Rather than going back to same parts over and over, I would suspect different parts; calipers specifically.
Did you (or the mechanic) lube to caliper pins properly?
Are you sure the brake pads spread when you release the pedal? The pads might stick to the rotor for whatever reason it maybe. (Spread pins not doing its job, caliper pins not being lubed etc etc)

Both power stop and Raybestos, in my personal experience, aren't so garbage so that they would wear out within 3 months. I know they aren't top of the list like Akebono or Brembo, but they aren't garbages.
I really think there are other issues with your brake system; start with calipers.

 

Bought a 2011 with 201k miles. I'm living with a little highway rotor pulsing. Old car, live with issues.

Of course, I owned GM cars in the 80s and 90s and every damn one of them got warped rotors.

 

Even when new they do that. Mine starting doing at at about 21k miles.

 

Interesting post....I have the same issue- every 20k miles the vibration comes back. Like the OP, I have tried numerous different brands....with the same results (eventually). Slider pins lubed every time, calipers move freely.

 

Did you check the lateral rotor runout?
See this post. Front brake rotor warpage

 

SEMI METALLIC PADS

 

Do you burnish you braked pads to the new rotors after install?

Braking style can affect performance....short pulsing of the brakes as opposed to one looong push on the pedal can make a difference.

 

Do you burnish you braked pads to the new rotors after install?

Yes this.

Follow the brake parts manufacturer's burnishing procedure. It's also called bedding in the pads.

I do this on every vehicle we own. None of them shudder upon braking.

Pads on our vehicles are all OEM Honda & Acura, but if you do like @2011.2017.odyssey says and fit a set of semi-metallic pads, you'll likely never have problems with uneven adherent pad material on the rotors.

OF

 

So its vibrating with current rotors? How did the previous rotors and pads perform?

 

Driving style, quite possibly.
I used to have more brake judder then I changed my braking habits at stop signs stoplights etc. I used to come to a stop, then press the pedal firmer (thought in the back of my mind was if I got rear-ended it I would not have as high a chance of getting shoved into the car in front of me). I have stopped doing that, and usually stop, then creep forward a bit, then only hold the pedal enough to keep it stopped. No longer have gotten judder on my other vehicles.
We've only had our 15 Odyssey since last fall but so far no judder on it either.

 

2016 Odyssey having brake shaking problems 2-3 months after brake pad and rotor changes.

Wheel bearing just replaced with most recent brake pad and rotor change.

1st change: Powerstop brake pads and rotors.

2nd change: Raybestos ceramic brake pads and rotors.

3rd change: Carquest gold brake pads and rotors x2.
(had warranty on the carquest rotors and brake pads so when I changed again I also replaced the wheel bearings.)

I have been reading around different websites and most of them suggest buying performance brands.

I'm just not sure which brand is best at this point. Any help and info would be appreciated!

1. Raybestos R-300/Raybestos specialty truck
2. Powerstop Z26 street warrior
3. R1 concepts e-line series

These are the current ones I am thinking about buying.

Sadly the rotors are just undersized.....
Rotor and pad heat up then pad leaves deposits on the hot rotor.

Perhaps try a good cross drilled set.
That should keep the heat down.

Or even a semi metallic pad that will scrap the rotor clean after deposits form.

 

Agreed, I'd like to see a bigger rotor with more mass (and ergo, more thermal capacity). However, we've got what we've got and have to make it work.

Years ago I read a tech paper provided by one of our Odyclubbers authored by Wilwood Brakes, and they did not recommend a cross-drilled rotor for our application. Drilling removes rotor mass, and Honda does not have a thicker rotor spec'd for the Odyssey or a caliper to go with it and recover that mass after drilling.

Semi-metallic pads are proven to remove adherent brake material from a rotor surface. You'll get accelerated rotor and pad wear using these, but they work well.

Or, you can do like @Buddur and I do, and bed in the pads to put a uniform adherent layer of pad material onto the rotor face. Results? You get all three: good pad bite, good wear characteristics, shudder-free operation.

OF

 

Semi-metallic pads are proven to remove adherent brake material from a rotor surface. You'll get accelerated rotor and pad wear using these, but they work well.

and waaayyy better braking performance...

still happy with my pad swap.

 

I’m having the same issue with my ‘12 Odyssey, after 4K miles. I would prefer to switch back to semi metallic pads to prevent this but there aren’t many options for them. Rock Auto has Centric ones, and the local parts store private label ones.

However, I saw that Raybestos has a hybrid pad, combining ceramic and semi metallic into one. Does anyone have any experience with them? (More Information for RAYBESTOS EHT1521H)

 

Current using powerstop drilled and slotted rotors with pads, still going strong. Already have 100k+ km on them. Pay more, less problem in future.

 

YES YES AND YES! Powerstop front and rear with drilled and slotted P.S. front rotors. 70K +/- miles, just now going to replace pads just because. NO rotor warp.

 

For some strange reason, it took a lot more effort to bedd the brakes on the Odyssey, and I had to do it multiple times. Before you shoot the parts cannon again try this.
Carefully, very carefully, spray down the caliper,pads,and rotors with brake cleaner. Then go bedd them, hard, like emergency hard braking. I found that 50mph down to 5mph, three to four times eliminated it. Do it when the roads are empty so after the 4th time you can drive a few miles without ever touching the brake pedal. This will cool them down quickly without you having to sit around waiting. I did that a few times over the course of a month, and they're still good over a year later and counting. And this is all on Autozone's cheapest brake pads and rotors.

 

For some strange reason, it took a lot more effort to bedd the brakes on the Odyssey, and I had to do it multiple times. Before you shoot the parts cannon again try this.
Carefully, very carefully, spray down the caliper,pads,and rotors with brake cleaner. Then go bedd them, hard, like emergency hard braking. I found that 50mph down to 5mph, three to four times eliminated it. Do it when the roads are empty so after the 4th time you can drive a few miles without ever touching the brake pedal. This will cool them down quickly without you having to sit around waiting. I did that a few times over the course of a month, and they're still good over a year later and counting. And this is all on Autozone's cheapest brake pads and rotors.

I’m in the middle of trying to use semi-metallic pads to get a deposit off my frozen rotors before I give up and just get all new, cheaper rotors. I’ve gone through stoptechs bed in and deposit removal procedures (10 cycles 60-30mph stops) and have seen completely black rims, a minor vibration improvement, but still terrible high speed vibrations under light braking.

Can try your technique too.

The expensive route doesn’t always work.

Uneven Pad Deposit removal | Brakes-shop.com

Leading innovator & distributor of world class brake components and systems for race cars and high performance vehicles on the street and track.

www.brakes-shop.com

 

@Mxracer , I had to find a local hill with a long, long, downgrade. This enabled me to speed up faster and use a speed less than 60mph (like 50mph) and do it repeatedly. Also did it at night, late night to avoid traffic. The only problem I had was damned whitetail deer everywhere.

It's harder to do this, for me at least, because I felt like I would be abusing the brittle Gen 2 transmissions on our 2002 and 2003 EX Odys every time I floored it to get up to speed for another braking event while bedding pads, and do this ten times.

Autozone Duralast rotors are fine. Nobody has the market on making "better cast iron" than the other guys. Autozone pads are fine, too, especially their Duralast Gold premium line.

OF

 

I just do it on the highway. Plenty of room with 3 lanes.

I don't floor it, I just accelerate normally. It's the brakes I hit hard.

Idk if they are better or worse but after doing a timing belt with all OEM parts my wallet needed a break. No pun intended.

Just found it unusual that the oddy needed it done several times.

 

Google: cryo treated rotors

 

Cryo can relieve residual stress in cast iron ... even though the mechanism isn't understood (like cryo treatment of a rifle receiver made from 8620 steel).

Still, cryo does nothing to stop adherent accumulation of pad material on a rotor face, the primary mechanism for causing a lot of so-called "warped" rotors. @Azdude is seeing that first-hand.

I quit using 100 grit garnet paper to sand rotors by hand to get a fresh, shiny rotor surface prior to bedding in pads. Took forever, and I'm getting too blamed old for this.

Now, I either use my Makita orbital sander, or just buy new rotors and bed in the pads. Just too many family vehicles to look after, and so little time.

OF

 

Here's buildup on the rear rotors after one winter....

 

Here's buildup on the rear rotors after one winter....

One of these days somebody is going to make a cast iron rotor with an applied coating to the pad-to-rotor friction surfaces that is hard as diamonds, will last a lifetime, and still be able to "bite" a matching pad compound.

If that happens, brake shudder and rotor deposits and changing rotors will be history.

Of course, it will cost one of my arms or legs. I need those right now.

OF

 

I fooled around with non-Honda pads on my 1999. Found the Honda pads were issue free compared to various aftermarket pads and rotors. I put the nice soft Honda pads on any decent quality rotor and never had another brake related issue.

That aside, you should check front end bushing, lower control arms/any thrust rods - not sure how the front end is constructed on this model year. Usually the fresh pads and rotors take the shake out for a few months but it comes back.

Have experienced this personally on my Honda, and several BMW's. People chase "warped rotors" and it turns out to be front end bushings.

 

Before bedding in pads (old or new), I prep the rotors. Sand them to a bare surface.

If you perform the pad bedding procedure on a rotor that still as adherent pad material, well, given what I read in the whitepaper from Centric brakes, that could create a situation where you get more pad material concentrated in some spots as opposed to other areas of the rotor face.

From what I gathered from Centric's web site, you need a virgin metal surface on that rotor face. Either a new rotor, or prep the rotor that is already on the vehicle.

Using an orbital sander (like I do) may not be a perfect way of doing it, but it's given me good results so far.

OF

 

It initially got worse for me as well, to the point of a death rattle. I literally had to pull off the highway because it was so bad. The fact that it made it worse told me I was on the right track. I just kept bedding until it stopped because I knew my front end was good and tight.

Maybe you have a pin that's not letting the caliper slide back and its still rubbing? It's almost impossible to feel until you free them up. What I thought was just drag from the weight and wind turned out to be the caliper's sticking. Not surprisingly when the mechanic did the brakes he didn't even look to see if the pins were ok. When I installed the new pads I had to clean and grease all 4 pins because 3 of them weren't moving freely. Made a noticeable difference, especially when coasting at highway speeds.

I bought rotors, pads from Autozone. Good or bad, I still plan on warranty exchanging them around the 23rd month.

I did get tired of the brake dust from the semi metallic pads and swapped them out for these.
Duralast Gold Ceramic Brake Pads DG1089.


Initial bite is a little less but felt better under longer and harder braking with little to no dust. I just paid the $30 difference from my old pads. Oh and I didn't have to do any bedding.

Hope this helps.

 

It initially got worse for me as well, to the point of a death rattle. I literally had to pull off the highway because it was so bad. The fact that it made it worse told me I was on the right track. I just kept bedding until it stopped because I knew my front end was good and tight.

Maybe you have a pin that's not letting the caliper slide back and its still rubbing? It's almost impossible to feel until you free them up. What I thought was just drag from the weight and wind turned out to be the caliper's sticking. Not surprisingly when the mechanic did the brakes he didn't even look to see if the pins were ok. When I installed the new pads I had to clean and grease all 4 pins because 3 of them weren't moving freely. Made a noticeable difference, especially when coasting at highway speeds.

I bought rotors, pads from Autozone. Good or bad, I still plan on warranty exchanging them around the 23rd month.

I did get tired of the brake dust from the semi metallic pads and swapped them out for these.
Duralast Gold Ceramic Brake Pads DG1089.


Initial bite is a little less but felt better under longer and harder braking with little to no dust. I just paid the $30 difference from my old pads. Oh and I didn't have to do any bedding.

Hope this helps.

thanks for the tips. I think the pins are moving freely as I pulled them out/greased them when I put the semi-metallic pads on a month ago and they seemed to move ok.

it was rattling pretty bad after I let them cool and tried on the freeway.

ordered the raybestos high carbon rotors last night and have the raybestos element3 pads.

looked at the stoptech crosscut/drilled rotors but my wife wouldn’t like any of the noise it would make

 

I’ve used Duralast Gold pads and rotors on my 1/2-ton truck. When I bought them many years ago, they even had a little slip of paper with instructions on how to bed in the pads to the new rotors.

I had that truck for around 70,000 more miles after that, and the brakes gave good performance with shudder-free operation.

OF

Edited for spelling ("brakes" instead of "breaks")

 

Truthfully, I had never heard of bedding brakes until now, and I've been doing my own brakes for 20+ years. I never had any issue when I used only semi-metallic pads. This last set was my first set of ceramic pads and its the first time I ever had what I thought was warping, only now to find out it was the pads leaving deposits on the rotors. I swapped out my brakes last night for Raybestos hybrid ceramic/semi-metallic pads and coated rotors, and bedded brakes this morning for the first time.

 

Hopefully that solves it. I know I didn't enjoy the process.

 

my 2 cents, I own a 2002 VW Jetta TDI and I had the same issue, went through maybe 5-6 sets of pads and rotors, different brand, not cheap, everything was cleaned and lubed up each time, then I replaced 2 front calipers thinking it was the cause of my problems but it still continued. Then I purchased a set of drilled rotors and it solved the issue. Overheating warps the rotors.

 

Not according to Centric and the long-tail experiences of many experimenters here. The drilled rotors may have an impact beyond the expected. Centric, and many experieces here, show that it is the pads leaving material behind. Perhaps any slotted/drilled rotors are preventing a similar type of build-up due to that difference in pad surface. But while it may fly in face of some 'common sense' it does appear that overheating does NOT warp the rotors.

 

I suspect the semi-metallic pads don't use an "adherent braking material" means of gaining optimum friction. They remove that stuff and directly contact the iron surface.

Does it wear a bit faster? Yup. Will semi-metallic pads get that shudder on brake application? No. Do they grab well? Yes, very much.

With all mechanical systems, it's all about positives, negatives, and a nice balance between the two.

OF

Edited text underscored & italicized.

 

Put on the high carbon raybestos rotors and the element3 pads last weekend and front end vibrations are gone.

Now that’s gone, what I thought I was starting to feel seems true- The several bedding methods of trying to get deposits of old rotors jacked up the back and those are vibrating slightly now. Sheesh

 

I out the Element3 pads and rotors on all 4 corners early last week. Bedded them, drove around the city for a week, and in the last 2 days put 1,600 miles driving from OK to MT. It feels so much better braking now than it did. My last ceramic pads only had about 5k miles before they were unbearable.