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Thanks guys. A few years ago I read up a bit on pads and rotors, and was interested to find the idea that a significant amount of pad material is transfered to the rotor so that the friction layers are actually pad material on pad material. This seems to be an exxageration to me as the rotors appear to have bare metal exposed with no visual evidence of any layer.
But my 2003 Accord Coupe’s rear rotors seem to be an exception. The rotor’s friction surfaces were very smooth without any minor scoring and almost look like they were a flat gray color. So maybe pad friction material was transfered.
For my mind, the most fascinating thing about brakes is that they can disspate all the vehicle’s enormous kinteic energy into heat with very little or no acoustical energy. This is almost like designing a car crash that is silent or a rocket motor that does crackle with sound. Bow to the brake engnieers.
Before I bought the “imego ceramic” pads I did a bit of googling, and they are certainly not common. And I didn’t find any commentary that was useful, but brake pads seems to be liked or disliked based on a heavy dose of emotion rather than logic.
I did not dress the discs as they were perfect.
Interestingly, the original Coupe’s pads have the word “Findlex” embossed on the steel backing. Findlex was the original name for Nissin in Findlay Ohio, that supplies the Marysville Honda plant.
For the small amount of braking that is proportioned to the Coupe’s rear brakes, you could probably cut some new pads out of oak and have them last significantly. Joking. Mostly.
Also, the highest performance feature of this car is its ability to stop, mainly due to its light weight. You wouldn’t believe the way she hauls down.
Thanks.
I’ve pretty well concluded that “break-in” has been mostly been made obsolete my very accurate machining, highly controlled assembly, hard wearing materials, well formulated lubricants, and clean gasoline. That said, an engine should not be lugged nor over-revved at any stage of its life. You would think that if the break-in procedure is obsolete, then delete it from the owner’s manuals. But if you are the vendor, why not have the owner baby the car during the warranty period.
Brian:
Thanks for you advice on the ball joints. What do you think squeaking means? No doubt that noise is evidence of unusual friction, but does squeaking mean that the nylon inser is worn throught and now you’ve got the metal ball on the metal casing. Or will the joint squeak if the ball is still working on the nylon, but lubricant is just absent? Is the attached picture a typical ball joint?
Sorry, no picture. The forum will not allow a 66kb image.
Thanks guys. I agree with all your thoughtful considerations, including the incompatability of grease types. This 1999 Honda CRV has 260 000 kilometers on it, and seems quite sound, but is fundamentally a junker—which is my favorite type of car.
I have new ball joints ready to go in should my piercings promote premature death. The CRV is ready for a Canadian Winter, so we will see how well the ball joints survive.
I wish cars still had grease fittings in strategic locations, but since the vast majority would ignore them, the public is best served by lubed for life.
Hello Redfury:
I’ll have to check again, but I think my louvers are decorative and not functional. The louvers are open but the is just a jumble of “junk” behind them without any ducting or apparent control of air flow.
But, as is my habit, I’m guessing.
For some reason the link in my last note is not pasting correctly.
So just google the phrase in quotes and you’ll find it.
The link is correct in the edit mode, but when I submit, it goes weird. Forum software glitch?
Thanks for your continued help guys.
The underside of the Accord Coupe’s snout has a smooth cowling that looks like it would foster streamlined flow under the vehicle. This cowling ends right behind the condenser/radiator pair providing a big hole that is almost as large as the condenser/radiator pair is wide. With streamlined air flowing quickly past this hole I’d expect a bit of depression venturi that pulls warmed air from the space behind the radiator. Combining this venturi with the frontal air pressure formed by the movement of the car, maybe this results in a push of air at the front and a bit of pull at the rear. Which is good for cooling air flow volume.
However, these little front “mud flaps” seem isolated from this condenser/radiator system by some considerable distance and some physical barriers like other cowling and body members and wheel well liners.
But I do fully admit to not knowing anything for sure. Most automotive wind tunnel videos show smoke flowing up and over the car, and don’t address underside and wheel wells. Maybe some one can find a good video.
Hi:
I’m working the issue via videos.
Does this Audi R8 have these little “front of front” mud flaps. Check out the video near 40 seconds.
Hello Again:
I’m satisfied that I have the answer from what I think is this Honda official news release. It pertains directly to the Civic, but explains the “strakes”.
http://www.honda.com/newsandviews/article.aspx?id=2005083040359
[url=http://www.honda.com/newsandviews/article.aspx?id=2005083040359:2jq0xehr]To quote…“The Civic Si manages the airflow even further and features a rear wing spoiler that creates downforce at high speeds, along with a brake cooling strake (a small fin ahead of the front wheel) that directs air across the brake rotor like a dedicated brake duct.[/url]”
Thanks guys:
I really don’t know what this “front of the front” mud flap is all about. But here is my guess.
This car appealed to me because of it low coefficient of drag, Cd, of 0.294. This makes for good fuel efficiency at highway speeds of 130 kph or so. With such a low Cd, this car has had a lot of Honda wind tunnel work.
Wheel wells are an aerodynamic mess with lots of air noise and little streaming flow, so maybe these flaps somehow make the air flow in the wheel wells calm down a bit. This would lower the Cd and make a quieter ride at speed. Most optimistically, maybe these flaps even help flow air through the wheel from the inside to the outside to cool brake rotors.
However, I recently gave a ride to an advanced aviation aerodynamicist, and he didn’t see how these flaps might streamline and direct flow. So I really have no confidence in my theory.
It does seem certain that Honda has them there for a reason, since they are usually a highly purposeful engineering firm.
I tried to find a fiche or parts document to see what the flaps are called and if the name was descriptive of their function. If haven’t found any such fiche yet, but they probably call it something like “flap”.
Hopefully I’ll receive a few more ideas.
Engines burn pretty clean these days, but in the distant past, I’ve had piston crown deposits from fuel and oil ash that accumulated to the point that the valves were hitting and packing the deposits. These were generally fully worn out engines that I pushed beyond any expected service life, and yours might qualify for this description.
Engines burn pretty clean these days, but in the distant past, I’ve had piston crown deposits from fuel and oil ash that accumulated to the point that the valves were hitting and packing the deposits. These were generally fully worn out engines that I pushed beyond any expected service life, and yours might qualify for this description.
With an impact I have this imagined vision that a severe vibration is sent down the shank of the bolt and it is kind of doing a high frequency torsion bar act, all of which break bonding crud. Whereas the hand tool is just twisting the top section of the bolt, and more likely to break it. But I could be “full of it”!
Is there a comparison to be made here with the loosening of ball joint tapers with a hammer blow vibrating the metal that is surrounding the taper?