Honda Civic 2004 Brakes vibrating

Hi,
I made the problem go away but I would like the wise people to
comment. The 2004 Civic I have would start vibrating when I pushed the
brake pedal down.

My wife took it to Honda Service and they resurfaced the rotors and the
problem went away for about a month. It then came back in full force
and it was very dangerous to drive.

So I took it to my friendly service station and they resurfaced it but
were very unsure about the exact cause. Guess what ... the problem
came back in a month again. So I took it back to them and they said
that the rotors were warped again but advised against resurfacing since
it did not solve any problems. They suggested that I either replace
the rotors and the pads or complain to Honda.

after being given the run around by Honda, I decided to change the
rotors and the pad myself. I have done it before. I used Kragen's
generic version and instead of ceramic pads, I used semi-metallic. I
also noticed that the old rotors very pitted on the outside surface and
there seemed to be hairline cracks in the old pads.

Also, I noticed that only one screw was being used to hold the rotor in
place instead of, what I would think, two. The other cars I had worked
on did not use any screws as the pads held the rotors in place.

That was about a week ago. I am waiting to see what happens next. Any
thoughts, advice, etc. would be appreciated.

 

The only thing to do now is just to wait about three months to see if the
problem is solved. It's my guess that you solved the problem. You may want
to take a close look to see if there needs to be another screw installed
related to the each rotor--look for screw holes. You may be able to find
out by visiting the parts counter and taking a look at the pictures in the
manual or on the computer screen. I done that several months ago at the
Honda Parts counter. The person behind the counter was very helpful.
Jason

 

You are correct. Two screws hold the rotors on the car and your
friendly shop probably lost it since most Honda dealers cut rotors on
car without removing them. Your rotors warping could be caused by your
driving habits. The hairline cracks are evidence of overheating which
could be another problem altogether or part of the original problem.
Alot of stop and go driving or lettin the car sit for a while without
using it can cause the rotors to warp. Honda brake components are top
notch the only problems people have with them are usually...warped
rotors.

 

in my experience, the brake shuddering problem you describe, with oem
honda rotors, is invariably due to incorrect wheel torque procedure.
tighten the lug nuts 1324, 1324 in a two or three phase operation, with
at least the first phase having the wheel off the ground. use a torque
wrench, not an air tool. i've driven perfectly decent cars to the shop
with perfectly decent brakes only to drive them from the shop with
brakes shuddering like sob's. get home, jack the car up, re-torque as
above, shudder goes away again. many shops have kids that grew up with
detroit hunk-o-junks that are entirely insensitive to this kind of
thing, so they get into bad habits young.

regarding rotor screws, they're only there to hold the disk in place
until the lug nuts go on. after that, they're redundant, so ignore
them. you can run with none perfectly safely.

 

:

Not true. At least one screw is required. If the disc falls on an angle,
particles of dirt can fall between the disc and hub, causing a vibration. I
have solved a number of brake vibration complaints by simply cleaning the
rotor/hub interface.

In my experience bolt torque is not a major factor in brake vibration on
Hondas.
http://www.babcox.com/editorial/bf/bf100326.htm

 

I totally agree with this post. Use a torque wrench and retorque using the
procedure below. Even just a little too much torque will cause the brake
pedal vibration you describe. If your owners manual specifies 80 ft/lbs,
then torque to 80, not 75, not 85. Do not trust any shop to get it right.
Retorque them asap - especially important with Honda rotors.