I like Honda’s, but here in rust country Canada the rear disk brakes suck big time. It’s an engineering design flaw that won’t be admitted.

Rust is the culprit and the cure is simple, get on with it Honda, you’re getting a bad reputation here.

Why is it that motorcycles have nice big shiny stainless steel rotors and cars have cheap rusty ordinary steel?

Some hop up dudes have fancy looking, rusty cheap rotors. Any real engineer will tell you it’s a simple matter to design rotors that won’t rust. They will also tell you that the car companies won’t allow it.

If you live in rust country (Salt on the roads in winter) get drum brakes on the rear.

Rusty rear disk brakes

Detail of rusty rear rotor

Rusty brakes are a great way to spoil a multi link independent rear suspension

By the way that “Honda Civic SIR 1999″ has to be one of the all time greatest cars ever made. It has several minor flaws but all are made up for by two things.

First it has the greatest engine (B16) ever put into a production car, and second the price is more than reasonable for what you get. An engine alone from Detroit or Germany that gets one hundred horsepower per liter costs more than the entire Civic. Yes folks there are many motors that achieve the magic one hundred horsepower per liter, but due to their cost and narrow torque bands they are only used in racing cars. Recently there have been a few other production motors similar to the B16 but always very expensive.

The B16A3 engine is the first naturally aspirated engine to achieve 100 horsepower per liter magic number. Quite an accomplishment that even today other vendors are just starting to copy. The B16 engine first came to North America in the Honda Del Sol in 1994 as a two seater that many claimed had a poor chassis. The B16 has been around for quite some time. One of the secrets to it’s incredible performance is the variable valve lift and timing. Nissan was the first to use this technology in a production car but they optimized it for fuel economy rather than performance.

Honda’s B16A3 has two modes of operating. The first is where the engine runs like a typical Honda 1.6 liter motor below 6000 rpm, nice and civilized . The second mode kicks in at engine speeds between 6000 and 8000 rpm well beyond the reach of normal motors and gives the B16A3 the power of a racing motor. Honda gets this great performance by building a motor that is strong enough to rotate at higher speeds. The faster the motor spins the more power you can get out of it assuming all the other parts are good for that speed.

Here is an easy tip to remember, if you want to know the true cost of any motor. Look at the maximum speed that the motor can safely turn while still under warranty (The red line on the tachometer). The cost of the engine is to a large extent driven by the speed at which it rotates. If your motor is rated for 6000 rpm then it is a normal cheap motor regardless of how many fancy plastic cowlings it has and how much you are paying. As the motor turns faster above 6000 rpm the cost begins to skyrocket.

Every two or three years I have to change both rotors and pads on the rear brakes. It is a relatively simple operation so long as someone has explained it well for you before you start. I took a look on the net for some decent “How to Articles” and found two here and here that on the surface provided a reasonable level of detail. When I got into it I found many practical details missing.

Here is the skinny…..

First jacking up your car. Honda like all other vendors gives you a convenient place on the side of the car to place your jack. Now that you’ve got the car jacked up, as everyone knows you need to place the car on jack stands to be safe (Of course your wheels are already blocked). But there is no place to put the jack stands because your jack is using the only spot recommended by Honda.

Once you’ve taken the wheel off you can jury rig a reasonable jack stand position under the rear control arms. I don’t trust those things so I’m using two.

Placing Jack Stands

Why not trust jack stands?

My brother and I once worked for competing engineering consulting firms. Both had large garages with a full complement of tools. After working hours we were all permitted to use the garages and tools and of course many did to performe work on their personal cars and things. One day one of the engineers at night was making repairs under his car and the thing came down on him.

He did not die right away, but the next morning when every one else arrived for work he was done (Not a pleasant way to go).

Ever since then I don’t trust working under cars.

First you have to remove a protective splash guard from the rear of the brakes using a 10mm socket and wrench with extension.

Splash guard

Next you are going to need an impact wrench driven by a compressor to remove the Philips screws that hold on the rotor. No impact wrench, then forget working on a rusty car. Don’t forget to reduce the air pressure to around 40 lbs or you will break that wimpy Phillips screw driver bit (Like I did).

Impact wrench with phillips screw driver to remove rotor screws

Loosen but don’t remove the two 12mm bolts that retain the brake pad holder in the caliper assembly.

You need a small sledge hammer (See two photos down).

You do this with the caliper still attached to the car so it can resist the hammer blows. If you remove the caliper assembly first and then try to separate the brake pad holder you will fail.

Loosen caliper assembly bolts using small seldge and 12mm wrench

Now you have to loosen the caliber assembly held on by two 14 mm bolts at the rear of the rotor. Again you need a proper sized small sledge hammer.

Loosen two bolts securing the rear calipers using 14mm wrench and proper sized sledge

Now you can finish removing the 12mm bolts holding the caliper assembly together and then remove the 14mm bolts holding the caliper assembly on the the rear suspension.

Now remove the caliper assembly and leave it hanging on some convenient piece of metal so that you don’t damage the two brake lines still attached to the caliper assembly.

On some of the bolts it is possible to get use the impact wrench, but there isn’t enough clearance to get at all the bolts with the impact wrench.

Remove the brake pad holder from the caliper assemble by removing the 12mm bolts.

Remove brake pad holder

Remove old rotor by hitting it with a your small sledge hammer.

Remove rotor using sledge hammer

Install new rotor and attach with two Phillips screws, no need to use impact wrench.

Install new rotor and your old rusty screws

Take a photograph of the placement of the old brakes pads so you can remember what goes where.

Photograph brakes pads to remember location

There is lots of crud on the bushing surfaces that needs to be gently removed. Clean bushing surfaces with old Popsicle stick cut to straight edge with anvil clipper.

Clean bushing surfaces with Popsicle stick

Lubricate bushing surfaces with supplied high temperature grease (Comes with brake pads). To me this lubrication does not make sense, the bushing surface is only going to stay lubed for a couple of months maximum. So it had better be designed to work well without lube.

Install new brake pads into the holder using your photograph to duplicate position and alignment otherwise you will get it wrong as in photo below.

These pads are on backwards

Next is the difficult part that takes two people and we don’t have a photo. (There is a comment attached at the end of this article that does include a photo of the brake piston) The rear brake the piston has to be reset (Moved in) by screwing it in. First it’s important that you free up the rubber weather seal using a WD40 and a screw driver so that the piston can rotate without moving the weather seal. One guy holds the caliper housing as the other turns the piston in using either some sort of monster screw driver or a vice grip. I used a vice grip, seems to work easier. My old brakes need a lot of torque more than you are going to generate with a monster screw driver. The guy holding the caliper has his work cut out. The slot in the piston has to be aligned to match a tit on the brake pad. You’ll have to figure this alignment out for your self because I didn’t take a photo.

Another way to reset the brake piston might be to reattach the caliper to the suspension without the brake pad holder and rotor. This would eliminate the need for someone else to hold the caliper. However access to the piston is going to be difficult you will have to use some kind of big screw driver. You won’t be able to get the vice grip onto the piston in these cramped quarters. I’ve heard others say you can use a needle nose pliers instead of the big screw driver. Getting enough torque on the piston is going to be a problem on these old brakes. My guess is we were running close to 20 ft lbs torque to get that piston to move.

That crazy piece of steel sticking out from the brake pad is the “Wear Indicator” or sometimes just called “The Squealer”. When the pads wear down to the point that this piece of steel contacts the rotor it then makes a nasty squealing noise to alert the driver that something is wrong.

Now place the brake pad holder onto the rotor. Squeeze the pads together so everything is aligned just nicely and it may hang on the rotor all by itself.

Place brake pad holder on rotor and adjust

Next you have to get the caliper over the pad holder and it is a little tricky for two reasons:

First: One of the bolts that attaches the caliper to the rear suspension has to be partially inserted before you can mount the caliper assembly over the brake pad holder.

Second: It is a tight fit and adjustments probably need to be made with a big hammer as you try to align the bolt holes for the 14mm bolts. You have to get under the car to look for correct bolt hole alignment and you will need a light most likely.

Mount the caliper on top of the brake pad holder. You will probably need to use that big sledge to move it a little at a time as you try to line up the bolt holes for the 14mm bolts. After you get the 14 mm bolts snug then get the 12 mm bolts on snug. Now you can tighten them all up using the hand wrench.

Mount caliper over brake pad holder, tricky...

You are now effectively done. Just reattach the splash guard. Remove the Jack stands and attach the wheel and drop the jack down.

Remember to only torque the lug nuts on with enough torque that you can get them off with the car’s emergency tool set. As your car ages with rust this torque needs to be more than the manufacturers 80 ft lbs recommendation. See this post.

Note the pads should be in constant contact with the rotor until you’ve had some time to wear them in.

Cycle the brakes a few times to adjust the piston then do a test drive and apply the brakes a few times.

Jack car up and make sure wheels are rotating sort of freely even though the pads are still touching the rotor.

The last thing you’re going to need is some abrasive hand cleaner, this is a dirty job.

Abrasive hand cleaner

Readers of this article might like to read another post on how to improve the performance of you motor. It’s a little more theoretical but should give a sound basis for making mods to your motor.

One month later, Rusty Rear Disk Brake

Does anyone know where I can get stainless steel rotors that won’t rust????