I've done brakes service on my wife's pilot hoping that slight pulsation in the steering wheel while braking at highway speeds would go away but unfortunately it is still there. I suspect the rotors are the culprit (which I believe is a common issues with pilots) and i might be changing all rotors/pads. with that said, does anyone has an experience with the subject brand? And good or bad? It looks like i can get a whole set for 280$. Not sure if that's cheap or expensive and whether those parts are good or bad. Appreciate any feedback
As for that brand, I put a set of non-platinum (silver?) on a Honda Accord a few years back, and it has been working fine. I also put their Wearever Gold pads on the back of my 05 Pilot, where they lasted 55K with zero problems until fubared but a stuck caliper.
So more on the Pilot and brake issues. The early ones had FF factory pads and the spec was back-changed to GG. During its first 98K under the first owner, my Pilot dealer service history shows it had a pad slap, then had the front rotors ground right before I bought it, so it probably had pulsation problems. Around 170K it was really pulsating bad, so I put on NAPA Ultra Premium coated rotors and AdaptiveOne pads which took me another 40K miles with zero pulsation (and then I sold it with 214K and full disclosure on a bad transmission.) To the end the brakes were high and hard and smooth.
I attribute my success over the dealer to two things. One I used quality parts. Two, I the checked eccentricity of each front rotor with a dial indicator, and had to remediate a hub surface issue to get one straight. It looked fine but was out of spec (greater than .004" runout according to the Honda factory service manual). I doubt the dealer service guy did that check, I suspect the front rotors were ground on-vehicle with that rotor mounted crooked and ground "straight" (but out of balance). Well 2 more things, good lube and proper break-in.
The topic of cheap rotors and pads comes up often here, with a wide range of experiences from awful to perfection. My take on it is, with proper dial-in, proper lubrication of pins/slides/pad backs/whatever, and proper break-in, cheaper components can work well... unless smearing (uneven pad deposits) occurs down the road. Smearing can happen with straight rotors, but it's pretty much guaranteed with eccentrically mounted rotors. There are also possible issues of dust, dust color, and brake feel with cheap pads.
From experience, having fixed mine and many friends' car brakes, I have seen many things blamed on "warped rotors" that were in fact stuck calipers, smeared pad material, or straight rotors that were simply mounted crooked. So I suggest paying close attention to proper lubrication, clean the hubs thoroughly, and dialing in the runout to under factory spec- ideally less than .001".
