Rep Power: 231

...this all started about a month ago...

I had a vibration in both the brake pedal and steering wheel. My back tires were bald and had a slight leak so i figured that was causing the vibration. after the tires were changed, vibration was reduced but still didn't go away on the pedal and slight wheel vibration.

so i ordered the x-rated brake pads from dezod and put them in. looked at the oem brakes, i had uneven wear which would indicate warped rotors.

my question is, with the car only having 40k miles on it, and already i've got warped rotors, would that indicate damage to the calibers? is there a way to check the calibers to make sure they're still good? and if they do need to be changed, does anyone know a site were i can get a good set up after market calibers? i'm not looking for kRazy stopping power, just something a little better than stock.

 
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**** man same problem here...got some hawk pads and brembo blanks but i'm looking to get new calipers...

 
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your calipers are fine.......i warped my rotors at 20k....i replaced them with brembo blanks.......the vibration is from the warped rotors.......it takes ALOT to ruin your calipers..........

 
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caliber=bullet measurement(example)
caliper=brake part that makes car stop(in simple terms)
oh yea, ur calipers are fine, drilled and slotted combined with hawk ceramic pads will increase stopping power over stock, and u can also convert to discs in the rear

 
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Uneven pad wear isn't an indication of warped rotors. Uneven pad wear can be cause from not greasin the pins properly.

 
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just purchased a set of bremo blanks, should be here by the end of the week.

i'm not going to go through the hassle of converting the rear brakes to disc just because it only accounts for about 20% of your stopping power? i just figured if i had to replace the calibers, i might as well get something a little better. i'll keep you guys posted, thanks for the help.

 
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i got brembo blanks and oem pads for later. you gotta try not to brake over 40mph. i ruined my first set of pads in 20k miles, now im on my second set and they are still fine 30k miles later with lots of city driving. its hi speed braking that kills the rotors. try to avoid it if you can. oh and your calipers are fine, just put in new pads/rotors. and leave the back alone. 4 wheel disc brake is mostly hype, ive driven cars with them and it feels the same or worse even than the civic.

 
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^yea civics have pretty good braking....for a regular daily driver anyways...

its when people start trying to use drill/slotted rotors is where the decrease im braking occures. why? because our rotors are so small, and we loose soo much surface area on the rotors due to the drill/slotted.

other cars who have em have gigantic rotors.....

 
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ya those are useless. stock setup is really decent and idk why people put those upgrade pads that cause more dust, eat rotors up faster, and dont really stop any faster.

 
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^^dezod x-rated pads take 20' off your 60-0 stopping distance...

 
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yeah I love my powerslot rotors and hawk pads.. wayyy better than OEM they creeate more dust yes, but I also wash my car all the time anyways

I also got them when my OEM rotors were warped.

 
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what do you guys base that on, because someone told you? did you actually do tests between the new pads and oem to see how much faster the car stops?

 
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pads will ALWAYS wear uneven. the leading edge will always be more worn down than the middle

that was a joke...right??

with the materials of modern brake pads, there is no need for drilled/slotted rotors. pads just dont build up gas like the supposedly used to. when you see a benz or something with drilled rotors, im willing to bet its 100% cosmetic. think of it this way....even F1 doesnt use slotted or drilled rotors.

and as for size, you got it. our rotors are already small as hell. by drilling, you are losing surface area for heat dissipation.

 
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I thought slotted and drilled also helped keep the pads clean.

Oh and people get rear discs with nice pads because they are easier to change than the shoes of the drum brakes. Thats pretty much why I got them. I like to autox, touge, and soon enough hit a track. All of which you are using your braking to the maximum potential. I'm pretty sure my car will brake faster than any of your civics with the stock setup, it might not be due to the discs in the rear more of the pad and tire combo.

Oh and another benefit of having rear discs, you can change the braking bias by changing the co-efficient of friction on the pads. You can't with the drums because no one makes aftermarket shoes.

 
Rep Power: 380

Theres a lot of almost correct information here... as well as a lot of perpetuation of wrong information.

rick1574, Your rotors are not warped. They have an uneven build up of pad material on the surface of the rotor. Your talking about a cast Iron rotor. And cast iron has a melting point of some where between 1150 to 1200 °C. Thats 2102 to 2192 °F, and given that even the best of race pads fade at about 1500-1600 °F you haven't gotten the rotors nearly hot enough to warp them. (OEM pads fade at around 300 to 400 °F). This buildup can ushually be traced back to either neglecting to bed the brake pads or by getting the brakes up to temp and then coming to a full stop and holding the brakes. (you create hot spots on the rotor that react differently to the pad then the rest of the rotor). some of it can be avoided some of it cant. It really depends on how and where you drive your car.

As far as stopping power, The only thing you should be looking at are your tires. Changing pads, rotors calipers and what not will only be tweaking the "feel" of the brakes. I.e. how hard do I have to push on the brake pedal to reach the tires lock up point. (Given that with out changing tire compounds their lock up point will remain the same regardless of pad coefficient of friction, the number of pistons your calipers have or whether or not your rotors are Huge or small.)

Regarding rear disk brakes vs drums... on our civic's I'd say the only real advantange would be from ease of maintenance. Discs are just easier to work on.

 
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thanks for clearing that up. so after hard braking, its bad to have the pedal pressed down? should just leave in neutral and let off til they cool down?

 
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^the only time i could imagine that they would get hot enough to matter is on the track or after some mountain driving. for regular city driving i dont think youre gonna get hot enough that its gonna matter

 
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That would be preferable yes.

For example at the end of each lapping session at a track day you do one more lap using as little brake as possible (to cool them down) and once you are back in the paddock you don't use the e-brake either. you turn off the engine and put it in to gear. We do pretty much the same thing when autocrossing.

as far as how it happens in street driving.... lets just say people who do a lot more surface street stop and go driving will be much more likely to have this happen then someone who does mostly freeway driving.

 
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sweet thanks for the info. i'll keep that in mind.

 
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well, you guys are totally correct, but you're forgetting it's not just the temperature the rotor reaches, but rapid temperature change that can warp a rotor as well... For example, if he's braking a lot/riding the brakes in heavy rain so the surface is staying hot, and he hits a deep water puddle (i mean with a lot of water getting on the rotor), the splash COULD warp his rotors. I've done it before. Metal not only warps at high temps, but when the temperature has a lot of rapid temp changes like going really hot, dropping a lot, and back to hot....

 
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again...its very unlikely that you have ever really warped a rotor. you will never hit high enough temperatures on street pads. untill your rotors are glowing red
(which btw is the most badass looking thing ever at night) chances are they have never truely warped

 
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yep yep..

i rememebr i got a 2006 honda accord for a rental one time...raced an audi tt from red light to red light about 6 times over and over...over about..id say..1/4 to a half mile between each light (country side) and at about the 4th and 5th red light my rotors were smoking liek crazy...it was about 70 degrees outside and no water... it was scary... the car was fairly new by the way with about 700 miles on it. so..i duno.. just sum more info..

 
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what about that guy that said his pads caught on fire

 
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something is wrong then. even after hitting the track for the entire afternoon ive never had smoking. fading, absolutely, smoking, no

ha thats just bad luck. i bet it atleast looked cool tho

 
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I remember this time, my rotors got so hot and warped so bad, they bent into a U shape and wrapped around one of the spoke on my rims....it was crazy.

 
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Hey they caught on fire because I went overboard when I was bedding them in. But who cares they work fine!

 
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hey guys i just resurfaced my rotors at school here are some before and after picsThey came out very well and no more vibrating but this is only for temporary use!!!

 
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wow very nice, they look like new rotors!

 
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Yeah, see all the black/dark spots on the rotors before? thats the build up of pad material.

 
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i might be upgrading my brakes soon, so let me get this straight...u guys would say AEM brake pads, brembo blanks, and stainless steel brake lines would be both good and worth the money?