Brake Service

NorthernEX-T

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Since this is the maintainence thread and I'm a little tired of seeing the oil posts, let's talk about brakes.

Who plans on doing pads and rotors / service not by the dealer?
Any good aftermarket options that will hold up without warping rotors..?

I've noticed some squealing, and from my inspection last week it appears my pads are over 50% worn. So brakes might need to be done sooner than I thought. I also want to change rotors because mine are warped slightly and shake quite often.. so ya I'll need brakes soon..
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Islandbiew

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My friend, a Honda technician told me that rear brakes are next to impossible to do without connecting the car to the "Honda Link" computer at the dealer. Its because of the electric rear calipers/pistons need to wound back into the caliper; since the piston is actuated by an electric motor & hydraulic fluid. There is a work around, but it involves a substantial amount of work on the caliper pins and caliper holding bolts. I stopped listening when he said some components had to ground off with a grinder.

I don't know about front pads. Should be straight forward; not sure.

If there are techs out there, please reply to this thread. I like to do my own brakes, and would not be happy if only the Honda dealer can replace rear pads/rotors on 2016+ civic.
 
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NorthernEX-T

NorthernEX-T

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My friend, a Honda technician told me that rear brakes are next to impossible to do without connecting the car to the "Honda Link" computer at the dealer. Its because of the electric rear calipers/pistons need to wound back into the caliper; since the piston is actuated by an electric motor & hydraulic fluid. There is a work around, but it involves a substantial amount of work on the caliper pins and caliper holding bolts. I stopped listening when he said some components had to ground off with a grinder.

I don't know about front pads. Should be straight forward; not sure.

If there are techs out there, please reply to this thread. I like to do my own brakes, and would not be happy if only the Honda dealer can replace rear pads/rotors on 2016+ civic.
Ya that sounds awful lol, thankfully I'm certain the back brakes are fine for a lot longer. They still look almost new, which makes sense because the back is only responsible for about 10% of braking.
 

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Curious myself. I like to do all my own work.

Tempted to pull off my rear tire and inspect this rear caliper. I've never seen an electronically controlled caliper. I just assumed the actuator you hear when you engage the parking break was just pulling a cable, instead of doing it with the typical brake lever.
 

2016CivicLX

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My friend, a Honda technician told me that rear brakes are next to impossible to do without connecting the car to the "Honda Link" computer at the dealer. Its because of the electric rear calipers/pistons need to wound back into the caliper; since the piston is actuated by an electric motor & hydraulic fluid. There is a work around, but it involves a substantial amount of work on the caliper pins and caliper holding bolts. I stopped listening when he said some components had to ground off with a grinder.

I don't know about front pads. Should be straight forward; not sure.

If there are techs out there, please reply to this thread. I like to do my own brakes, and would not be happy if only the Honda dealer can replace rear pads/rotors on 2016+ civic.

Spin the caliper cup clockwise with a pair of needle nose plyers to compress.
Did not need to connect anything to the computer to do the rear disk pads.
 


maaaaackle

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Spin the caliper cup clockwise with a pair of needle nose plyers to compress.
Did not need to connect anything to the computer to do the rear disk pads.
That is really good to hear. Was there anything different about doing the rears as opposed to traditional "e-brake" operated cars?
 

2016CivicLX

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That is really good to hear. Was there anything different about doing the rears as opposed to traditional "e-brake" operated cars?
This is the first e brake car I have done brakes on. I was a mechanic for ten years in the 80's and 90's. Some cars had hand brake linked to the rear caliper. They all had to be turned to be compressed when changing rear pads.
 
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NorthernEX-T

NorthernEX-T

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This is the first e brake car I have done brakes on. I was a mechanic for ten years in the 80's and 90's. Some cars had hand brake linked to the rear caliper. They all had to be turned to be compressed when changing rear pads.
What did you replace the pads with?
 

JS2000

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Since this is the maintainence thread and I'm a little tired of seeing the oil posts, let's talk about brakes.

Who plans on doing pads and rotors / service not by the dealer?
Any good aftermarket options that will hold up without warping rotors..?

I've noticed some squealing, and from my inspection last week it appears my pads are over 50% worn. So brakes might need to be done sooner than I thought. I also want to change rotors because mine are warped slightly and shake quite often.. so ya I'll need brakes soon..
50% worn sounds like a lot of wear on such a new vehicle. I don't think I've had a Honda vehicle that needed brakes within 100,000 kms, they usually wear great. Warped rotors can happen on any vehicle, much of the time it is just deposits on the rotor surface and not true warping of the metal.

When it comes time to change pads I hope Carbotech has a pad that fits our cars, they are fantastic brake pads, and they make a dedicated street pad called 1521's (the old Bobcat line), they dust very little, have great initial bite and are rotor friendly, with zero noise. They are not recommended for track use but I've done the occasional track session with them on my other Honda, and they held up perfectly well on a week long trip to the Tail of the Dragon in NC.

Once a year you should take out the pads and lube the caliper slider pins, and the pad to caliper contact surfaces. You will get longer life out of the pads as it prevents the calipers from binding up over time. Simple maintenance anyone can do.
 
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NorthernEX-T

NorthernEX-T

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I did a few track events last year which warped my rotors a bit and took a lot of life out of the pads.. hopefully will be good when I trade it in this coming spring..
 


JS2000

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I did a few track events last year which warped my rotors a bit and took a lot of life out of the pads.. hopefully will be good when I trade it in this coming spring..
Oh yeah that makes more sense, I've heard of guys burning through brake pads in 1-2 track events in some instances.
 

2016CivicLX

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50% worn sounds like a lot of wear on such a new vehicle. I don't think I've had a Honda vehicle that needed brakes within 100,000 kms, they usually wear great. Warped rotors can happen on any vehicle, much of the time it is just deposits on the rotor surface and not true warping of the metal.

When it comes time to change pads I hope Carbotech has a pad that fits our cars, they are fantastic brake pads, and they make a dedicated street pad called 1521's (the old Bobcat line), they dust very little, have great initial bite and are rotor friendly, with zero noise. They are not recommended for track use but I've done the occasional track session with them on my other Honda, and they held up perfectly well on a week long trip to the Tail of the Dragon in NC.

Once a year you should take out the pads and lube the caliper slider pins, and the pad to caliper contact surfaces. You will get longer life out of the pads as it prevents the calipers from binding up over time. Simple maintenance anyone can do.
50% worn sounds like a lot of wear on such a new vehicle. I don't think I've had a Honda vehicle that needed brakes within 100,000 kms, they usually wear great. Warped rotors can happen on any vehicle, much of the time it is just deposits on the rotor surface and not true warping of the metal.

When it comes time to change pads I hope Carbotech has a pad that fits our cars, they are fantastic brake pads, and they make a dedicated street pad called 1521's (the old Bobcat line), they dust very little, have great initial bite and are rotor friendly, with zero noise. They are not recommended for track use but I've done the occasional track session with them on my other Honda, and they held up perfectly well on a week long trip to the Tail of the Dragon in NC.

Once a year you should take out the pads and lube the caliper slider pins, and the pad to caliper contact surfaces. You will get longer life out of the pads as it prevents the calipers from binding up over time. Simple maintenance anyone can do.
Anti seize compound works great for this
 

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My friend, a Honda technician told me that rear brakes are next to impossible to do without connecting the car to the "Honda Link" computer at the dealer. Its because of the electric rear calipers/pistons need to wound back into the caliper; since the piston is actuated by an electric motor & hydraulic fluid. There is a work around, but it involves a substantial amount of work on the caliper pins and caliper holding bolts. I stopped listening when he said some components had to ground off with a grinder.
The service manual for the rear pads just says to either pull the pistons back in using the Honda Link computer, or rotate them back into the caliper like any standard Honda. I'm guessing your friend was speaking from his experience with some other Honda, since I think it's unlikely he would've gotten in a 2016 Civic that already needed new rear brake pads.

Edit: here is the page from the service manual:

Honda Civic 10th gen Brake Service Untitled
 
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Islandbiew

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The service manual for the rear pads just says to either pull the pistons back in using the Honda Link computer, or rotate them back into the caliper like any standard Honda. I'm guessing your friend was speaking from his experience with some other Honda, since I think it's unlikely he would've gotten in a 2016 Civic that already needed new rear brake pads.

Edit: here is the page from the service manual:

Untitled.png
Thanks for the post. Any trouble getting the caliper out?
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