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I am brand new to Eric the car guy. Wow! am I impressed! Thanks Eric.
My 2009 Honda Accord just went through a set of rear brake pads at 30k miles. From my web research this appears to be an issue with the 2008 2009 vehicles as there was a class action law suit I just missed out on. I followed Eric’s fantastic video on replacing Honda rear pads. I put on a pair of Raybestos ceramic pads and everything went great. After driving for a few days I noticed the car would actually slow down when coasting down a gentle incline. Unbelievable! I jacked up the back end and discovered the tires had noticeable brake pressure applied continuously. The Honda dealer told me the aftermarket pads were too thick for the caliper (never heard that one before). I bought and installed the $70 pads from the Honda dealer and noticed they were a bit thinner but had a wire spring to attach (see photo). After a test drive I am finding I still have continual brake pressure on the rear tires just like before. It appears the Honda pads are acting exactly like the Raybestos pads even with the wire spring attached. The rotors were in excellent shape so I did not have them turned (it was late at night and my wife needed the car).
My questions are 1) do the 2009 Accords require dealer only rear brake pads to work correctly, and 2) is there any way to adjust the brake system so they don’t wear out so quickly because of the constant pressure?
Any experience or help will be appreciated. I’ve done lots of brakes before and have never seen this issue previously.
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Yes – I did double check the hand brake. It was completely off and not applying any pressure on the pads.
I guess it could be a stuck caliper on both sides but the slides moved freely and the pads were worn quite evenly on both sides. Heck – the car is only 3 years old.
Upon further investigation it appears there was a class action law suit against Honda for the 2008 and 2009 rear breaking system. It looks like they would give you some money for pad replacement but wouldn’t fix the underlying problem. I just missed out on that so it looks like I have no recourse.
When the brakes are binding, what happens if you open the bleeder screw? Do the brakes suddenly ‘free’ themselves? That should point you towards either a hydraulic or some mechanical issue. Is this one of the ones that uses the caliper to also apply the parking brake? Push the piston back so the wheel turns freely and then cycle the parking brake on/off a few times – does it start to bind then?
To answer your original question – No, they don’t require Honda brakes, car manufacturers don’t make their own brake pads they use an outside supplier.
They said that the honda pads are designed to help with the problem, but if your still having the same continual pressure, I don’t see how buying aftermarket brakes would make a difference. And I bet the honda brakes are excessive in cost.
Has anyone adjusted the parking brake cable? If so perhaps they went too far. You might disconnect the cable from the caliper to see if the pressure is still there, if it’s not then loosen the parking brake cable and recheck for the condition.
Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. Here is what I’ve found out.
1 – once the Honda brake pads seated on the rotor, the breaking is normal again. So I guess it was either the thinner Honda pads or the metal spring on the pads or both that makes the difference.
2 – the Raybestos pads (which are thicker) may in fact be too thick for the Honda calipers. The only way for me to know that for sure would be to replace them and put on the metal spring clip to see if that makes a difference.
3 – The Honda pads are twice the cost but may be the only pads that will work correctly on the 2008/2009 Accords. Realistically though, dealer pads may be cheaper than buying extra gas because the brakes are constantly applied thus reducing your gas mileage.
4 – Honda is aware of the problem and claim the original pads were defective – hence the rapid ware. I am not convinced of that. I think they changed the front/back braking ratio and don’t want to fix the underlying problem. Either way, there was a class action law suit against Honda. I called Honda and complained but since my vehicle was 1000 miles and two months past the warranty, they would do nothing for me. The real test will be how long the new pads wear and if they wear out the rotors faster. Who knows, next time I may have to replace the pads and the rotors together. Either way, I’m not impressed with this problem or the way Honda has handled it.
Glad you found the issue thanks for posting it. A few things to clairify though.
The first is that the ‘spring’ is actually there to help release the pads when you’re not applying the brakes, if the pads were too thick as you suggested then it would not be able to do it’s job.
Honda rear pads are often made of organic material and as a result wear out more quickly than other pads. Personally when I’m not using OE pads on Honda’s I often use Akebonos as they seem to work and fit pretty well in place of OE pads.
Dealers base their ‘good will’ on service history. If you don’t have a service history with them they’re not likely to give you and good will consideration.
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