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Hey guys,
I need new brakes pretty badly, and Honda wants to charge me over 400 for the pads and rotors...which is pretty steep. I was looking at the DIY section and wondering if I should attempt to do the job myself. Keep in mind I've never done any maintenance work like that on my car and the only tools I have are standard ones around my house and the jack that comes with the car for changing tires.

If I try the job myself, I'm wondering if there's good aftermarket pads and rotors I should get...or even if I can get some good/not-too-expensive ones on ebay, if a local shop would install them for me if I'm not comfortable doing it?

Recommendations/Opinions? And if I follow the DIY step by step should I be successful?

 
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first off all, u been here since 05, you should know better than to ask... search. there are plenty of threads about this. with that said, i will tell u anyways.

best daily drivABLE pads that will give u significant increase in braking is HAWK HPS (not HAWK HP+) pads.

they are very quiet, bite very well (a lot better than stock), and have very little dust.

plus u can get them for 65shipped for fronts on ebay.

as for rotors, OEM is the best. no more questions about this.

is it needed to change ur rotors when u do brake job?

yes if ur rotor looks retarded and old.

no if they look good. and still feel smooth. but i would have them atleast resurfaced. doesnt cost that much.


after installing ur pads, its a necessary to buy a bottle big bottle of brake fluid and flush ur whole system by bleeding them untill all the older brake fluid is out. then you will have AWESOME brakes.

 
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as for install

you will need some sockets ( 12 , 14 and 17mm i think), a giant C clamp, a breaker bar and a 10mm wrench and a another person to help you pump the brakes while u bleed ur fluid.

install it easy and straight forward as it is on the DIY section.

all those tools alone i mentioned will cost you less than 50 bucks.

 
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brembo blanks > oem

my oem warpped couple months after i had them resurfaced. i replaced them with brembo blanks and are still good til this day.

 
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you should get them brembo slotted rotors. Those are nice....

 
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well, thats because 1, they didnt go a good job resurfacing. 2 ur oem rotor at that time was too wore out to be resurfaced thus the wrapping.

but anyways,

oem > brembo blanks.

there are other memebers here who have ran both (including myself and gearbox) and if u compare the quality of the two, brembo doesnt compare to oem.

my brembo wasn't even coated with factory paint around the hub, and it was it was not ballanced very well. every time i braked, my steering wheel would shake from day one.

after i installed some new oem blanks, no vibration, no wackness, only smooth braking.

 
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no you shouldnt. only an idiot ricer would get those for our civics. unless you are going BBK, you never......and i mean NEVEr...EVER get slotted or drilled.

for
1. you will never get to use ur brakes that aggressively
2. you LOSE braking power, and alot of it
3. unless it came factor from bembo slotted OR drilled, ALL 3rd part drilling and/or slotting can cause the rotor to crack or break. (still there is no reason to buy these)

when brembo makes the rotors, they drill it and/or slot it while its still molding, where as a 3rd part gets the blank bembos, then drills/slots them which can make the metal brittle or creat micro breaks in/around the drilled area. and down the line, you can guess what will probably happpen.

 
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hmm..its been a while since i had oem rotors. i've been riding on brembos for a year or so already. once these go, ill buy a set of oems.

unless you're highly modified [pushing 300+ hp], you shouldn't even be looking into slotted rotors. and besides, if you want to stop faster..look for better tires.

 
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Well, I'm thinking of running with brembo slotted with OEM brake pads. Am I going to feel a difference or will the pedal pressure just stay the same? I think it might help with the brake fade though.

 
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Why do you need to bleed your old brake fluid out?

 
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just my two cents: you can only stop as fast as your tires can grip the road! You can have endless calipers and giant brakes but if you dont have tread its all worthless. This one guy I meet at a show once was bragging about his jetta having 4wheel brembo brakes, looked really cool, but when I looked at the tires i had to laugh-4 smooth goodyears...i just snikered and walked away.

 
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You dont. Unless the fluid is really black and murky. Are u sure its $400? Is that just for the front? Do u get a ******* as you wait?

 
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Every 50,000 miles or 5 years the brake fluid should be changed because the fluid absorbs moisture. Moisture in the brake system causes increased wear&tear on the braking components, leading to premature failure.

 
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You don't need to flush every time you change the brake pads in fact for most people they don't ever have to worry about flushing the system cause they don't own the car that long. my personal recommendation is to drain the whole system and fill it will motul RBF 600. or just don't even worry about it.

All of the Big DC guys (justin, edwin, andy, george, rob, and myself) tested a bunch of different brake setup and we all came to the same conclusion slotted, cross drilled, or both makes it take a lot longer to stop there is not enough surface area. we also found that the advanced auto parts/autozone blank rotor was the best out there cause it's a decent rotor it cost all of $15 and it comes with a lifetime warranty so if it warps you just take it back in and get a new ones. I wish I could get rotors that cheap again sigh...

Oh and HPS are perfect for the street and daily driving it's the HP+ you have to worry about cause they need a little heat in them

 
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u will lose braking performance. because you will be losing alot of surface area. you will regret it. ive been there and done that. trust me, they're not "better" and they're not going to give you any performance gains... instead you'll be losing performance.

because once the brake fluid discolors or turns brown (from clear-ish tan) then you need to bleed them until u get all new brake fluid in ur system.

you have to be in idiot to say otherwise. honda recommends 5 years, but if u put ur braking system through harder conditions, it wont last 5 years.

any time ur brake fluid changes color to a brownish color that means its time to change ur brake fluid.

why?

because there are certain chemicals and molecules that absorb water and other impurities and when those chemicals are used up, they turn brown, indicating a necessity to change the brake fluid.

i recently changed my rotors/pads and i flushed my fluid. its been about 3 years since i flushed the fluid and here is what 3 year old fluid looks like:

(i took n saved these pixs for those idiots that challange the idea that you dont need to change out ur brake fluid until it reaches 5+ years or whatever)



take a close look at all the **** that's in there....



once it turns brown, ur rated boiling point lowers dramatically even if u some EXPENSIVE *** motul RBF 600 (which is what i use on my R1 bike). that **** goes for 15$ a small bottle.

totally agree. one of the biggest factors in braking is ur tires, and how good they are.


i ran the HP+ as well. they wear out real fast, and they are VERY VERY VERY loud and completly embarassing the drive around due to the squeekyness and grinding.

....however, after 5 mins of heating up the pads, they were AMAZING.
(but the loudness outweights the braking potential. jsut not good daily driver pads)

 
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most likely that ur civic's brake fluid has never been changed out and all the old fluid is still in there... putting new fluid in is great, but all the new fluid is in the resivor and not in the caliper where it counts most.

thats why you flush it.

NOTE: when i say flush i mean bleed ur brake fluid until only new CLEAR fluid comes out.

i "flushed/bleed" 1.5 litters of nasty old brake fluid. yes i know the whole system isnt 1.5L but i kept putting fluid in and bleeding the lines jsut to ensure all new fluid is in there.



good brake fluid looks like the clear one. bad looks like the left.


^bad
get the point?

 
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also, any DOT4 is fine. i buy the big bottle when i do brakes.

no need to get expensive stuff because ur only driving a civic...and putting new brake fluid is always 10x better than ur old fluid. so there is no need to get like DOT 5.1.

also remeber, mixing DOT 3, 4, and 5.1 is ok.

DO NOT MIX OR USE DOT5. DOT5 is a silicone base and is very dangerous if u mix it. it will also destroy ur braking system.

 
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I think you getting a little mixed up HPS and HP+ are 2 completely different pads the HPS don't make any noise last a long time not too much brake dust and stop a hell of a lot better than OEM. HP+ grinds, make noise, generate a lot of dust, and doesn't last that long plus you need a little bit of heat in them. Now if you want something crazy try a set of Hawk blues, you will be sore the next day.

and the reason I say Motul RBF 600 is cause it does not boil any were near as fast and is one of the nicest fluids out there it tends to hold up a lot better than pretty much everything out there and stays cleaner a lot longer. And if you carefull enough and do it right all it takes is one bottle. and 15 bucks for brake fluid is not that expensive try $80 for a bottle that size of racing brake fluid. but for some one that just goes to work and store some cheap dot 3 will work just fine.

 
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hahhaha yea. i ment to say HPS = good and HP+ is loud as ****...lol

(S stands for street)
i was typing a bit too fast n i guess my stupid brain cant process both at such a late hour of the day.


yea the RBF600 is a facking GREAT fluid. but the thing is, unless u got some serious $$ to shed, or you track ur car ALOT, there is no real need for it. the prestone DOT4 fluid at autozone has a boiling point of 5xx degrees, which is more than needed for daily driving.

plus as i said earlier, you you just add ur brake fluid to the resivor, it doesnt really cycle down to ur calipers and all that old nasty fluid is in ur calipers. and that will REALLY lower ur boiling point... and the fluid thats in ur calipers is what counts most.


when i had HAWK HP+ pads, oem lines, new fluid.......they seriously felt like they stopped better than NEW OEM rotors, russell SS lines, new hawk HPS, new fluid


but im really getting out of that whole "fix up my ride" and ricer stages right now... too much trouble, too much attention from the cops... so the HAWK HPS are more than i will need.

 
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Lotsa regulating going on in here coupled with some good info. My kind of thread.

PBR Metalmasters are also great pads so long as you break them in properly - low dust, great stopping power. In fact, any high performance pad needs to be broken in and ran through a few heat cycles before it will perform as advertised.

Find a long two mile stretch of lonely road, wind her out to about 55mph and brake hard to about 5 miles an hour - do not stop or try to lock up the tires (ABS or not) as you run the risk of warping the rotors. Do this about six times. The last two times, your brakes should be smoking like mad. They are now properly broken in.

 
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^ive already done that but i believe you have to do some slower braking first before you do some braking...

if i remember correctly, the instructions on the pads called for:
4 times braking from 35 to a slow almost stop (but not stopped)
then 4 time from 45+ miles to a slow-almost-stop. (should be smoking by now from the burning/heating of the anti-squeal grease to properly bed in)

leave ur brake to cool down for 15mins (so dont drive on em) then u have properly broken in ur pads.


but yea, properly braking in the pads is just as important as installing them correctly!

 
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Yeah, I couldn't remember if there was a some slower braking involved, but it makes sense to gradually warm them up prior to putting them through the paces with a few hard heat cycles.

 
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Nice Read...

To answer original posters question, being someone who didn`t have a ton of experience as well, I have done it, and found it very simple. ITs really not that hard, as long as you can see where bolts unscrew and go back together. Do It Yourself!

 
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make sure u have a breaker bar. it only cost like 15$ and you can do tons with it. like tighten or untighten ur lug nuts n such.

if u go to autozone, they will lend you the tools for freeee.

 
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Plus they make a satisfying sound and have a good rebound when you're pissed off and chuck one across the garage.

 
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^not to mention a defense mechanism....just in case.

 
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Might be worth your while to pick up a Haynes manual sine you're new at it also! They aren't the greatest for major work, but it will get you in the right direction with some pictures and step by step instructions. But possibly even better then that, is this thread:

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/7...d-install.html

Brakes were the first work I ever did to a car, and as nervous as I was about doing it (it's your brakes after all), I couldn't believe how easy it was. Drum brakes are a pain in the butt, but disc brakes are cake! I had a Haynes, but relied primarily on that thread for instructions.

Good luck...and definitely DIY: Save some money, and have the satisfaction of knowing how to do it. Once you do a few DIY jobs, you'll realize how much money you have the potential to save on labor charges from shops.

 
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it's cool thank u for sharing