Honda CRV rear brakes

Dang salty crap they're putting on the roads! Our 2007 CRV with 35,000 miles developed an intermittent very loud harmonic that sounded like space aliens were beaming you out if the vehicle. It finally did it with me driving & I noticed what the wife hadn't.... it stopped if you stepped on the brakes. Today I do some internet searching & find there is a TSB (tech service bulletin) about it, but it seems mere mortals are not allowed access to TSB's! Arghhhhh! Anyway I got the caliper off. The sliders are OK, the caliper is OK, but there's enough corrosion that the pads are hanging up and wearing slanted. So.... I'm headed to buy new pads. Rear brakes are supposed to last forever!!

I might even buy Honda pads. One internet suggestion was that all other pads gave troubles. Like these didn't?

Same problem on our 2008 Accord. If the caliper metal rusts, the pads tighten up, and they can't retract, causing premature wear.

Honda revised the rear pads at some point, but you still need to periodically take things apart and reassemble with plenty of anti-seize or brake lubricant...which is basically what the TSB (A04-006) for the '04 CR-V rear brakes tells you to do.

Honda's brake grease of choice is Molykote M-77, but Permatex makes a product that also works well. Make sure you lube the back-side of the stainless steel guides on the top & bottom of the pads. If the pads won't slide easily, you may have to take a file or grinder to the caliper surfaces to remove the rust.

Happy wrenching.

markviii wrote:Honda's brake grease of choice is Molykote M-77, but Permatex makes a product that also works well. Make sure you lube the back-side of the stainless steel guides on the top & bottom of the pads. If the pads won't slide easily, you may have to take a file or grinder to the caliper surfaces to remove the rust.

I bought some of the Permatex stuff recently - it seems to be pretty decent, although for as much as you use on a typical brake job I have enough to last me about 1000 years. It would be nice if they made a smaller size packaging option.

Anyway, my '02 VW Jetta TDI wagon had a similar problem. I noticed that the right rear wheel was building up brake dust faster than any other wheel. It wasn't getting hot enough to smell, but obviously it was dragging somewhat. I pulled apart the rear brakes and found the pads binding pretty bad on the calipers. I pulled off the little stainless steel clips and cleaned up the rust from beneath them and off the pad backing plates so that they fit freely again. The car was probably 4 years old by then, and I've made it a semi-annual task since then. Usually by the second time (4 years) the rear pads are worn enough to replace while I'm in there.

Kind of a dumb design, IMHO. At least VW uses the caliper for the parking brake function rather than the idiot "drum in hat" design (or as I call it "a$$ hat award" design that rusts up, binds up, and burns up. I spent $60 rebuilding the parking brakes on the Liberty CRD after they rusted up and finally one of the linings fell off the shoe and would intermittently cause horrendous clanks and jerks as it floated around in the drum binding up the works when felt like it. To top it off, it wasn't like the parking brake never got used, either. It was used every time the Jeep was parked.

OK.... one done, one to go. I bought a $13 jar of the permatex Ultra brake blah blah blah. It's a non oil based goop that seems like it'll stick around a while.

It was crusty rusty under those stainless plates. It took some careful work with a fine file to make me happy. I coated everything except the rotor with an inch of goop. Oh baby, we are good to go!

From what I have seen with foreign car rear brakes, it is best not to set the parking brake unless you really need it. It ratchets up the pads and doesn't do a very good job of backing off. My son's brand new Jetta ate the rears in 8,000 miles, he set the brake every time he parked it.

The rears are not the E-brake on the Honda. I don't think using the E-brake can cause premature wear. The hydraulic fluid always releases the pressure, not the mechanical cable. If his brakes died in 8,000 I think something else was wrong...... Like corrosion! This job I just did, the passenger side had 100,000 miles left on the pads, the drivers side was shot. Corrosion is certainly to blame. My drives side pads stopped sliding in their journals & caused the pads to twist. I guess usually it's the slide pins that crap out, but my sliders were still OK. Go figure. That's Maine roads for ya.

I suppose.... I should inspect the front. *sigh*

Same here in WNY. The SALT and corrosion on vehicles around here is bad.

I actually lost a rear pad on my 2004 F150, it delaminated from the backer plate, it was grinding pretty good. Then ended up replacing both front calipers since they were hanging all the time! At least everything came apart pretty easy, even though they were rusted pretty bad.....I was surprised the entire caliper (double piston) was only $52 at our local auto parts store.

Yeah when they wear diagonally like that, it means the pads & the caliper aren't "floating" like they should. Take the pins out of the caliper & wire wheel & grease them (if they're removable - if they're sealed & still move freely then don't worry about it). Then grind down the surface where the pads tabs touch the caliper support frame, & put a dab of lube there as well.

I think you got this Freddy - this stuff is the best:

yep thats the only stuff to use.....purple

Nope, I got the brand named stuff. It's extra super goopy! I got a little dab on my finger, smeared it to my leg, brushed the wall on my way to the bathroom, the dogs found it, now the entire house has a perfect coating.

Here's another pic.... I got this free sample of Cherry hand cleaner. Well, my goodness, I smells SO good! But....but... Ewwwww....... it's not KFC.... it's not finger lickin' good! Blech!! **Patui!** Oh, but, my hands did come clean.

Freddy wrote:Oh, but, my hands did come clean.

Cherry? What will they think of next. I always used Fast Orange with pumice, but the smell is because of the citric acid. I wonder what makes the Cherry smell (Smitty, keep your reply clean )

cool! honda all better now?

whats its temp rating? on the permatex brand

Mmmmmm ... cherry .....

ZEP has a cherry hand cleaner that's been out for years. Forget the name .. but I wanted to buy it from the service manager at WM. So busy I never got around to doing it ... then I changed employers. So looks like when my 5 gallons of Fast Orange run out, I'll be grabbing some Gojo.

I love my old Accord. It's been the most reliable car I've ever owned. That said they sure do some strange engineering on some systems. The brake rotors actually have the wheel bearing/hub pressed on over it! Serious pain to change rotors when compared to my old Ranger or Buick.
There is no doubt that our roads suck and there is allot of salt. I live right on the coast too so I'm sure that doesn't help but I will say that keeping the old accord in the garage has helped allot with body rot. That and allot of washes.

International has a good brake grease if anyone works around one of their shops. I've even started to pull the rubbers that the caliper pins slide in on Ford truck brakes. They rust inside the hole pinching the rubber which in turn pinches the slide pin, binding everything up.

Every brake I've worked on in the last 10 years has had brake pads pinched by rust under the sliders, whether those sliders were plain steel (International and GM heavy trucks) or stainless (most cars now). A little filing of the rust, quick buff with a die grinder and 80 grit pad, grease 'em up, and slam 'em back together. Good to go.