sleepinxlionhart

I started noticing yesterday that when I drive it sounds like my front right wheel has an odd sound. Sort of like as if there's something stuck on the wheel and I hear it every time the wheel rotates. It gets less pronounced once the car speeds up but gets pretty loud once I'm starting to brake and come to a stop. I checked and I couldn't see anything wrong visually. I'm sure it's not the brakes because I changed them pretty recently. Ball bearing issue perhaps?

oo7spy

Check your brakes again. You could have a rock or something stuck in the pads or uneven wear causing the wear indicator to hit. A bearing typically sounds like a hum or drone and won't change with braking.

sleepinxlionhart

Hmm okay. I don't think it would be the wear indicator because the pads are new. Perhaps something did get stuck between the pads. Will check after work. Thanks.

rlerman

Could be three things:

1. Stuck caliper piston. Does the car pull to one side? Jack up car, does wheel spin freely? If not...
2. Wheel bearing. Jack up car and move wheel vertically and horizontally, if there play, your bearing is bad.
3. loose or broken pad holder clip, visually inspect it.

It should be fairly easy to diagnose.

sleepinxlionhart

Alright, thanks. Will check today after work..for reals this time and I'll get back to you guys. Just another observation on my part, the sound doesn't seem to be present on highway speeds, then again, probably because the wheel is spinning so fast, and all the noises around makes it harder to hear the noise. But the noise at low speeds (under 40) sounds like when your tire steps on something like a piece of paper, and you hear the paper being stepped on every rotation. But during braking, it's a constant sound like a grinding sound, sort of like a piece of plastic is dragged on the floor. Steering wheel feels okay for the most part, but I felt like there was some instances where I did feel a bit of vibration coming from the brake pedal. I'm leaning towards possible warpage of the rotors. When I did my brake job, the old pads were worn unevenly. However, I did measure the parallelism of the rotors with calipers, and they seem to be WNL. I guess I'll find out later today.

sleepinxlionhart

Culprit found!

So this outer piece from the new brake pads came loose. I have no idea how since the pins thread through those holes anyway...but it did come lose, causing the sound and a nice cut into the hub.
These are Akebono ACT1091 ProACT Ultra-Premium Ceramic Front Brake Pads...well, they just lost a customer, and I'm going to write them a nice letter to complain..thanks for the help guys.

Lesson learned. Don't buy Akebono brake pads!

BDoggPrelude

I don't see how that could have possibly come loose when the caliper pins go through the holes. It seems physically impossible given the design. I would be a little hesitant to blame this one on Akebono. Many members on this site, myself included, have run Akebono brake pads with no issues whatsoever. Who did the install work?

BDoggPrelude

Here's my theory: Whomever installed the brake pads didn't get the pistons pressed back into the calipers all the way, tried to wedge the pads into the calipers, dislodged the brake shim on the exposed piston during the process, didn't realize the shim had come loose before threading the caliper pins back and ended up leaving the shim floating inside the assembly.

sleepinxlionhart

I did the install :X I thought about that too..that it couldn't possibly get dislodged with the pins threaded through. I did compress the pistons all the way back, the brakes were freely moving in the calipers when I was installing them. And I threaded in the pins with ease. My theory is that maybe the shim wasn't lined up with the holes to begin with, and I just hadn't noticed prior. I was testing the inside pad once I got everything removed and I noticed that the shim was easy to pry from the edge. I tried to pry the edge of the shim on the OEM pads that I kept, and it wouldn't budge one bit.

BDoggPrelude

Just looking at the picture of the pad and shim, the shim would have had to have been misaligned by probably half an inch for that to have happened. It would have had to been enough to where the holes on the pad itself were completely clear of the top of the shim...something that I would think would be easily noticeable when you also have the other pad sitting there as a reference point. Not trying to doubt your mechanical abilities...I just think that if you look at the chances of my theory against the chances of your theory, the odds are stacked against you here.

sleepinxlionhart

I know where you're coming from. But I took photos of the process, but only the drivers side because I started there first. I worked on my passenger side second, so I should have been more adequate by then. Wished I had photos of that side. However, you're theory suggests that the pistons are not fully compressed, so by forcing the pads in, technically the shims should be dislodged backwards, away from the hub, and with the pins threaded, there's no way for the shim to move forward towards the hub as what has happened in my case. And I would have noticed that when putting the retaining plate in. I guess no one will really know what actually happened

sleepinxlionhart

Forgot this final install pic.

alfadoctor

It is possible that the pad didn't get the adequate heat or adhesive applied at the source when the pad was made. Only once have I ever seen this happen. The pad material just separates from the metal pad. The pins are there to keep the material in proper position during assembly is what I know. You should be able to get your pads replaced for free if you want to go back to the provider, I would also press the point on the rotor being trashed and see what they will do to help you out.

sleepinxlionhart

Hm, well, couldn't find cs number or email for Akebono. Tried contacting Amazon in regards to Akebono's warranty info, and I got this:

"Hello,
We looked into your recent request for a copy of the manufacturer’s warranty for Akebono ACT1091 ProACT Ultra-Premium Ceramic Front Brake Pad Set For 2005-2010 Acura RL, but we weren’t able to locate the manufacturer’s warranty information for this product. This may mean this item doesn't come with a manufacturer’s warranty. Please contact the manufacturer for more information."

Eh...whatever. I'm not hung up on the damage it's done because it shouldn't affect anything. Just seems pretty odd how on the box or anywhere no info can be found.

BDoggPrelude

You must not have looked very hard. It can be found on the homepage of their website.

Aftermarket | Akebono

Again, I would strongly urge you to look at the design of the RL's braking system and the pads and realize that installation error is really the likely culprit here. There is nothing wrong with Akebono.

sleepinxlionhart

Thanks. I'm not out for blood. Just want to see what they say. Can't completely say there's nothing wrong with Akebono, I'm sure no one's manufacture process is 100% full proof.

sleepinxlionhart

Alright, a little update after contacting Akebono. So they replied back to me stating that they'll send me a new pair of pads to "help out" in my case. I give them props for replying to me in a timely fashion, and offering a replacement set without any cost. So they have my respect as a company. So I would take back what I've said earlier about advising people to not buy their products, as they seem to be a pretty stand up company. But I feel like I want to try different pads after these current Akebono pads wear out, perhaps the EBC red stuff or green stuff. So whoever is interested in a new set of Akebono pads, go ahead and PM me.

oo7spy

Skip the green stuff. Reviews are rather poor.

sleepinxlionhart

Oh okay. I might try the red stuff later on once I need replacing.

oo7spy

Red stuff got good reviews here.