[Aaron Cake]

Well, it has come time to replace my brake pads. They're quite thin, and have begun to squeal. Strange thing is that at last oil change, they looked like they had about 50% life left...At any rate, my service manual has still not come, so I was hoping that someone can help me out.

I'm just looking for any relevant torque specs, lubrication recommendations, etc. mentioned in the service manual with regards to brake pad replacement. If there is a service manual online (I searched the WWW and the forum, but could not find), it would be quite helpful. Or if someone could post the relevant sections from their manual...

Anyway, any help is appreciated.

 

[Rick]

Send me a PM, I can take screen shots of the ESM and email them to you.

An interesting note. For the front brakes it says the only "approved" lathes are either the Kwik-Way Kwik Lathe or Snap On front disk brake lathe. I wounder how difficult finding a shop with either of those would be.

 

[windmill]

Hey Aaron,
I've checked the service manual, and saw that the service limit is 1.5 mm for the brake-pad thickness, the brake disc service limit is 15 mm. The lower bolt (torque=16 lbf/ft) of the caliperbody need an anti-electrolytic corrosion grease (something like Mastinox) no p/n given, when this bolt is loose, you can turn the caliperbody up with a rubber mallet. Now you can see the brake pads are still arround the brake disc, you can slide them out of it's position. The new brake pad shims (both sides) uses Dow Corning Molycote M77 (coppergraese is an option in my opinion) and the back side of the pads too, of course. Replace the brake pads as a set. Check if there are no cracks and other abnormal things in this area !

Good luck :wink:

 

[Rick]

No no no. The one bolt has the special anti electrolytic corrosion resistent coating on it. I had asked this question a while back and no one know about them with I had my rear shocks replaced. The bolts are treated with a coating called Dacro which prevents corrosion between two dissimilar metals. Odd too because the 2000 ESM I have says once they are removed you have to replace with a new bolt with the same treatment, but the more recent manuals (at least the page the dealership printed me) says *if* you have to replace the bolts use the proper ones with Dacro coating on them.

Confused by this I went to the NSX forums to get a better answer and the NSX service manual says you can use them something like 7 times, but it is pertinent that they are properly torqued and no wire brush or anything is taken to them. If the bolt is overtorqued, like if an impact wrench is used, it will break the coating off. So you should be able to reuse that bolt, just wipe it off with a rag, make sure it's still green on the threads and make sure it's properly torqued.

*BTW, I got 4 new Dacro coated bolts when my leaking rear shocks were replaced anyways. Thanks Honda warranty. It might be worth buying a new one for each side.

 

[Insightful Trekker]

In your neck of the woods salt corrosion will be a factor in how you repair the car.

Pay special attention to all the rubber boots that seal the caliper pins and piston from such. If your already familiar with a disc brake job than nothing about the Insight will be a surprise. Tear one of there boots upon reassembly and you'll likely be back sooner due to a rust problem than later.

Except for the wheel lugs (80 ftlb) the other torque specifications are tight enough that it will not loosen, but no so tight as to damage bolt or hole threads. In this case 16 ftlb (2.2 kgf-m) for the lower pin bolt, 23 ftlb (3.2kgf-m) for the upper. Min thick for the rotor itself is 15 mm and you should be picky about the surface condition. Rotors that aren't uniformly smooth can cause other brake problems, usually noises. But a severe enough irregularity will cause brake rotor warpage and or loss of braking efficiency. Its usually best to resurface the rotors on each brake job, but if the irregularities are small enough and you will drive conservatively to allow the the new pad friction material to conform to the rotor surface problems can usually be avoided.

Silicone grease is specified for all areas under caliper pin boots. Using other type greases will more rapidly degrade the rubber boot(s), but its usually a factor of _years_. Using a low temperature grease will likely cause a rapid loss of the grease since these parts can get very hot. Use too much of any grease and you can contaminate the pad friction surfaces and cause all kinds of brake moans and groans.

HTH!

 

[Aaron Cake]

Thanks for the info everyone!

I've done many brake jobs on RX-7s, but never on the Insight, so I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss something specific to the car. There's nothing that annoys me more then a mechanic that simply does the "generic" work on a job, completely ignoring torque, special requirements, etc.

As for turning the rotors, I never do. I've found that after being turned, they're that much thinner and just warp much faster. Mine are still in great shape, so I will simply brake the glaze with some coarse sandpaper and reuse.

Thanks again!