Hi all

Im new here so bare with me, i just received my 2006 TSX back from the honda workshop and they tell me that the brakes front and rear are on their way out, question are those breaks not audible breaks?
The workshop manager then tells me if i drive with out the VSA i will save on the pads, but it's not recommended on long roads and wet weather.
The other problem i also have which no honda mechanic can answer me is that when ever i hit a small bump in the road the car jumps to the side, doesn't matter which side it's like it has a mind of his own.

Please help.
JDC

 

The brake pads have wear indicators that will emit a screeching sound. If you want to be sure, take off the wheels and take a look at the pads.

Driving with the VSA turned off will surely disengage the computer from applying the brakes.... which only happens when the car is on an uninteded path... which is when you really need the VSA and the brakes to come to rescue. Leave the VSA on.

The "jumping" issue may be alignment-related. When was the last time you got a 4-wheel alignment?

 

Keep the VSA "on"....workshop manager is a dolt.

 

I don't have a TSX, but yes, I would think they are audible when they need to be replaced, or at least start squealing when they are at initial stages of needing replacement. They can measure the brakes and the brakes could be "on the way out", but how far along before they need a replacement depends on your driving. How many miles you have on them (if they weren't yet replaced)? I would imagine 25-30k miles before the fronts or rears needed replacement under normal driving, maybe less under more aggressive driving and braking.


Yeah, another thing you can do is not use the brakes at all to save on the pads. honestly, this is a really stupid suggestion and you should tell the workshop manager that. The VSA only uses the brakes and/or power cutoff when it needs to make a correction such as during slip or slide or whatever "instability". it doesn't use the brakes otherwise, and if it did, i would suspect that MAYBE you can go to 25,105 before replacement instead of 25,103 if you kept VSA on...i.e. I doubt it makes that much of a difference, if any.


Uh, more details please. Do you mean it jumps to the side while hitting a bump going around a curve, or while you're driving straight? If it's around a curve, this is normal depending on how big the bump is. If it's just moving side to side while driving straight and hitting a bump, then it's a major problem somewhere with the suspension. Take it to an actual ACURA dealer to get it looked at, not a Honda dealer.

 

Moved to correct forum.

 

thanks alot guys, the sad thing is I am in south africa, accord is marketed under the honda group so we don't have Acura here.

The car jumps to the side whether im driving in a striaght or taking a bend, the workshop just did a wheel aligntment now, and it's still the same.

oh PS. Honda qouted me $920 to do my brakes.

 

No idea if that's a good or bad price in South Africa, but the brakes on the TSX are about as easy to replace as any car around (pads and/or rotors)(and that would be a ridiculously high price in the US). If you don't feel you're up to the challenge, check around, you should be able to find a good deal (what ever that is there.....).

 

the car 'jumps'?

 

yep it literally jumps.

 

Actually, Car & Driver covered this issue a while back, and the OP's tech is not entirely wrong.

While you certainly should use it when you are in wet weather or are driving in any situation where safety is a cause for concern, the VSA can and does cause premature brake wear.

There have been thousands of documented problems with Honda Accords with early rear brake wear since 2003, (the year they started offering VSA). The finding with Car & Driver was that simply daily driving around turns, cornering, etc., causes the VSA to engage slightly. (If you don't believe it, try driving quickly through a turn with the VSA on and then with it off. There is a difference in handling.) In fact, in one of its early reviews, C&D recommended driving the TSX with the VSA off most of the time, simply for to get better handling.

 

this is pretty strange, common sense would say leaving the VSA on will give you optimum performance/handling but I have read other reviews of the TSX by other auto magazines that said turning off the VSA makes little to no difference at all. through my own experience I feel like the car has less traction and doesnt feel as smooth on turns with it off.

 

i'd only ever turn off VSA if i was stuck in the snow and had to spin my wheels to rock my car back and forth..

 

In most cases, with average drivers, it probably is best to leave the stability assist on...but in addition to getting unstuck in snow, there are reasons to shut it off.

Csaba Csere Editor-in-Chief of Car and Driver magazine: "In my experience, Electronic Stability Control provides limited benefits to a competent driver on dry roads. But on slick surfaces, the system is magic. The reason to turn ESC off is that competent drivers can get more performance out of a car with it disengaged. It's typical to turn in faster lap times and post higher skidpad numbers if the stability control is disengaged."

 

If you don't drive like a d bag, you don't have to worry about VSA kicking in to keep you in line. The only time VSA kicks in is if you're driving harder than your vehicle should safely be driven. It's been pointed out that you can drive around a turn quickly to feel VSA kicking in, then again with it off to notice a difference in handling. Not the key word in there, "quickly". You shouldn't be flying around turns. You are likely to lose control. Just because you can predict where your car will end up, doesn't mean you're in control of the vehicle. I have a little over 80,000 miles on my brakes. I got the car at 35,000 miles and haven't changed the brakes since I got it. I doubt the original owners changed it, but even if they did, the day I got it, I've got 45,000 on the rears and they have plenty of life left.
VSA isn't the problem. It's driver error.

 

I agree with you on all of the above. As the Car and Driver editor said above, I think the key term is "competent driver".