legionofdoom

05 TL 6MT (Brembos)

I took my car in for service this morning and it appears that I need to have the brakes done. The rears are down to the metal but they think they can salvage the rotors if I have them done immediately and the front pads can be replaced and the rotors machined. Of course they tried to pork me at the dealership ($450 for fronts and $330 for rears) so I took the car home and I'm weighing my local options now. Right now I'm leaning towards taking it to a mechanic I know who laughed at the dealership price and said he could replace the rotors for that price. The dealership said they think they can salvage the rear rotors but I can picture them starting the work and then telling me they can't salvage them and that I need to replace them. Questions -

If I need to replace the rear rotors, what kind do you suggest? Stick with stock? Is it cheaper to buy them online somewhere and then have the mechanic install them? Same for pads?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/advice.

Izzy-Type-S

iTrader: (1)

There's a thread on here. I have the TL-S Brembos in front and went with Autozone Duralast gold pads, they are good and were only $65 compared to $205 for the Brembos....just for parts. My father in law installed them & they work great! At higher speeds (over 85mph) you can feel a slight difference on the initial bite but for regular driving they're just fine.

legionofdoom

Thanks Izzy. Just found a couple of threads on them and they do sound pretty good for both fronts and rears. Going to look into them more. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the rotors...

Izzy-Type-S

iTrader: (1)

have you cut them/had them machined before? You are only supposed to do it about 2 or 3 times before you need to replace them. Go either stock rotors or performance vented/slotted ones.

legionofdoom

Haven't had to touch them yet and I'm at a little over 48K miles. I just read somewhere that it's not recommended to turn the Brembo rotors. Is that true? So replace the rear rotors with stock, if necessary, and possibly the fronts with slotted Brembos?

BigJack75

I would like to know opinions on doing brakes with out replacing rotors. I am approching 50k and I was told by the dealer that the brakes would need to do my brakes soon. The rotors seem pretty smooth.

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

You can machine the rotors if they have enough thickness and put a new set of pads in but the Acura rotors (at least the AT ones) are notorious for warping and shaving more material off them only results in having distortion again in a short time.

Alternatively you can upgrade to ROTORA rotors and ROTORA H2 ceramic pads which are a low dust, low noise pad with good bite.

94eg!

Personally I would simply throw in new pads and give it a good bedding procedure. If you weren't having any vibration problems before, you won't after. That is until you eventually wear the rotors too thin (which will probably be after another pad swap or two). Not a big deal though because you can always change rotors and re-bed the old pads. This is how racers have swapped pad compounds for years and it works just fine. Followed this exact procedure on an 03 Honda Pilot EXL and the brakes are golden...

OEM Acura/Brembo front pads cost about $140 and include shims and special copper colored Brembo grease. Lots of dust, no noise and super-excellent cold stopping power (great for freeway & street driving). Be sure to get the updated part number off the later 07-08 Type S.

OEM Acura/Nissin rear pads cost a lot less and include shims and pads. I would also replace the caliper hardware. Don't forget to service the slide pins as well.

You will save money if you buy the parts online and then take it somewhere to have them installed. A mechanic will charge you $h!t load for OEM pads...

legionofdoom

Thanks Excelerate. I think, because of the timing, I'll probably just end up replacing the pads and trying to salvage the stock rotors but I have also thought about swapping out for the Rotora at some point.

Thanks for the info, 94. I've been looking into the Duralast Gold CMAX but since I live in the NE, do you think it's best to stick with the OEM Brembo pads?

How are people finding the CMAX pads in cold/wintery weather?

01tl4tl

some rear rotors from napa or kragen-oriellys are fine and cheap!

fronts- how do you drive- or how do you stop?
think you are a race driver or drive like a sane person
rotora better than stock fronts
racingbrake better than stock fronts- use company matched pads for either of those
high performace driver options
most anything is good enough to stop the car- at least for now

tech should have measured max depth of grooves now to determine how much will have to be removed at a min- plus more to get all nice,,and knows the min allowed thickness of rotor vs how long it will last
that all means a lot of removed metal..not good

subinf

I've been happiest with OEM pads

legionofdoom

What other pads have you used and what didn't you like about them?

legionofdoom

I'm an aggressive driver but no longer "race" as much as I did when I was younger. Mostly highway miles during the week with normal stop/go traffic. Might look into the Rotora at some point but might just go with Duralast pads and rear rotors (if necessary) for now since I can pick them up locally and have the mechanic throw them on.

01tl4tl

its cheaper to replace the rear rotors than to try and resurface them-
very little thickness for cutting and if the tech was talking about salvaging- thats not a good sign
spend 20 bucks each and be done with it

nfnsquared

How are your rear pads shot at only 45K? Something is wrong there. You should get at least double that on rear pads. I'd look into that.

Changing Brembo front pads is ridiculously easy. Check the garage for a couple of good DIYs. I switched to Racing Brake ET300 pads. They're about $100 and every bit as good as OEM without the dust. I did not resurface my rotors and have had no problems. I have 20K miles on the new pads and they look like they're hardly worn! (My OEM pads had 63K when I changed them out, still had 5-10K left on them).

Don't get me wrong, the OEM Brembo pads are very, very good and can be bought on Ebay for about $150-160 shipped. I just didn't want to deal with the brake dust anymore.

There are tons of threads on brake pads. Do a search and you'll find lots of opinions on the "best pad".

Juiced_Acura_Kidd

I have a 6-speed TL with Brembos and just bought Rotora cross drilled / slotted rotors and Hawk Performance Racing Pads for front and rear and it ran me $670 in just parts from Excelerate. They are being installed as we speak. Go with upgrade, screw OEM.

piggydog

I just did this last week. The duralast pads from autozone are awesome IMO. $60, lifetime warranty, it took longer to take the wheels off than install the pads.

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

A couple weeks ago I did my brakes myself. I to went with the Autozone Cmax gold ceramics. The dusting is much reduced which is what I really wanted. I did not notice much of a difference in performance the brakes seem comparable to how the original brembno pads were. I had the original rotors turned at my local shop. Total cost $95 bucks for the fronts and the autozone cmax pads are warrantied for life. When they wear down I get a new set for free :-) My rears didnt need to be done.

Also, be sure to do the brake break in period correctly!!!
-get the brakes up to operating temp by lightly braking
-perform 8 60-10mph HARD stops without activating ABS DO NOT stop during this entire procedure
-then cruise preferably at highway speed using brakes minimally for about 15 minutes to properly cool the brakes.

Do this and you will be rewarded with very smooth, quiet, and excellent performing brakes!!

subinf

Rotex Gold something - I actually liked them but felt the OEM stopped better

Hawk - Biggest piece of shit pad I've ever used on any car. I would avoid at all costs. Insane amount of noise, marginal stopping power. Waste of money.

I can't remember if I've tried another pad, I will need to look through some of my early posts.

legionofdoom

Thanks everyone for your input. I bought the Duralast pads/rotors and took them to my mechanic and he didn't think much of them. He suggested that for a little bit more I should go with Bendix. In the end, he resurfaced the front rotors, replaced the rear rotors, fixed a sticking rear caliper and installed new pads all-around. So far, so good... Stopping power seems great and no squeaking. Will update on brake dust later if anyone is interested...

94eg!

Bendix makes the Axxis pads in both "Metal Master" semi metallic, and "ultimate" kevlar ceramic. I have used the Ultimate compound on my Civic and I have nothing but good things to say. They do dust a lot more than metallic so be aware. Probably just as much as OEM/Brembo pads. Cold stopping is much better though...

01tl4tl

to cut down on brake dust for any brand- wash wheels on both sides of rim- apply 2-3 coats SYNTHETIC car wax to both sides and buff well
carnuba has a low melt point and wont last- synthetic wax is the right tool for the job
That will keep a lot of the problem under control = with less grip the stuff slides off