rear brakes and rotors "trashed"

[kdogofjtown]

My 2006 RT has 26000 miles. Last Tuesday I heard a small squeek that sounded like it was coming from the back tire on the passenger side. My wife and I are planning a 1800 mile drive next week in the RL so I scheduled a service and asked if they could look at the back tires. On Wednesday of last week when driving home from work the noise became very loud and persistant. When stopping the squeeking and squeeling sounded like I needed new brakes but at 26K miles?? Wednesday night I drive 2 miles to go to the store and noticed that the noise was also present when starting from a dead stop and lingered until about 20mph so I decided to leave the RL in the driveway and use my wife's car the rest of the week and the weekend until I could get it looked at.

My wife took it to the dealer today and to my surprise they told her that the back brakes and rotors were "trashed" and needed to be replaced. Front brakes were fine. When she called and told me I nearly came unglued! Brakes at 26K!?! REAR BRAKES?!?! I called the serivce guy at our dealer (who is terrific by the way) and he explained that the back brakes had locked to the rotors and ground them down. They had to use a pry bar to get the brakes off.

They are going to replace them under warranty. The service guy told me (to paraphrase) that Honda has had some trouble with the rear disc brakes - especially on the accords a few years ago but none ever reported on the RL. He said that the brakes can get locked in to the roters in really bad winter weather and there is not much that can be done to prevent it from occurring.

Anybody else had winter weather related back brake issues??

Dealer said he would report it to corporate Honda since he could not find that anyone else ever reporting this issue.

Anyone with back brake noises - get it checked out especially if you live and drive in cold and snow.

Will update when I hear more from the dealer.

[Pizza Man]

Terrible news kdog.

The winter weather has been somewhat moderate here this year, so there hasn't been much opportunity to develop a similiar problem. At least your dealer is handling it as a warranty repair.

[bigdave269]

I did all four brakes at 36K. I didn't think that was too unreasonable for mileage. Fortunately, I didn't need to replace rotors. Funny thing, though, the rear brakes needed to be done, the fronts could have waited a service interval (he thought). I decided to go with all four because I was getting pulsing in the steering wheel when I was stopping, which of course is a sign of a warped rotor (or at leaset grooved).

But on to your problem. Could be a number of things causing it. I would have the dealer check the proportioning valve for your brake system just to make sure. The Ridge is supposed to give fairly even wear around all four brakes; a bad valve may be sending your brake pressure mostly to the rear.

You guys back east drive through all kinds of crud in the winter. It could also be a simple case of your calipers not returning to normal because of dirt build-up on the caliper sleeve. Make sure they check the caliper action and seals and clean all of the gunk out of the cylinder sleeve. A caliper rebuild might not be a bad idea, especially if they are covering it under the warranty.

I wouldn't know where to get them exactly, but some places sell shields that are supposed to protect rims from brake dust. It seems to me that it might work the other way in preventing some of the road salts and slush from gettin up to your calipers. Might want to check that out a a place that sells rims.

I hope your warranty fix cures your problem.

[Ultra-Hog]

Thanks for the heads up kdogofjtown! And timely too, I might add! My truck goes in for service tomorrow to have the drivers door lock solenoid replaced. I will have them check the brakes while it's there.

[SixtyFiveandCounting]

Sorry to hear about your trouble Kdog. I have 66K plus on my Ridge and still have the original brakes AND tires. The dealer says the tires should be replaced this Spring but I was good to go this Winter yet. I must be very lucky.
Hope you had a good time on your trip.

[kdogofjtown]

Just got my truck back from the dealer. He checked the brake system and said all was fine. The brakes themselves were "covered" in "winter road junk" that caused them to get "stuck or frozen" onto the rotors. Once they stuck it was not long before they "got trashed." He said that tere was and is nothing I can do to prevent this from occurring again.

Drove 33 miles home from the dealer and it rode like the day I got it. No noises when hitting the brakes.

Dealer covered all under warranty (all of the brake issues).

I got an oil change, VTM fluid change and I needed a rear tail light replaced since some moron rammed me in the parking lot at work and smashed it. Tail light was $140 and change!!!! That seems like a lot for a small peice of red plastic!!

Will update on any changes.

[Pizza Man]

Great news kdog, shame there isn't anything to prevent this from happening again.

[mikepacheco]

I had my rear brakes replaced at 50K, rotors looked good, just rear pads, front still has 70%. I just had my battery changed, went back at 56K, I left my radio on and it wouldn't start. The dealer load tested and said everything looked fine, then the mechanic left the key on by mistake, guess what it wouldn't start, they changed it. Ouch... $154. later. Oh well, it's only money right !.

Mike in SF