Hello all,

I am a new owner of an old Acura. It's a 2000 TL. But runs really well! I am a happy Acura owner

Now coming to a small issue I face intermittently. If I apply hard brakes when I am speeding or while the car is running downhill, I can feel vibration in steering. I believe brakes are working fine, but vibration is something that concerns me.
Should I be worried about it? What could be root cause of this issue? And what would be the costings involved?


<I could see similar topics in forums here, but not something exactly same. Hence starting a new thread.>



Thanks in advance,
Sumit

 

you need new rotors, if that is the case then its not too bad. When you brake hard it makes the rotors really hot and can distort your rotors. Its common on all cars after a while. assuming you are referring to your brakes.

 

Thanks for your response. Yes I was referring to brakes.

How should I be shelling out for getting them repaired/new installed? Can they be repaired at all?

 

sometimes they can be repaired by evening out the rotors by resurfacing them but you should get them checked out before you do anything. Rotors cost around $60 each but expect at least $200 for labor.

 

Okay, and how urgent is this repair work? Can I delay it or sooner the better

 

You could wait awhile.
The shaking will get worse and worse,
and can wear other componets out more quickly.
I would at least have them turned and buy new pads when you can.

 

^^Might as well save up for new rotors while you're at it.

 

this is a common problem for the 2g tl's it seems. for the 10 years my dad owned the tl i think it's always had this problem that never went away. in january new rotors were put in (don't know brand) and they warpped again a few weeks later. i hear EBC blanks don't warp but i have no personal experience with them. search a little and there should be many topics concerning this...

 

I was having the same problem... Took the car to the dealership and got the rotors resurfaced and problem solved.

 

resurfacing the rotors removes some of the metal width- there is a minimum thickness and as you approach it- the abilty to shed heat is lost
Same with pads- low pads dont shed heat and can cause vibrations
NEED to get the brakes inspected if you dont know how-
there are other things can cause different vibrations but yours is likely rotors if still on stockers
aftermarket rotors are good- there are peprformance rotors that put up with more abuse
How you drive effects the car
one hard stop wont damage them,, but constant stop and go traffic from speed to stop with no cooling off period of casual cruising- thats bad for rotors- coming down a mountain riding the brakes will damage them too
cooling them off is important

Dont drive with a brake problem until its checked- and you are not in danger-- or hurting other parts

 

I never really understood how can quickly new rotors can warp on the 2G TL's --> I wonder if people torqued the lug nuts correctly, broke in the rotors as suggested by the manufacturer, and just went easy on the braking...

I actually got some cheap slotted rotors from TriNet, all four for $140 shipped on ebay. They are made from Centric blanks. A lot of people on here and other car sites use them - I say just spend that 140, it'll last at least a good year and then you can resurface them and still save money (even enough to buy another set).

I've had them since november with EBC Red Stuff and they're still fine, braking is very smooth and keeps the car straight.

 

rotors or the brakes. both may be warped.

if when you apply the brakes...

steering wheel shakes - dominately the front
body shakes - dominately the back

both - slow down!!

i had the same problem and found that it was related to my short braking distances and riding ppl's asses because I DO OWN THE ROAD. by increasing the braking distance and not driving as fast, i've been able to make mine last much longer.

w/quick braking you heat them up and when you left off it starts to cool down. by going hot-cool-hot-cool you are warping the brakes. also - rain acts as a catalyst to warping your brakes w/quick braking.

 

Thanks everyone for your replies.. To consolidate:
- I should get it fixed at earliest to prevent further damages. : Going this weekend to some autoshop.
- Should try not to apply too hard brakes in general driving (per post by thewhitepearl)

Okay, here comes next question:
I am planning to goto honda acura connection. I live in San Jose; any recommendations for autoshops??

 

there are a bunch of ziners in SJ- look in the local meets section- Bay Area-
any one of them will help you inspect detect and determine whats wrong- then help you DIY the project

south bayers= anyone give this member a hand?

 

medium effort braking works well- letting them cool after hard use is wise

when the brakes are fixed- and bedded in fully if new parts installed- go experiment with brake effort from light to standing on the pedal with both feet trying to get abs to go active--dont do that last one till 500+ miles on new brakes- its really bad for new parts

you can brake hard when you need to, and you can brake like a racer all the time.. if willing to buy new pads every 10-15kmiles, and great rotors to match them

 

Most likely rotors, and I don't know of any shops in your area, OP.

 

Thanks everyone for their inputs! Over to Bay Area thread from hereon

 

We have single piston calipers on a 3500 pounds car. That's the problem in my opinion. Acura should have upgraded to dual piston calipers and the brake issues would probably be non existant.

 

thats not what causes warping of the extremely crappy oe rotors- acura went way too cheap buying a billion of those a decade ago In my opinion

quality rotors on a stock caliper is fine- you can upgrade to a dual piston but still both pistons on one side with legend calipers- search here and my name for info
thats a 150 bucks killer front brake upgrade!!

other than that you go 4 or 6 piston which have pistons on each side for equal clamping pressure--but you can warp those rotors with bad driving same as any rotor

Its a heavy high performance car on medium performance brakes- meant for mom to cruise in- but many people drive them like a race car or at least serious sports car- without understanding weight loading and physics- brake torque- rotor mettalurgy-pad compounds and most important in my opinion- how to let them cool off after harsh use

Race drivers have a lap after checkers- called oddly enough `the cool down` lap
where you avoid using the brakes so the fast moving air can dissapate the lingering heat
Park with red hot rotors and expect problems

Im having great luck with RacingBrake 1 piece rotors, and went thru a set of et300 pads after ~25 of hard use- thats pretty good considering their life- could have gotten 40 if the wife didnt panic brake on freeway so often~

rotors were perfect- barely broken in-plenty thick- no ridge or gouges even though 2 pads on right brake went to 1 mm thick- 2mm is minimum so I got lucky--when you hear anything that may be a brake noise tab- pull the pads out for a look- peeking thru the slot was wrong on that one

they make a harder compound in the et500 for street use that should last longer and is more suited for extreme fun

parts and you make or break the brakes

 

The rims could also be bent a little. That would make a similar transmission of vibration to the drivers wheel, exactly as you describe. Enough of a ding to feel through braking, but not enough to feel when driving, if the wheels are otherwise balance.

 

lol, you should try the first four years of the toyota tundra those are worse then our cars, to the point that they actually came out with a "recall" (not mandatory since the customer did have to pay some money) with new front calipers and rotors, to help minamise the warpage issues

yeah riding people's asses does not help at all

not really, might have helped some though, but anyways they should have put the RL calipers on our cars, that would have done it lol

kinda, but they are also quite heavy though from the factory surprisingly (and just imagine they use the same brake setup as the front on a MDX , but they do have bigger rears though iirc

but also brembo's rotors are quite good too, but not warp proof though, i warped mine ever so slightly (and i mean ever so slightly), that i could feel it, but i also got ss lines though, which don't help (and they are only like 7-8 months old too, with new pads when they were new)

another thing to help for mountion driving that also does wounders for brakes is learning how to downshift also (see it quite often btw on customer cars, especially working right next to the mountions, like 3 miles away

and the best thing that you can do to hot brakes if you must stop for a light or something, is trying to stop a little early and just trying to keep creeping/rolling, so the brake pads do not sit on one spot of the rotor (and if you must fully stop, try to minamize the applied pressure on the brakes as much as possible and set the parking brake or put it in park if possible, not a gurentee, but might just prevent the warpping though)

but not only during braking though

 

I just came to know that brake pads/rotors were replaced 6-7 months back.

Is it possible that only re-surfacing is enough?

 

resurfacing should fix it, since you should have enough material there, but know it may show up sooner this time though, due to there being less material
also try to get an on-car machineing (vs off-car), to try and make sure the rotors are perfectly striaght on the hubs

 

okay, and how much should I be paying for a re-surfacing job ?

 

idk, i don't do the pricing at work, i only do the actual work

 

but i know the on-car will be more then the off-car, and not as many shops have will have a on-car lathe either, when compared to a off-car one

 

My front right and rear left rims are a little out of whack.
Braking gives me the wheel vibration, and if I brake hard enough, the shimmy fees like poorly balanced wheels.

I plan on taking the rotors off, and across the street, to a shop for resurfacing, and then, if the shimmy is still there, start looking for two like-new rims.

 

bent rims must be fixed before thinking about shaving off precious metal thickness from the rotors

Many places fix rims (try net search in your town for `rim repairing`)- those guys are amazing at sending back fresh rims from trash
ck local recycler yard for them and price then decide

 

I bought a new 86 Prelude. Honda replaced the front rotors 5 times in the first 2 yrs. with no success. One time I drove the Si down the road and turned around and went back to the garage and made them change the rotors for the 2nd time in one day. I know all about crappy Honda rotors. After the 4th change they finally admitted they had a huge bad batch of em. Finally got brembos and guess what? Problem was solved. What a hassle going back and forth to the garage to get them replaced.

 

I replaced the front right rim with a very decent eBay copy.
The garage guy charged me $10 to mount and balance the tire.
The rim was only 1/4 of an ounce off, and he balanced it to 1/10 oz.
The first words out of his mouth were that it was the brakes, not the rims.

Sure enough, the rim might have been a little dinged according to Acura,
but not enough to be a bother.

He will resurface the fronts [pending measurement] for $80, or $40 if I R/R them myself.

The consensus is not to purchase a pair of OEM for $200 delivered, I take it.
There seem plenty of less expensive aftermarket rotors.

What's a favored and reasonable brand?

If the pads are fine, can I leave them alone, or does one automatically do pads at the same time?

Do slotted rotors take a specific pad?

 

whats your budget? $100 go to autozone, 200 300 350 there are our vendors MrHeelToe and Excelerate- ck them out for rotora and racingbrake, plus they can get stoptech centric and others
Its about how you drive and your cash flow~
Smartest to get new pads for new rotors- or you have old wear pattern and age issues to contend with- pads are cheap

buy brand/maker matched pads and rotors when possible- they were designed for each other

40 bucks labor for him to r and r the rotors is cheap, but 40 to turn them is crazy when you can go anywhere for 5-10 bucks each
resurfacing quality rotors is ok- bad ones with a problem should be doorstops

slotted rotors need to be quality brand and performance based pads
average driver has no need for them- if budget is consideration
If not- get racingbrake stuff from MrHeelToe

 

I'm an average driver, this time of year doing 800 mostly highway miles a week.
Taking a turn rather fast at times, on/off ramps and such, is most enjoyable, and am gearing up to install sways this weekend.
Some spirited driving, in automatic, leads to some power stopping, but this is limited, as I'm on my way to a highway.
The sports-shifter gets some use on the highway, merging or power-passing, but generally, I leave it in automatic.

Rotors matched to the car's weight and performance would be right. I don't want to put on a knock-off that might quickly warp.
Perhaps a rotor that is 30% better than OEM [if one can quantify such a variable]? Rotors/pads budget, $140~$180 . . .

 

look at stoptech brand, or kragen or autozone for the price you want
better than OE but not racer style

 

Don't forget EBC- also available from an A-zine vendor-

 

ahh yes- ebc is very good stuff, I use it on the bike
Was thinking lower budget for the OP request

 

I've been reading up on EBC. They are in the budget.
Heeltoe has the super high performance EBC, but who carries the standard EBC?

 

EBC's UPR7087 is my likelt choice. What about pads?

 

I got mine from:

AJ USA
http://www.ajusa.com
Phone number: (800) 877-1911
6620 Mira Mesa Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92121

They are listed in the vendor directory. Discount & free shipping (rotors are heavy) at the time.

 

call Marcus- Mr HeelToe his direct number is on his signature in postings

There are many things he may have or can get but doesnt list normally
a lot of brake stuff is `drop shipped` thru racingbrake in NJ, they are a maker of awesome brakes and supply many OE american car brakes to the factory
they are a `brake consolidator` where you can order a number of brands thru them- get it all in one box and its ready to go

our other big brake expert is Josh at Excelerate- same thing with phone listed in signature or PM your driving and braking needs..I find calling faster and more precise- 2 minutes and you know what to get
He sells a lot of rotora and ebc- also runs a performance repair shop, so they have real life feedback on whats good

 

Hamilton Honda is doing the timing belt service right now.All belts, water pump, tensioner, pulleys, rad flush, oil change. $604 plus tax.They say the rotors can be cut, and they cut them while on the car.This method gets a more true matching of the rotor to the car.While I figure rotors once [slightly] warped due to heat arer more suseptable to warpage,Skipper here says he's been dealing with G2 shimmy for years, and resurfacing while on thecar, along with new pads, is the answer. Humm . . . $179, or new rotors/pads . . . While I've never heard of resurfacing rotors while on the car, the way they speak, it seems common. Yes?