[OdyProspect]

If you get new rotors you need new pads. Make sure that you eliminate other causes of the shimmy like loose/worn wheel bearings before replacing the rotors.

You might want to try machining the rotor on the van as recommended by Honda. The fact that they recommend the "on car" machining is a recognition that rotor run out caused by the van and not the rotor is a factor on these vehicles.

 

[atl_sud]

How do I troubleshoot the wheel bearings?

On a side note, I did purchase the Cmax pads from Autozone too so they will replace both the rotors and the pads.

 

[mtbiker]

alt_sub, I have the same front brake setup as you (Duralast rotors and Cmax pads). After 6 months of driving the rotors had deep grooves in them and the pads were worn and braking apart at the edges. Noticeable shimmy during high speed braking. Note, my wife drives the van daily, but I drove on a long trip and noticed the shimmy.

A month ago I return the pads and rotors to AZ, they replaced all the parts without question. But, I asked what could have caused this premature wear (roughly 5k miles). Their response (manager and the parts guy) was possibly the guide pin lubrication or a bad wheel bearing. I replaced the pads and rotors, checked the wheel run out with a dial indicator, and made sure all the guided pins were clean and lubed. The van breaking was normal, with no shimmy at high speeds.

But, today I noticed visible wear in the rotors. UGH! I have two thoughts,
1) I am somehow doing something wrong that is causing the rotors to not fully retact, but I don't know what
2) The AZ parts are cheap for a reason.

There is a very good brake and alignment shop in my neighborhood. I am taking the van to them for evaluation. I will report back the results.

Also, my vehicle in an 06, depaxed touring

 

[stevescivic]

Have you checked the fitment of the pads in the calipers? I had a 2003 Accord I used to service constantly where their rear brakes kept getting all chewed up quickly and I did notice at the time of installation that the pad fit was extremely tight which in turn doesn't allow them to move freely in the pad slots resulting in brakes that didn't fully release all the time.

The problem was a bad casting from factory (some similar documented cases on the internet confirms this problem) and the only solution was to replace the caliper bracket or grind off a little bit of the pad tangs to make it from fitting tightly to fitting just snugly. The problem with modifying the pads is that if someone else should service the brakes that they may not be aware of this necessary mod and as a result installs pads in the normal manner which may lead to pre-mature wear and ultimate failure.

My solution for a tigh fitting pad: grind off a small section of the bracket using the stock Honda pads as your fitment guide. Took me a while to perform this properly with a lot of patience but I've rectified the brake fitment issues completely.

Even the cheapest of parts that I used didn't wear as fast as what you've described.

Hope

 

[Minja]

Interesting read, Im about to do a brake job too. I got from advance auto wear ever rotors and Wagner thermodynamic quiets. On a note, on my teg and lude, I've always had to grind a little off the brake pads to make them fit. Does oem pads have this problem too?

 

[stevescivic]

I know on the Accord I used to fix the OEM pads were a tight fit. Best solution is to grind the caliper bracket material off and then it will be a permanent fix. The only catch 22 to this is that the grind/cut has to be as precise as possible otherwise the caliper bracket can be ruined and you'll never get a pad to fit properly in them.

 

[cnn]

alt_sub, I have the same front brake setup as you (Duralast rotors and Cmax pads). After 6 months of driving the rotors had deep grooves in them and the pads were worn and braking apart at the edges. Noticeable shimmy during high speed braking. Note, my wife drives the van daily, but I drove on a long trip and noticed the shimmy.

A month ago I return the pads and rotors to AZ, they replaced all the parts without question. But, I asked what could have caused this premature wear (roughly 5k miles). Their response (manager and the parts guy) was possibly the guide pin lubrication or a bad wheel bearing. I replaced the pads and rotors, checked the wheel run out with a dial indicator, and made sure all the guided pins were clean and lubed...

I have Duralast Rotors and Duralast Brake Pads since March 2010, 1.5 years and 20K miles later...zero issues.


All the detail is in this thread:

http://www.odyclub.com/forums/52-20...diy-2007-honda-odyssey-front-brake-rotor.html



When I bought the brake pads, there were 3 choices: cheapo, "middle-of-the-road" (Duralast Gold) and expensive (Cmax) ---> See attached Picture.

The store manager told me to stay away from the cheapo type (people install the cheapo with the purpose of selling the car soon) and to go with "middle-of-the-road" (Duralast Gold) pads as they sell a lot of it with zero issues.
He said something about Cmax pads having some issues (I could not understand what he referred to). he also mentioned that Cmax is more expensive but does not mean better than Duralast Gold.
Anyway I am very happy with "middle-of-the-road" (Duralast Gold) pads.

 

[mtbiker]

alt_sub, I have the same front brake setup as you (Duralast rotors and Cmax pads). After 6 months of driving the rotors had deep grooves in them and the pads were worn and braking apart at the edges. Noticeable shimmy during high speed braking. Note, my wife drives the van daily, but I drove on a long trip and noticed the shimmy.

A month ago I return the pads and rotors to AZ, they replaced all the parts without question. But, I asked what could have caused this premature wear (roughly 5k miles). Their response (manager and the parts guy) was possibly the guide pin lubrication or a bad wheel bearing. I replaced the pads and rotors, checked the wheel run out with a dial indicator, and made sure all the guided pins were clean and lubed. The van breaking was normal, with no shimmy at high speeds.

But, today I noticed visible wear in the rotors. UGH! I have two thoughts,
1) I am somehow doing something wrong that is causing the rotors to not fully retact, but I don't know what
2) The AZ parts are cheap for a reason.

There is a very good brake and alignment shop in my neighborhood. I am taking the van to them for evaluation. I will report back the results.

Also, my vehicle in an 06, depaxed touring

Update as of 10/06/11,

I took the vehicle to Lee's Alignment and Brakes in Gardena. A family run shop that does great work. I discussed my van’s premature pad wear issues with the technician at length. He agreed to do thorough check of all caliper surfaces, and other areas that could cause premature wear (and check to see if I made a mistake when I installed the rotors/pads). I had them turn and install the original stock rotors (not badly worn at all) and install a basic Bendix ceramic bad.

When I went to pick up the van, I spoke with the tech again; he saw nothing wrong with the installation or the caliper.

I carefully examined the removed AZ pads and rotors. The rotors showed premature wear of ½ inch wide on the outer radius. Correspondingly, the pads had small chucks of material (size of a cucumber seed) missing on the outer edge and uneven wear. Note, I fully realize that this much wear is not a safety hazard or performance issue, but I believe it is a sign that the pads/rotors will wear out prematurely.

Lastly, I returned the pads and rotors to AZ, and they completely refunded my money (in cash). No questions asked.

Now I am in a waiting game to see if the premature wear shows up. I will report back if I see any premature wear or in 6 months if I don’t. Thank you all for your suggestions and comments

 

[cnn]

I am switching to winter tires in December, at that time (of tire swap) I will take photo of my Duralast rotor and "Duralast Gold" pads and post them here.
Zero issues for me.

 

[HeavyDuty]

OP, did you happen to ask the tech if he inspected the rear brakes while he was replacing the fronts? If they were worn or glazed, obviously there'd be more stress on the fronts & cause premature wear like that.

Aside from that, a sticky caliper, collapsing brake line or master cylinder going bad (not allowing the fluid to return) would, of course, along with the pin lube & other associated items you already mentioned cause them to be overworked too.

 

[mtbiker]

HD, I did not have the rear brakes checked. The rear brakes were turned about 2 yrs ago. I did give them a visual inspection 6 weeks ago when I rotated the tires. I will give them another visual check. I agree with your assessment, that the wear is probably caused by the pads not fully retracting. But why?? Caliber, MC, brake line. I will continue to monitor.

Thank you for your comments.