Rear pad and rotor replacement: Hissing?

[witakd]

Hello everyone,

Last night I replaced the rear pads and rotors on my EX35. I used Centric rotors and Hawk HPS pads. The removal and install was very straight forward. Everything cleaned up very well. Per the factory manual, all areas marked for grease had CRC brake grease applied and all bolts were properly torqued (including the lug nuts). I've noticed there is a faint (for lack of a better descriptive word) hissing sound (equally from both sides of the vehicle) when at slow speeds (7mph or less). I can't hear the hissing above 7 or so MPH to due increased ambient noise. The hissing appears to dampen when the brakes are lightly applied. Can I expected this sound to go away or is it a result of the rotor/brake combination?


Thanks!
Dustin

[NJGuy]

I can't speak of the Hawk pads as I've never used them.

The 'hissing' sound might be attributed to the new rotors. I think the noise occurs when the pads lightly rub against the cross-hatch surface finish of the rotors. I'd expect the sound to go away within a few hundred miles or so when the machined finish of the rotor surface starts to wear down a little bit.

If it doesn't, then it just might be the nature of the Hawk pads. I'm sure someone who's used Hawk pads can chime in, as I believe they're a popular replacement brake pad.

[XIS]

is it weird that I have never ever had any rotors changed in any of my cars over my 30 yrs of driving.... did I say never ever?

[witakd]

is it weird that I have never ever had any rotors changed in any of my cars over my 30 yrs of driving.... did I say never ever?

My first car was a '95 Acura Integra (originally my parents). Sold the vehicle in 2007 with 165,000 miles. Had 1 rotor replaced due to a seized caliper. Other than that, just the occasional brake pad replacement.

My second car purchased new in 2007 was a Honda S2000. This was my daily driver and I often pushed the car and had a habit of heavy late braking. Sold the car in 2011 with 48,000 miles and never once had the brakes serviced. There was NO pulsation issues, squealing, etc. They felt perfect the day I sold the car.

My current car is my 2008 EX35. Picked up the EX (not titled until later 2009) in 2011 from a 16 month lease turn in with 19,000 miles. Immediately needed all 4 rotors turned and new pads all around. Since then I put on 29,000 miles in 2.5 years and now need new rear pads and resurface all four rotors due to pulsation issues.

Not sure what's up with the OEM pads/rotors for the EX. It very well be my braking style and my previous cars were more forgiving?

I purchased new rotors because the dealer wanted to charge $150 to resurface all four rotors. Rather than using rotors that would have been turned twice, I decided to opt for new rotors.

[NJGuy]

My first car was a '95 Acura Integra (originally my parents). Sold the vehicle in 2007 with 165,000 miles. Had 1 rotor replaced due to a seized caliper. Other than that, just the occasional brake pad replacement.

My second car purchased new in 2007 was a Honda S2000. This was my daily driver and I often pushed the car and had a habit of heavy late braking. Sold the car in 2011 with 48,000 miles and never once had the brakes serviced. There was NO pulsation issues, squealing, etc. They felt perfect the day I sold the car.

My current car is my 2008 EX35. Picked up the EX (not titled until later 2009) in 2011 from a 16 month lease turn in with 19,000 miles. Immediately needed all 4 rotors turned and new pads all around. Since then I put on 29,000 miles in 2.5 years and now need new rear pads and resurface all four rotors due to pulsation issues.

Not sure what's up with the OEM pads/rotors for the EX. It very well be my braking style and my previous cars were more forgiving?

Some cars are just more prone to the brake pulsation/vibration issue than others. If you look further into Honda's lineup, I can tell you that issue commonly occurred in the seventh gen Accord ('03-'07). I remember my parent's '97 Chevy Mailbu getting the same issue as well, though I don't know if it extended to the other GM models on the same platform. I'm sure other cars of various makes were prone to this issue as well, but I wouldn't be able to name any off the top of my head.

If you read through the forum a bit, you'll see that the EX can go through rear brake pads rather quickly. 29k seems to be about par for the course.

I don't know if you already know this, but turning rotors usually doesn't fix the pulsation issue permanently, so it will likely return after some time. Replacing rotors with a quality aftermarket part, as you have done, typically works better to cure the problem.