this past week i took the car to the dealer for the B1 service and to get a new seat rail/base installed (squeaky driver seat),... after i dropped the car off i got a call an hour after from the dealer asking if i felt any vibrations while braking, i responded with No, not that i could tell. they said the driver side rotor had hot spots..

.. long story short, they replace both front rotors and put new brake pads for free.. the car had just over 12k miles on it. i didn't know they covered brakes as well... i was surprised.

 

Count yourself lucky and throw out an kudo (their name) for the dealership.

 

I was doing just under 100mph (ssshhhh) on the highway and then I hit the brakes and there was a noticable vibration in the brakes. I only have 15K on the car. I know I'm probably harder on my brakes than most, but still....

Are the rotors on the TSX of poor quality?

btw.. I have an 05 TSX.

 

They're not great. I'll be upgrading mine when I go in for my next service. I'm tired of the braking vibrations and I don't just want a new set of the OEM rotors because it will probably just happen again.

 

Yup you guessed, they are pretty bad, most people switch over to powerslot rotors with hawk brake pads.

 

Exactly what I was going to do .

 

What is the cost of powerslot rotors with hawk brake pads.

 

Never mind... Google is my friend.

http://www.buybrakes.com/powerslot/
http://www.buybrakes.com/hawk/

 

You might want to take a look at RacingBrake UP rotors for the fronts. I have those, powerslut rears, Hawk HPS pads, and Goodridge lines. I love this setup.

Don't bother replacing with the OEM's unless the dealer is changing them under warranty. However, this problem will just come back in another 20k or less.

 

You may want to take a look at our vendor, Mr. Heeltoe. He carries both the Hawk pads and the Racingbrake rotors

 

FWIW, the vast majority of rotor vibration problems is actually not attributable to the TSX rotors, but rather to deposits transferred to the rotors from the brake pad as a result of bad braking habits.

 

Agreed, I had new rotors at 22/23k.. put on mr. heeltoe's pads (hawk) and I still brake the same way... 0 probs after 5k so far.. oem pads are really bad..

 

What exactly are "bad breaking habits"? Do you mean just being hard on your brakes?

 

Actually, braking hard is not necessarily a bad thing from time to time. However, most people are actually too gentle on their brakes. They have a tendency to ride them over a long distance to bring the car to a stop, which build up heat much more and actually can leave deposits on the rotor surface. Ocassional hard braking allows the rotor surface to be swept clean, but because most people don't do it, the deposits continue to build until they start to create severe unevenness on the rotor surface which manifests itself as vibration while braking.

 

^^ To add to what CG said:
Don't ride your brake for an extended distance. This heats up the pad and rotor (which isn't the bad thing). The bad thing is to ride it for an extended distance and keep the pad pressed against the rotor after you come to a complete stop. This is when the brake pad material transfers to the rotor at high temperatures. I would suggest a moderate pulsing of the brakes, especially right before you come to a complete stop.

Recall that the procedure for bedding a new brake pad suggests you make a number of fairly hard braking stops from 60mph to 5mph. The reason you let up at 5mph and not come to a complete stop is to avoid this material transfer.

What I do is let up on the brakes when approaching a stop (this keeps the car from lurching) and then let up on the brake as soon as I stop. So far so good, no shimmy or other vibration.

 

I'll just use my feet Fred Flintstone style for now on.