[spanky1]

Does any know why Honda has opted against rear disc brakes? Any plans for them on upcoming model? After having cars with 4-wheel disc and 2-wheel disc, I'd much prefer to have disc brakes all around than afront disc/rear drum combination. I have,in fact, made this one of the reasons to hold off on van buying for the present time. I really like the Ody, but this is important to me. Am I the only person that feels that discs are an important feature? From the comparison on Edmunds with the other vans, looks like this would help one of their weaknesses. If I had my druthers, I'd like to have great collision protection AND excellent braking. An anti-Honda person could make the observation that the collision protection had better be good, because you have sacrificed stopping distance with the drum brakes.

Michael Harris

 

[silk]

We've seen many posts with regards to the improvements in the 2002 Ody, with four wheel disc brakes being one of them.



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2000 Acura Nighthawk Black Pearl TL
1993 Ford Explorer

 

[ody]

It is my understanding that disc brakes do not necessarily mean shorter stopping distances.
However, they do provide greater resistance to fade during repeated stopping from speed, due to superior cooling (especially ventilated rotors). They also have the capability to be upgraded for high performance use i.e. larger, cross-drilled or slotted rotors, multi-piston calipers etc.
Apparently Honda feels that drums will get the job done just fine given the driving style of most minivan drivers.
With that being said, I too would rather have the discs on the rear for fade resistance and because they look so much nicer than drums with my custom wheels

Just my .02...

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On the waiting list for my '02 EX Nav in RED!

 

[fordsdad]

i will swap to rear discs once a kit is available or i will retro-fit the discs from the 2002 odyssey. i feel discs are the only way to go in the 21st century.

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2000 lx,fern grey,remote starter, single disc cd player,roof rack with cross rails, bra, hidden hitch,csa 5 spoke alloy wheels,15% film over oem privacy glass and artic alpine tires on the oem steel wheels.

 

[toyman]

Disc brakes are good for high performance driving. Drums in the rear last a lot longer and also is a lot cheaper to replace. Since your van is not high performance (sorry to break it to you), Honda decided that people may be frugal with their rear brake setup.


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Here to help

 

[mclarke]

A while back, Car & Driver (I think) compared braking performance between a Grand Am and an Alero (same car, different name). The Grand Am had a disc/drum setup and the Alero was disc/disc. While I don't recall performance numbers, they did note that pedal feel/feedback was better on the Alero.

Drum brakes are, to a degree, self energizing. That is to say, when the shoes make contact with the drum, the rotation of the drum forces the shoe to stick to the drum. When you lift off the brake in a disc/disc setup the pads lift away: not so with drum brakes. I would imagine that a disc/disc setup is easier to balance because they are the same type, but I can only see this being an issue in high performance cars. Since most of the work is done by the front brakes anyway, I can't see any advantage to discs all around on the Odyssey, except as eye candy. It probably saved Honda a few bucks, though!

mclarke

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by spanky1:
Does any know why Honda has opted against rear disc brakes? Any plans for them on upcoming model? After having cars with 4-wheel disc and 2-wheel disc, I'd much prefer to have disc brakes all around than afront disc/rear drum combination. I have,in fact, made this one of the reasons to hold off on van buying for the present time. I really like the Ody, but this is important to me. Am I the only person that feels that discs are an important feature? From the comparison on Edmunds with the other vans, looks like this would help one of their weaknesses. If I had my druthers, I'd like to have great collision protection AND excellent braking. An anti-Honda person could make the observation that the collision protection had better be good, because you have sacrificed stopping distance with the drum brakes.

Michael Harris </font>

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Blue 1999 EX, block heater, tranny cooler, trailer hitch

 

[fordsdad]

for the price honda charges for the odyssey, disc's should have been standard on all four corners.

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2000 lx,fern grey,remote starter, single disc cd player,roof rack with cross rails, bra, hidden hitch,csa 5 spoke alloy wheels,15% film over oem privacy glass and artic alpine tires on the oem steel wheels.

 

[tvvinkie]

Actually, the Ody LX is the second-cheapest minivan on the market (first is the Mazda, IIRC?).

4-wheel discs would be very nice. You can most likely swap from a TL or another Honda with 5-wheel lugs and rear discs.

As far as saving money...the reason rear discs cost a bit more to manufacture is that the cylinder/drum setup must be preserved for the parking brake. They are actuated only by the mechanical linkage--the cable attached to the e-brake/parking brake lever. Drums are still the best choice for this because of their self-energizing nature, mentioned above.

 

[toyman]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by fordsdad:
for the price honda charges for the odyssey, disc's should have been standard on all four corners.

</font>

Its only expensive because of Honda Marketin and how they do not produce enough of the vans. Funny how Honda Dealers are giving away their Insights now (above, list, below list) ---



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Here to help

 

[miscreant]

Disc brakes are by far better, especially on larger vehicles like minivans. They disipate heat faster, and even though your fronts do alot of braking, your rears come into play big time when going down hills (especially in a 4000lb vehicle), and it's this time that drums simply are inferior to disc. Better feel, better braking distribution, and EASIER to replace yourself. Disc brakes aren't just for performance cars, that's a myth that needs to die.

Someone commented above the drums are cheaper to fix...I disagree. They are about the same. You can get rotors and pads for about $65 total for front or back, about the same cost as drums and pads, and you can install them yourself easily.

Personally, there's no argument that really supports drum brakes in my mind.

 

[miscreant]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by tvvinkie:
Actually, the Ody LX is the second-cheapest minivan on the market (first is the Mazda, IIRC?).
</font>

Whoa...just about every other company has a 4dr minivan that's less than the Ody LX, in some cases by thousands of dollars. In fact, the Toyota Sienna CE is the only one more expensive, and it's only by a couple dollars (literally).

 

[fordsdad]

for me, $32000.00 cdn. for a lx and $35000.00 cdn for a ex should equal disc brakes.

 

[DTKWOK]

Well they should, but they don't, so let's move on with life... If you were to go aftermarket what would you get? Brembo? Baer? Just curious.

 

[triplecut]

Here I go again, but many of the DCX mini vans starting with the Caravan EX and up all have rear disc brakes as standard equipment.

I also personnaly prefer discs. I'm not sure they work any better on a minivan but they are normally very easy to service, especially if just a pad replacement is necessary. It can be a 1 hr or less job and you are done.

Jim

 

[RODB]

My '96 Ody came with discs all around. Funny that Honda would omit them on a larger, heavier van.

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'96 Odyssey, 245,000Kms and a
'90 Accord, 211,000Kms

 

[fordsdad]

i feel the same way robd.
once i move on with my life dtkwok, any quality disc kit would satisfy me.