thirdeye

Anyone know of any brake kits available? It's the absolute worst thing about this vehicle.

What I'd like to do is upgrade the brakes on my STi and put them on the RDX if possible. What do you think?

XIS

What is the problem you are having with your brakes? Mine seem great. I know that the RDX just rated average with brakes, but I don't find them any worse at all than my IS300's were...?
Maybe I have been lucky enought NOT to need them yet.

johnny99

The RDX is almost 4000 pounds. At that weight, it is never going to have the same braking control as a sports car that weighs 1000 pounds less.

thirdeye

I'm not asking it to have sports car brakes, I'd just like something better. I'm coming from a TL 6spd with good brakes and drive an STi daily so I'm used to having good brakes, these just don't cut it for me.

Hell I swear my Titan stops better than my RDX. I'd just like something that stops a little better.

mav238

As another poster indicated, the brakes on the RDX also has been adequate for me. Granted, the RDX is not light for a vehicle, but under most conditions, the brakes has been working well.

With SUVs (aside from sport oriented ones like the BMW X series, which has awesome brakes), you really need to be careful with how you drive the RDX. If you tail-gate closely, then I would agree that you will find the brakes inadequate (but in this situation, which OEM brake system would?). Otherwise, just drive with adequate distance to the car in front of you, and you should be good to go.

But if you have to drive the RDX aggressively, I am not sure if current brake upgrades are available for the RDX. On the other hand, I could be wrong and performance ceramic composites are available now.

The other thing you could do, to help out the OEM brake system, is to use the sequential gear shifting to adjust engine speed to slow your vehicle down. It works well for me.

thirdeye

I don't drive aggressively in the RDX, I know it's no sports car. However, I just spent a rather large amount of time in it this weekend in a LOT of traffic, and I've found numerous times that when someone in front of me slams on the brakes, it takes a LOT of distance to slow it down.

99% of the time the braking system is adequate, but I don't like trusting "adequate."

MikeRDXNJ

I feel the brakes are good also. my old jeep really sucked if someone decided to pull in front of me or cut me off. The RDX is way better and I have had to slam on my brakes a few times from idiots cutting in front of me and it stopped great

brizey

The RDX brakes are pretty mediocre. It is a general failing for Honda. But they are not terrible, just not in line with the other performance aspects of the vehicle.

In other words, the RDX goes and turns better than it stops.

thirdeye

Exactly, my philosophy is if it can accelerate quickly, it better stop quickly also. The RDX can do one, but not the other.

batman

I would like some better brakes. I get alot of vibrations when braking at higher speeds. I changed my oem pads to axxis on my TSX. They were awesome! The vibrations and fading went away. One downside was the brake dust which the RDX has alot of anyways.

thirdeye

I thought about getting better pads, but I'd rather do a bigger brake kit with standard street pads, instead of getting something more aggressive and adding more noise/dust.

Hell I run Hawk HP+s on the STi and love the bite, but they leave my wheels black after ~ 10 miles and squeal so loud I can be heard BLOCKS away. :P

Tripp11

I would try a pad change first, and then see where you are in regards to stopping power. It would be your most cost effective way to improve the braking of the RDX and would require little or no effort on your part.

An entirely new brake system for a vehicle would cost substantially more, and it would be a lot of work for a "do-it-yourselfer" like myself.

If you do upgrade the pads in the future, I would like to hear your results though.

sasair

I dont get any vibration braking at any speed. Sounds like you have a warped rotor....

mav238

I would not simply put in high performance pads with factory rotors... noise issues and potential fast wear out...

Check EBC brakes, they might have composite rotors/pads suitable fothe RDX out now or coming out in a year...

batman

Maybe but I only have 6k miles. I'll have it looked at when I take my car back in.

sasair

Doesn't really matter how many miles you have on your car. You can warp your rotors with 20 miles on your car. Most commonly warping occurs when the rotors are hot and cooled down too rapidly with water. They can warp by simply being at normal operating temperature and driving through a puddle the wrong way.

Lrpba300

What if you go through the puddle the "right way"? (j/k!)

RuEvolved

I feel Ya! used to drive a EVO daily. RDX needs some brembos or stoptechs.

XLR8R

I'm waiting for EBC as well. They have significantly improved every car I've tried them in: Touareg, Corvette, Eclipse GSX.

jcct

I find the brakes on the RDX to be too spongy and the OEM pads do not have much of a bite, at least for my taste.

I have already contacted a vendor to get braided stainless brakelines made for the RDX; just need to get the set of stock lines from the Acura dealer for the vendor to take measurements with. Anyone is interested in getting a set of brakelines too?

jcct

I've called Porterfield this afternoon and inquired about a set of their R4S compound pads for the RDX. Unfortunately, they said the car is too new and it's not in their database yet. They suggest either trace out the backing plate of the pads for them, or find out what other Acura/Honda the RDX shares its calipers with.

Anyone has any idea on this one?

XLR8R

From the August Motor Trend article:

Braking 60 to 0 (feet): RDX 136, BMW X-3 126, LR2 SE 126, Lincoln MKX 151.

RDX is not the best but certainly competitive in the class. Good after market brakes could probably get it down to <120.

The Lincoln, on the other hand, is approaching dangerous; and it's rated to pull a 3500 lb trailer. Where's the run-away truck ramp?

thirdeye

When I get some free time, I'll probably put the RDX on the lift and see how the brakes mount up. It'd be nice if the TL 6spd and TL-S Brembos would bolt up but who knows.

happywithmyrdx

I was thinking about upgrading the pads on the RDX, having done what others have stated before by just changing pads. I have had good results in the past. EBC does now carry at least two types for our vehicles at this time.

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/pe...2007&partid=12

It's the green stuff and the FRONT 7000 SERIES SUV SUPREME pads.

And, it's an easy job to do.

mav238

I understand what you mean here... and I experience that everyday here in Vancouver, with the congested traffic... But I find that as long as I drive with about at least a car length between myself and the car in front, the brakes work great... but if I am always surging the car and tailgating the one in front, I am not sure which brake system will work well...
I have made emergency stops, and although it's not super-great... but it works well... I know this, because my previous car, a 2000 330i with the sports package came with these huge brake rotors and pads, they were awesome, but the RDX were not that far away in performance I can tell...

I really think you are asking for a lot, super high performance brakes (like that found in M3, Porsche, AMG) in the RDX, when the oems are really pretty good for the regular driver...

The Europeans do admittedly, provide very very good stock brake systems in the cars... Japanese provide good brakes, but has never been on par with the Europeans, especially the Germans...

AbovePrime.

It's not asking a lot to have high performance brakes on a high performance car, don't you think? ESPECIALLY for 30K+. The rear solid discs are just a terrible oversight by Acura or a cost cutting measure.

mav238

I am not so sure if I would go that far as to call the RDX a high performance vehicle. In any case, you will find many reviews on the RDX and very few if any, claimed that the brakes were horrible... not the greatest, but definitely did the job for what the RDX was built for... on the other hand, if we expect the RDX to take the abuse of aggressive driving, such as on the track, then it's another different thing altogether...

Honestly, the RDX as a daily driver for myself, where I do occasionally push the RDX a bit, after 6,000 kms, the brakes have been fine, no real complaints... At the same time, I drive the RDX remembering I am not in my old high performance BMW 330i with those humongous rotors, plus the heavier weight as well... so which means I will not deliberately accelerate the vehicle at the car in front of me and testing the RDX's ability to come to a stop in millisecs...

If you were to look at a Mercedes M-Class, Lexus RX330, BMW 323i, all these vehicles cost quite a bit more than the RDX, you will probably complain that the brakes are not up to par, given the high price...

I don't think Acura/Honda will release a car out the factory, if they ever felt the brake system would be unsafe for daily driving which includes anticipating the owners to be a little aggressive as well, with the current build specs... that would be suicidal for a company...

So IMHO, this question about the brake system in the Acura, being crap and horrible, is subjective... If you take it to a track, all bets are off, I will probably agree with you that the RDX brakes would need to be upgraded... Do you drive the RDX on public roads like it's at the track? I don't, and I do find the brake system to be more than adequate...

could we ask for Acura to improve the brake system, sure, complain about it in the forums, blogs, etc... or even better still, write a letter to Acura yelling at them for stingying out on the brake system, they might just listen to you...

JMHO again...

XLR8R

I was going to put stainless brakelines on my Vette, but research convinced me otherwise. Check this out:

Many Corvette owners and Dealer shops were utterly baffled when reports came in of the ABS randomly stabbing hard at one brake for no apparent reason; such as during highway cruise or a gentle turn. The ABS would ops check fine at the shop, then it would inexplicably happen again.

After much Monty Python style head-beating they finally isolated the problem to cars with Goodridge, aftermarket, stainless-steel brakelines. Static electricity would build up in the metal brake line and then ZAP -- totally at random -- induce current into the adjacent ABS wire; nailing that brake and leaving not a clue why. The guy who figured this one out deserves a Nobel prize (but he probably got "downsized").

At any rate, guys who race their Vettes and wanted to keep the stainless brake lines had to disable their ABS.

mav238

Wow... that can be a little scary, when the brakes have a "mind" of their own...

Good point... bottom line is, cars these days have so much electronics wired into the car, in a precise way, that one has to really know what they are doing.

Brake systems in late model cars these days are far more sophisticated than those of the yester-years... They have indeed come a long way, with improved brake fluid, brake lines made of material that surpass older designs, which does make it overall safer for the regular typical car owner...

I mean, to really want to move up another level in braking performance, it would have to be an improvement of at least 50% in braking performance to see any real difference...especially if you are not driving the RDX at the track...

But if one does drive on the regular road like he/she is at the race track, I think just changing out the rotors and brake pads will not suffice... a complete integrated system (slotted ceramic composite rotors, alloy braided lines, 4-piston calipers, ceramic composite pads, special synthetic brake fluid) would be required...
But that would be like, let see... $5000 mod? That is a lot of greenbacks, at least to me... might as well, change the used RDX to a brand new car with proven better brakes..

Frankly, I admit the RDX brakes can be better, but the stiff suspension definitely helps in the braking performance... So overall, I rate the RDX as more than adequate for the regular driver (> 90% of the total population of drivers). If a car has a really soft suspension, and there is a huge tendency to "nose-dive" during braking, even if the brakes are great, you will find that the braking experience can be a scary and hairy one...

Want the ultimate CUV/SUV and have the ultimate in brake system? fork up the money and move up to the Cayenne with the special optioned ceramic composite brake components...

AbovePrime.

Thats just like saying "Why have 240HP when you're not really going to use it all"

mav238

Exactly the point... car manufacturers are putting a heck of a lot power into cars nowadays, it is crazy... no where really to truly experience that kind of top end power except on the track... and do you really want to regularly track your car you paid over 40,000 dollars for it?

Take the BMW M5, 500 HP! yikes... it is so tempting to really want to taste that 500HP but before you get there, it's the ticket to the jail or a hefty traffic ticket or a bad accident... (oops, here we go again... sorry...)
But thankfully, these cars with the high HP numbers, also has high torque numbers, which is really the more useful of the two performance numbers in a car, for driving. You may not get to hit the true topspeed without worrying about breaking the law, but at least know that there is gobbles of torque to pass anyone on a dime if required (like a slower moving trailer on the freeway)...
When I had the BMW 330i in 2001, I used to taunt those ricey RSX's, suped-up Civic's, I always leave them in the dust in the first 4 secs after the lights turn green, and then I slow down immediately to the speed limit, and smile at them as they frantically change their gears to speed by me... yeah, they sure can hit the topspeed, but it takes them forever to do that... torque to me is far more useful in daily driving than simply able to hit top speed... top speed is great for the tracks but not the regular streets...

Yeah, I would love to have 300HP in the RDX, but then again, I ask myself, where the heck do I get to experience that kind of horsepower and topend speed, if I don't track it? No where really... When I had the SAAB 9-3 sports sedan, it was low on the horsepower (comparatively) @ 175HP, but it had 200lb/ft of torque, and boy was it fun to drive that car...

But the 260lb/ft of torque in the RDX... man ... it definitely makes the RDX a very driveable, effortless and fun machine to move around town and the freeway...

happywithmyrdx

Having done enough testing with various cars, a simple change of pads can make worlds of difference, even if you can't always tell. Adding steel lines, changing rotors, etc, can really add up. I've measured gains of up to 10 feet in stopping distance by changing pads, and I couldn't have told you there was any difference by the seat of my pants. With that said, it is also possible to have no change in distance, but a seat of the pants feel might tell you otherwise, because of the initial 'bite' of the pads.

In the Honda/Acura world, it's not uncommon that they use undersized rotors and weak pads. I sometimes think that is a cost cutting, and with the pads it's because they don't want much dust up and they want to increase the life of the pad. Well, that's a tradeoff, and some of us like it, and some don't. The nice thing is that you can see a noticeable improvement by swapping the pads on many hondas. I'ev tested Civics, accords, and CRV's with pads like the EBC, and stuck with the stock rotors in many cases, and was able to improve the stopping distance between 5-10 feet [from 65mph done on a track we rented, we also tested from 100MPH on some cars].

The other nice and simple thing about the pads swaps, they are relatively cheap to do, don't void the warranty, and if they don't make it better, it won't make it any worse, and you can throw your old pads back on later if you wanted to [most of our cars don't have that many miles, I'm sure the pads have thousands of miles of life left in them if you wanted to put them back on.

I'm going to be ordering the EBC's, so I can give you some feedback on them shortly.

As for the corvettes, once it was discovered about the static, the easy answer is to wire a ground to the steel lines, preventing any buildup.

lilfeat

Maybe they used a pad that enhanched the feel of the brake, so that it made braking easier to modulate. I am surprised at how much brake dust these puppies make.

I find that when braking firmly to stop for a yellow light that I just can't make, say from 45-50MPH the car feels like it is on the edge of sliding. However, since I have not accidently involked the ABS, I attribute this to the weight of the car, and that it is a feeling I am having compared to previous cars. Last two cars were CL-S and TL, and both of those had a much more "composed" feel in those type of situations.

Think I might head out to the mall early sunday AM and lock em up a few times to get a better handle on these brakes.

My real problem comes when I jump in my sons Focus or my wifes CRV and get reminded at how much better the Acura brakes are the first time I approach a corner a little hot or stop firm and late at a light. Whoa!

jcct

Dunno about the SS brakelines and ABS issue is Vette specific problem or not.

I have installed stainless steel brakelines on many different models of cars, including Mercedes, BMW, EVO8s, Saabs, and countless number of Nissans and never encountered such a problem......

In a few weeks after I have installed a set on my RDX, I will let eveybody know if such problem will happen on an RDX.

jeremy.

That was the first thing I've noticed...the brakes felt too spongy to me. One of the first upgrades I plan on doing is some pads.

VeNeNo

iTrader: (1)

I agree the breaks are fine for the daily commuter but once you start pushing it you notice the the sponge factor. Let us know how the new pads go...

VeNeNo

iTrader: (1)

Also, but I diggity doubt it, has anyone found out if the Brembro break application found on the TL type S will swap on to the RDXturbo...? (wishful thinking... )

AbovePrime.

Pads probably won't help the sponginess, better brake lines would.

happywithmyrdx

OK, I took a little bit, but I ended up ordering the YellowStuff 4000 series pads for the RDX. I talked with EBC about a possible rotor upgrade, which they also make for the fronts, but thought I would see a 20% improvement with the pad changes alone.

So, we'll see. It takes about 14 days before they will arrive, and I'll try to swap them on the following weekend.

I asked about the pads/rotors/calipers matching off any other vehicle, and they said according to their database, the RDX matches the:

2007 RDX
2007 CRV
2005-2007 Honda Odyessy

So, if you are looking for pads at a local auto parts store, the Honda Odysessy is your best bet, most stores hadn't updated to show an RDX when I went in. Unfortunately, those aren't performance cars, so it might be a while before we see a set of brembos

RedBaron

I changed the very dusty pads on my BMW Z3 with PBRs. They bite a lot better than OEM pads and they don't dust. I can drive for 3 months and still no signs of brake dust. These pads are great. Since I only drive it when the weather is nice it doesn't really get that dirty. So I don't need to wash it that often. I want to see if they offer them for the RDX. I also added stainless steel brake lines and that made a nice difference too. The first time I had to stab the brakes hard. I thought I hit something metal on the road.

I agree that the RDX brakes are spongy and quickly develop brake fade under "spirited" driving. My wife has a X3 and it brakes much better than my RDX. The X3 also handles better. (Just throwing my 2 cents in for previous post about handling).

There are times in a quick stop that I wonder if the brakes are going to stop the RDX. Which makes me worried at times. I am thinking I might need to check the brake fluid level. I just crossed 24k miles today. Picked up the vehicle up the first week of Nov.

I still like the RDX. I just wish it handled a little better and stopped a little better.