Hi. My '05 Accord has provided reliability beyond my expecations. I have many miles on it, since purchasing it new.
It's an LX 4 cyl, with a 5sp. Everything works well.
I am just wondering if I can upgrade to discs in the back, and have these questions:
1) Do I have to change the front discs to match the rear ones?
2) Can I also have installed EBD (electronic brake distribution)?
3) Will the stock steel wheels fit once new rotors/caiper assemblies are installed?
Out of curiosity, what maintenance issues are there? I have never serviced a set or rear discs, as this is my first car that came with them, but I have always hated working on drums. Front discs are extremely easy to work on, so what makes the rear harder?
This means at least changing the rear spindles, and perhaps other suspension components. Also, a new proportioning valve, maybe a master cylinder, and a whole slew of other parts.
My experience has been that discs are easier to work on, but that drums also do a fine job of bringing the car to a stop. Unless you're adding other mods to the car (increasing HP, lowering, etc) don't bother! Honda knows what they're doing!
Even in Texas, I would suggest leaving the drums. Fact is drum linings still last twice as long as disk pads maybe longer. Why people insist on haveing the latest 'n greatest when in fact is ain't any better just beats the crap outta me...
i love disc brakes. they are great. they are better in almost every aspect over drum brakes. i say almost because, generally, a drum brake has more actual surface area (more surface area creates more friction). more friction means greater stopping power. friction creates more heat. heat leads to fade. fade means less stopping power. disc brakes are out in the open, so they tend to shed the heat better than drums and therefore are used on all of the cool racecars.
here is the best reason to keep your drum brakes: gas is expensive and not getting any cheaper. if i were to build a car today, it would have drum brakes at every corner. why? not because of rust. not because of maintenance. not because they aren't cool. not because of the parking brake.
drum brakes have springs that pull the shoes away from the drum. disc brakes do not have this little feature. disc brakes use the imperfections of life to allow the disc to 'bounce' the pads away and create a gap. of course, people will say this extra bit of friction while traveling down the road is minimal....
The ONLY disk brake cylinder that would actually retract pads from the rotor surface were the (Girling I think) system used by Jaquar, Mercedes, Studebaker and Nissan (Datsun) in the 1960's and early 1970's.
no, they all retract a little. it's not a mechanical system built into the piston, simply a function of seal elasticity - the inner seal, not the flimsy on the outside.
Grumpy AuContraire wrote in news:Ugk3i.3537$ snipped-for-privacy@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:
On a FWD car the rear brakes do maybe 20% of the stopping. Drums on the rear are an infinitely better choice for such a light-duty application.
Drums are sealed from the weather, and do not need to burn off moisture to remain operational.
The shoes will last 75K miles with no maintenance whatsoever.
The only people who think rear discs are better than drums are those who live in Arizona, or those who own shares in Norton Abrasives or Dow Corning (or both).
bob zee wrote in news:1179505974.155339.158570 @l77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com:
Unless they are used on the rear of a FWD car.
Blah blah blah. You read many automotive magazines but do not work on any actual motor vehicles.
Do you regularly travel at 200mph? I know I don't. 200mph race requirements are not the same as the requirements imposed by regular low-speed city driving through salty winter slush.
You have evidently never actually watched a disc brake piston in action. Correctly-operating disc brake pistons RETRACT when you let off the pedal. Believe it...or not.
whether or not it's fwd makes absolutely /zero/ difference to braking load distribution if the weight distribution is the same. if anything, front brakes on fwd's work /less/ since engine braking is available up front.
they're easier to maintain and it's /much/ easier to implement a parking brake, but disks are a better brake in that their function is more linear and they dump their heat much quicker.
if water gets inside a drum, it's nigh-on useless for /way/ longer than any wet disk. drums are weather resistant, but not weather proof.
for honda rears, often much longer!
no, disks are safer in that their operation is more linear and they're harder to overheat.
the advantages of drums are cost [first and foremost], and ease of parking brake design. reliability of honda rear disk brakes is not great because of their parking brake design, but that's not a disk problem per se. other manufacturers have different solutions which don't have the same reliability problems, but lose some/all of the weight advantage.
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