I felt the same wobbly steering wheel that Takahashi noted a couple weeks ago. It's not bad by any means, but I figured it was worth investigating a little further. Pulled the front wheel and found nothing but this pristine-looking rotor. If I were a betting man I would say the other side is probably just as smooth.
Someone in the office suggested that maybe it's the rear brakes? Or maybe it's not the discs at all, but the pads instead? Looks like we'll have to take it in for a proper inspection to get to the bottom of it. We'll keep you posted.
Ed Hellwig, Editor, inside Line
cr_driver says:
06:44 PM, 01/24/11
Typical Honda brakes?
I`ve read here people complain about them.
acbayard says:
07:24 PM, 01/24/11
Check the wheel balance.
09g37 says:
07:29 PM, 01/24/11
Had the same problem on my old 06 Accord coupe. Dealership resurfaced the discs once under warranty but the problem returned. I switched all the pads to Axxis XGB's and the problem was resolved. Plus there was noticeably less brake fade and only a bit more brake dust over stock.
actualsize says:
07:42 PM, 01/24/11
Rotor warping or DTV (disc thickness variation) sufficient to cause vibration is almost never visible to the naked eye. A runout gauge will tell the tale. Perhaps it's time for me to invest in one.
tmanz says:
08:11 PM, 01/24/11
like actualsize said if you could see the warp it would be really throwing the wheel around.
7driver says:
10:01 PM, 01/24/11
Hey Dan, I wonder if you could build your own runout gauge? It probably wouldn't be good enough to measure but I imagine it could be good enough to detect warpage.
morrisg2 says:
11:46 PM, 01/24/11
Look at the shiny wheel pads on the mounting surface of the rotor between the lugs. Looks like 3 of them fit snugly against the rotor, one sorta touches and the one at the 7 o'clock position doesn't touch very well at all. Rotor or wheel, one of these is out of alignment and is the source of your wobble.
ms3fun says:
03:38 AM, 01/25/11
Dan, Ed
take a look at this reasoning for the vibration and how you maybe can get rid of it without having to turn the rotors.
http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_warped_brakedisk.shtml#
And this gives advice on how to correctly bed-in the pads.
http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm
What do you guys think, since that differs dramatically from what generally is said about warped rotors and how to treat new brakes.
leftnose says:
06:18 AM, 01/25/11
If it's not the discs, it could be a suspension issue. I thought I had warped rotors not that long ago so I had them checked out. Turned out the rotors were fine but a sway bar bushing had cracked causing the shimmy under braking. The repair was covered under warranty, too.
hoosiergrandad says:
06:51 AM, 01/25/11
The 2 Hondas I had before my present CT both started pulsing at around 32000.....Don't expect the CT will be any different. Guess I can live with it,since none of them ever had any other problems. I do wish their brakes were as bullet-proof as the rest of the car.Does anybody have a (preferably cheap)way to make 'em last longer? I have a Ford half-ton with 110000 that has never needed brake work, lest it be thought that I'm hard on brakes.
carguy622 says:
07:01 AM, 01/25/11
It's a Honda, they all do that. I replaced by rotors and pads with Brembos and it made a huge difference.
wjtinatl says:
07:08 AM, 01/25/11
Sorry Ed, the rotors aren't like an LP record from your High School days... the warping isn't visible to the naked eye. As suggested above, cobble up a runout gauge from some straight steel stock and a c-clamp and you'll know if there is warping. It does look like the beginning of some grooving to that rotor however.
hybris says:
08:24 AM, 01/25/11
I can't say if they looked warped but they sure do look inadequate.
old_volvo says:
08:29 AM, 01/25/11
There is another side to the brakes too. Check the backside as well.
ed124c says:
10:55 AM, 01/25/11
I must agree: I have owned 4 new Honda Accords over the last 30 years, and they all had warped rotor problems.
My Outback has 70K+ miles on it, and the brakes have never been touched. They also are smooth, quiet, and effective.
This is the one Achilles heel that would keep me from buying another Honda. You know, wouldn't you think that, after all these years, Honda would have fixed this problem? Hard to understand.
Actually, I find it hard to justify buying anything other than another Subaru.
dgcamero says:
02:15 PM, 01/25/11
It's definitely a Honda problem. Happened to my Civic, my brother's Civic, my friend's Craccord and Craccord+, and his RSX.
Honda will resurface them once, and if the problem comes back they'll replace them under warranty, they're actually a nice company to deal with if you have a problem car.
allthingshonda says:
07:56 PM, 01/25/11
@dgcamero
They are a good company to deal with. I had a 10 year old Accord with about 155,000 miles on it when the transmission went out. My local dealer (on their own not by my request) called them about the problem and they offered to pay for 25% of the cost of the repair. 25% may not seem like much but this was for a car 7 years and 119,000 miles out of warranty. Considering Honda did not have to do anything, I was very impressed. Other than the tranny failure and a cooling fan motor nothing else ever broke. It even still had the original hoses on it when I traded it in with 173,000 miles on it.
cartester16 says:
02:10 PM, 01/26/11
Sent you guys some info regarding getting the rotors measured for runout & DRV on these rotors while mounted on the vehicle...I think it would be very ineteresting to post the graphs of that data!
itsmpt says:
02:23 PM, 01/26/11
I had a 2001 Accord which were prone to steering wheel shimmy when under heavy braking. The rotors didn't look warped, but it kept happening. It seemed that when it was cold, it performed fine, but after constant braking (for example slowing the car going down a steep hill) the steering wheel shimmy would return and sometimes it would be really violent. After I switched the original to Brembo replacements, the shimmy was gone.
If you browse the Honda forums, one will notice that it is a common problem. I was hoping Honda would sort it out with the newer models, but it seems it may continue to be a problem after reading this blog post.