Red@8

06 with ~20k miles

Rear rotors are warped, thats what i suspected - Acura confirms. Rear pads are fine. Front rotors and pads are fine.

I have some options at this point and am not sure what to do. Looking for some suggestions. Acura quoted me $520 to replace the rear rotors and replace the pads. ALthough they are fine they suggested doing them at the same time to save on labour further down the road. There is no way I am spending $520 on rear brakes. I have a buddy who will do them much cheaper.

I read in another thread that the fronts are covered from warping under a service bulletin but I dont think the rear's are. Just my luck.

Here are my options:
1. Just replace the stock rear rotors with aftermarket blanks (brembos?). Cheapest option of the bunch. The rear brakes hardly do anything, why get fancy.
2. Replace the the stock rear rotors and pads with aftermarket blanks (brembos?) and upgraded pads (hawk?). If i am paying my buddy to do the rotors he probebly wont charge anything extra to do the pads so why not. But should i throw out/replace perfectly useable stock pads (yes, i know how much they suck)?
3. Replace all 4 rotors and pads with aftermarket products. I would probebly do a slotted front disc and upgraded pad with a solid rear disc and upgraded pad. If i am ordering parts and replacing stuff I might as well do them all at once and get it over with. I would upgrade the brakes when they needed replacing anyway - this is just speeding things up a bit. Again I do feel pseudo-bad about replacing parts that are perfectly fine (modding blasphemy i know). This of course is the most expensive option of the bunch. If i do go this route i will have to do some research on here as to what setup i want to go with.

I think those are my 3 choices.

Another debate i have been having is should I go to SS lines. This topic seems to be quite polarizing. SOme people are saying SS lines on a honda are pointless while some swear by them.

I await your thoughts people!

Hoosier_Buddy

How could this not be covered under the Acura 4yr/50K (perhaps 52.5K on an '06) warranty?

Red@8

I was told by Acura that rotors and pads are a "wear" item so they are not covered. I figured pads would not be covered but a little surprised by the rotors. Which possibly explains the special bulletin for the fronts to be covered?

Simba91102

You can quarrel w/Acura if you want (about the warranty thing), but replacing the rear brakes on a TSX are as easy as brake jobs come. And you should be able to get out of rotors and pads for like a $100 (they're all over ebay). And under most circumstances, you'd be right about the rear brakes doing allot less (front wheel drive and all). But the rear brakes on a TSX are well known for premature wear (relative to the fronts), and I'm convinced their under-performance is due to a rare engineering mis-step by Honda. But....... just replace the rotors and pads and you should be all set for a while.

npolite

Since 2003, Honda has introduced electronic brake distribution which means that the rear pads do get a lot more of the work than previous Honda braking system designed. I'm not 100% sure if they are on the first gen TSX but am betting they are.

Red@8

npolite, you are correct. The first gen TSX did have EBD. I never thought of this.

I do find it a little strange that these rotors are toast with less than 20k miles on my car. I dont think I have ever had a car where the rotors went before the pads!?!?!

I will talk to Acura when i get a chance and see if they can replace them for free. I almost dont want them to so i can start modding the brakes.