put on at the same time while it's apart.

My question is about a set of pads I was given at Christmas, and if they are going to perform as well and keep as reliable as the stock brakes have been. They are made by "autospecialties" and are labeled as evolution cermaic disc brake pads. http://www.autospecialty.com/html/brakepads_asevol.html

My Honda mechanic is a friend of mine, so oem parts are normally well discounted and labor is a pizza or a case of beer. With that said, I don't mind at all buying a set of Honda pads and tossing or selling these, if they aren't going to be as good as factory... but if they happen to be as good or better, I may as well use them. I just want to get input from people who have already used them (if there are any of you).

I am skeptical because --- In the past I had a F150 PU, and after using non-ford pads somtimes one or more wheels would grab super hard and lock up right when you started to drive the truck if it had been sitting outside in damp weather, like dew setting in the evening. The brakes would occasionally throw a suprise at you, and I hated it. The Honda brakes always react in the same way, and I know what to expect.. I love that and want to keep it that way, so that tells me to get Honda OE pads and stick with what I know works.. that is what I'm going to do unless someone has used these autospecialties pads and can confirm that they are good.

Thanks to everyone in advance.

 
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I never tried that brand of pads your talking about, but I know ceramic ones are the best. If your planning on buying oem pads from honda, I highly recommend that you get a different set of pads, such as aem, axxis, or hawk. Those should cost you like 45 bucks and will probably make more of a difference than your rotors would. Oem pads should cost more than that.

You can also go to autozone and buy ceramic pads which are made by robestos or something. Never actually heard of that brand, but someone on this site said those do its job. They even come with lifetime warranty.


forgot to add that those brands will work with your oem rotor so you wont need to change any thing.

 
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Well, for anyone who might care.. I ended up having him install the new rotors and pads that I had gotten as a gift (Autospecialties ones). I figured, if they were bad I'd go buy the Honda parts and get him to re-do it.. The parts worked well, and even though it's only been a few days with new brakes, I am very happy. They feel solid, and are silky smooth. The shimmy I felt at highway speeds under braking is gone, and things are all good again. I would tell you guys that they are better than stock, but I can't really say that.. the stock brakes had 36,xxx miles on them and were certainly not as good as when they were new, so it's too difficult to compare.

In any case, there are no issues with these pads so far. No noises, and performance is very good IMO. The only strange thing is that I can smell them after I park the car in the garage. I am guessing it's just because they are still so new. The car made some smells when I first got it, so I assume this is normal.

Thanks for your reply civic readline. I'm glad it all worked out well, and these parts work as I had hoped.