aftermarket rotors/brakes

I've tried the Midas touch and was extremely disappointed.

I'm looking for a more heavy duty rotor and pad system for a 99 accord exv6.

Any suggestions?

 

what problem are you experiencing that makes you want "more heavy duty"?

 

the rear rotors are too thin (not vented like the front) and warp easily.

 

They warp easily only when your wheels are improperly torqued or when you
mix different manufacturer pads and rotors (cheap stuff) that will cause
excessive heat due to unmatched coefficient of friction.

 

The rear brakes don't DO nothin'. Except rust. And seize.

I suspect your warpage problem is just poor maintenance.

 

You would be surprised at how much the rear brakes DO do.
I had a 63 Triumph Herald lose it's brakes due to failure of a rear brake
cylinder seal,and blocked off the rear half of the system(before cross-
connected systems) to get home. It makes a big difference.

 

What do you mean by "poor maintenance"?

I tried to get Midas to replace the pads in Nov. '04, they said they didn't
need replacing, unfortunately I took their word for it and didn't insist.

Then in January '05 I took it back and they now say the left rear rotor is
warped.

By the way, it's the wife's car, low mileage and I keep it cleaned and well
maintained.

 

Don't put too much effort in trying to explain your mainenance habits on the
car. That guy doesn't know what he is talking about. Brakes warp for a
number of reasons and I have had a few brand new cars warp rotors after a
few thousand miles. It has nothing to do with maintenance the majority of
the time. The rear brakes obviously help the car stop. The only
maintenance you can do is adjust the rear drums, if it has drums, and do
periodic brake inspections to verify that one caliper isn't sticking and the
brakes are wearing evenly. Other than that you are at the mercy of the
crappy, base line brake systems put on most cars today. Warpage can be
created by unevenly torquing/overtorquing the wheels when put back on or
riding your brakes but that is really about it.

I can tell you from personal experience to stay away from cross drilled
rotors. They crack. The slotted rotors may be your best bet with a good
pair of ceramic pads. Also stay away from braided metal brake hoses.
Absolute crap.

 

That Herald was rear-wheel drive. On RWD cars the rear brakes do quite a
bit more than they do on a FWD car. My comment was figurative, not literal.

Rear brakes on a FWD car are doing braking, obviously, but it's NEVER
enough to get them heated up to the point of warpage. Take your car for a
fairly aggressive spin, park it and feel the wheel nuts front and rear.
You'll see what I mean.

Rear rotors these days are the same unventilated style as the fronts used
to be 20 years ago.

Now if the rear calipers are beginning to seize and the pads are dragging,
the rear rotors will heat up quite a bit more than they're supposed to, and
unevenly as well.

 

they're good enough for the job they have to do. warpage, in my
experience, is a function of maintenance, nothing else. well
maintained, you can run those things red hot all day & they'll be just fine.

 

I agree. After I learned to torque my lug nuts to specs I stopped having
warped rotors. Lesson learned.

Mike

 

There are lots of reasons rotors warp.

An excellent treatise is here:
http://www.babcox.com/editorial/bf/bf100326.htm

 

Bull.Wherever did you get that idea?

This I agree with.

 

Run ordinary brakes red-hot and your brakefluid will boil and you get brake
fade or complete loss of braking.

 

you're right that red hot brakes are undesirable, but whether the fluid
boils depends on the fluid grade, how fresh it is, caliper air flow, pad
conductivity, etc. when i was in europe, i'd watch some of the rally
competitions, and on night stages, every car had brake disks glowing
cherry red through the wheel spokes, front & rear. they stopped on a dime.