2003 Accord Brake Problems

I have a 2003 Accord V-6, manual transmission, that just turned over 30,000 miles, and the brakes are terrible. I am taking it in next week for rotor work, and this will be the third time the rotors have been machined. And, to add insult to injury, I have to pay for it. Honda says they will only machine them twice under warranty. Plus, the lights in my radio went out, and the passenger side door luck is not working. This is my fourth Honda, and I have never had this kind of bad luck before. I hope this is not the beginning of more problems.

Steve

Reply to
Steve Hawkins
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suggest you try a different shop. seriously. i've been to places where the car's fine before it goes in, and comes out with brakes shuddering like sob's. all they did was remove wheels for a visual inspection. the reason for the problem is that the hub & rotor assembly on the honda is relatively light weight [a good thing], but it means it can elastically distort if the wheel's not fitted right. when the wheel is re-attached, it needs to be torqued in a two-stage [or more] process,

1324, 1324 for bolt sequence, with the wheel off the ground for at least the first torque stage. in my case, simply removing & re-torquing the wheels makes the problem disappear again, but this may not happen for you because if the disks have already been machined twice, they're getting thin and are much more likely to have alignment errors each time they go to the cutting machine.

for the future, do /not/ allow anyone to machine your disks unless they're badly scored, especially not for a 30k mile car. it simply shows they're "one remedy cures all" thinkers that don't know what they're doing. if the disks /do/ need machining, consider replacement instead. online, good quality brembo disks are about $50 each. go to tegger.com and check out his excellent guide on how to do this simple job yourself. or find a good independent honda specialist.

Reply to
jim beam

I had to replace the front rotors on my '03 Accord after one attempt at turning them. On mine it seemed that there was some kind of residual stress left when they were manufactured and the rotors would rapidly warp again after being turned.

I put new Raybestos brand rotors on mine and it cured the problem.

Overall I have not been impressed with the quality of my Honda. Rattles have never been fixed, transmission replaced under warranty, brake problems, etc.

Honda has not lived up to it's reputation in the case of my car.

John

Reply to
John Horner

John Horner wrote in news:6A2Ye.7670$nV1.2934@trnddc06:

That's not a usual situation. you probably had defective parts.

Typical of most cars these days. And it'll get worse.

That's a bad one. Honda has lost probably millions fixing those.

Honda brakes are fragile and require much servicing to keep at their peak. I have had worse experiences with aftermarket, since the design is still the same.

I'm not sure I'd buy another Honda again, actually. My '91 'Teg impresses me more than the new offerings. And now Honda wants to stuff every car with even more airbags /and/ ABS, no matter how low-priced the model. Where's the money gonna come from? They can't just raise the price to pay for it all, they've got to cheapen the rest of the car. NOT good.

Reply to
TeGGeR®

Frankly, I'm not optimistic. Volvo went through a similar period in the early '90s and hasn't produced a reliable car since. People who bought the '93 Volvo 850 could expect to replace the transmission ($3000) and the A/C evaporator ($2000) at their own expense within 5 years. Failing to rev the engine regularly led to sticking and burned valves ($1000). It was Volvo's first FWD car and their first computer controlled car - there were many problems with the door locking system developing a mind of its own. Sheesh.

We can hope Honda gets back on track.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

"Michael Pardee" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@sedona.net:

Honda has one advantage: It's not owned by Ford...

Reply to
TeGGeR®

LOL, I had a '96 Volvo 850 which I replaced with the Honda in part because I was hoping for a more reliable car. So far at 38,000 miles my '03 Accord has had far more problems than the '96 Volvo had by the same point in it's life!

John

Reply to
John Horner

Volvo's problems predate the Ford purchase, and it is still beside the point. Recent Hondas do not exhibit the "bulletproof" reliability which all of the press still attributest to them.

John

Reply to
John Horner

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