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My 2012 Honda Civic brakes make a grinding noise the first few stops when cold. At first thought it was the rear drums, so I replaced drums and shoes, grinding noise still there for first few stops, then I replaced front rotors and pads. Recently reapplied lube to contact areas on front pads, noise is not as bad, but still there? Any suggestions?
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Has the weather been damp or humid in your area lately? Sometimes drums and rotors can react badly to the atmospheric conditions and give you brake troubles that you’re describing. Do the brakes feel grabby and lock up easy as well?
If it’s been rainy, that explains it. Rotors get rusty. The noise is accentuated by some kinds of hard brake pads. I would not worry about it.
Well, I bought the car in 90 degree weather, and it has squeaked and squealed ever sense? It has eventually squealed even after the new rears and fronts were completely replaced. I jacked the car up last weekend, reset the rear adjusters down to the bottom, so absolutely no drag on the rears, then pulled off the front pads, inspected for cracks, grooves and uneven wear, cleaned with brake cleaner, nothing looked bad? reapplied SuperLube Teflon grease to wear spots, bled all 4 brakes, and reassembled. The noise was slightly quieter, but still there for 2-3 stops? It sounds terrible for a mostly newer car!!! The front pads are ceramic Wagner brand, I have new Centric PosiQuiet pads on order. I am thinking about using different lube on the wear spots, maybe silicone paste. Just not sure if this might be a caliper issue, or worse, ABS problems? It definitely doesn’t seem normal, even though the grinding goes away after 2-3 complete stops. Thanks for your comments!
1. It’s a Honda. Their rotors and drum RUST FAST.
2. you have likely glazed rotors resulting in squeak and rub
3. You have likely ceramic brake pads, resulting in same symptoms. Japanese rotors do NOT like ceramic pads.
4. All you need to do is to keep rotors dry if possible (are your parked outside overnight?) and de glaze them. Same time, de glaze pads. That easy.Wow, sounds easy! I do keep the car in the garage at night. I’m not sure how to de-glaze the brakes? Does that mean I have to use sandpaper on the disc pads and rotors, or do I get the car up to a certain speed (on a safe road, of course), and slam the brakes to slow the car down to a certain speed?
I use high speed sander for those jobs. You got to be VERY careful as it produces a lot of stinky and unhealthy dust.Respirator is greatly advised. That’s for rotors. As of brake pads, simply hand sand them, just a little bit, on rough sand paper.
I quite using ceramics on Toyota and Honda years ago. I use semimets. You can do semiorgs, but they produce ton of very unsightly black dust on front alloys.Can you recommend what grit I should get for the high speed grinder? Also, what grit of sand paper for the brake pads? Lastly, is this a permanent “fix”, or should I return the ceramic brake pads I have on order, and replace them with semi-metallic pads? Thanks again for your help!
Well, since you write that they are squealing, that is the pad vibrating. I have fixed calipers (pistons on both sides of the rotor) on my daily driver and they love to squeal. I had ceramic pads on this vehicle and they weren’t noisy but I got rid of them because they weren’t much interested in stopping.
If the deglazing doesn’t do the trick I suggest replacing the shims. Sims are there to prevent this exact problem, to keep the pads from vibrating. Pad material has a lot to do with whether brakes squeal or not so maybe the solution is the new pads you have ordered.
I plan on de-glazing the rotors and pads this weekend. I will inspect the shims to make sure they aren’t rattling. The new semi-metallic pads will show up next week. Looking forward to seeing if de-glazing solves the problem!
Here is the latest update on the squealing brakes! I removed the front pads, sanded them clean with 100 grit sandpaper, applied new lube to wear points, inspected the shims, and re-installed. Did not sand the rotors because you can still see the factory cross hatch sanding patterns… and the brakes still squeal!!!
I am waiting on the semi-metallic pads to arrive. I hope that finally gets rid of the squeal!
I installed the semi-metallic pads this afternoon, no sanding (deglazing)on the rotors, just slapped on the new pads and shims, drove around the neighborhood, no quick stops, still quiet!!!
Just a note, when I did this same thing with ceramic pads, ie. no rotor resurfacing, just slapped on the pads, the civic was quiet for awhile…
Oh well, I think I’m on the right track with the semi-metallic pads to eliminate the cold start squealing. Hopefully, I will check in with quiet pads after a few weeks!
Well, 3 days after I installed the new semi-metallic pads, the cold start brake squealing started again. I’m just about at the end of my rope…
So I finally watched a video about bedding in new brake pads, took the car out and did the 45mph to 10mph thing about 8 times, started to smell the brake pads, then parked the car for about an hour…
Yea!!, no more cold start squealing! It’s been a week without any squealing!!! The rotors were glazed, and bedding in the pads took care of the problem. I was so happy that I went out and bought new tires! I truly feel like the brakes are fixed.
Thanks to everyone for your helpful comments!
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