Issues After New Brake Pads

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I know this is generally a lube forum, but I trust the members' advice on this forum more than others. So... here it goes...

I replaced the rear brakes in my 2014 Honda CRV a few weeks ago. I used Akebono TQ pads. Once every 1 or 2 weeks, the rear driver brake makes a groaning sound when stopping, and when the vehicle speed is under 5 mph - and then again briefly when lifting my foot off the brake to accelerate. It will do the same thing for the next 3 or 4 times I stop, and then all seems to be returned to normal. I also noticed when it does this it will often produce a nasty smell that I don't notice other times. I guess I didn't think a whole lot of it other than "must just be the new pads, or the high humidity we've been having, or the smell is someone else's car".

Well... today it made the groaning sound again and I went to examine a little further. As soon as I bent down at the rear driver side tire I could feel heat dissipating from the rim. It was quite hot to the touch - I could hold my finger on the rim for maybe 5 seconds. The other 3 wheels were warm, but not nearly as hot as the culprit. In addition, it was making an intermittent clicking/clacking noise much like when you turn a car off and all the hot parts begin cooling down.

I always use my parking brake when parked. And when changing the pads the caliper pistons were able to be compressed in (rather than the type that needs to be turned with a special tool - I've done pads on both types).

Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 
Flex brake hoses can have internal restrictions not visible on outside. Will not let caliper piston release properly.

Guides, were they cleaned and lubed? Rusty ones replaced, not wire brushed.

Ears/tabs lubed and rust removed from the area they glide over?

When you pushed the Piston back in, it went in pretty easy? Hopefully you opened the bleeder screw while pushing it back in to get rid of potentially rusty brake fluid that had been in the caliper cylinder?
 
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Donald is on the right track. Something is not allowing at least one pad to return. It could be hydraulics or mechanics at fault.

Better fix it before it cooks out the grease in that hub.
 
Sounds like a caliper not retracting. If the install was done well, i.e. slide pins in good shape, clean and lubed with silicon grease, then the problem is the line or the caliper.
 
Originally Posted By: spasm3
Sounds like a caliper not retracting. If the install was done well, i.e. slide pins in good shape, clean and lubed with silicon grease, then the problem is the line or the caliper.


+1
 
Excellent info! Thank you all!

The caliper retracted quite easily when I replaced the pads. I don't open the bleeder screw when I do brakes. Instead, I always loosen the master cylinder cap to allow the brake fluid some expansion room.

I always grease the caliper pistons and any metal-to-metal contact the pads have with the caliper. If I'm understanding correctly, I should probably check the line on that brake, and also bleed the rear brakes? (or all brakes?) I typically do not bleed during a pad replacement unless I see something that suggests I should bleed as well. But I've bled brakes before and it's a small enough job (and costs no $$) to just do it.

Thanks again!!
 
Worn out rotors with more than 1 mm of "lip" and new pads will sound like that coming to a slow halt and once you get moving again...
 
Not as likely as you name brand but theses days who knows! In the last few years I’ve started encountering brake pads that are actually a boy too large across the tabs. The need a bit of careful file or grinder work to actually ride properly in the clips. If yours popped right into the clips fine. If you had to fight with them and really mash the clips to get them in look to that for your issue.
If you have a ton of miles on it in that lovely Rustbelt environment try the hose first but in my experience it is usually the caliper. Honda’s are as bad as the rest for the pucks ( I’ve owned 5) dragging and a rebuilt is plenty cheap and easy. There’s something magical about 100k and brake pucks sticking usually just a little when you live in the salt mine of the North.
The thing to remember about those pucks is that they get a tiny bit of rust on the outer edge of the pucks contact surface in the bore as it’s somewhat exposed as they wear . They grow a tiny ring of rust out there and when you push them back in withthat new pad it drags just a little bit now back inside the bore. You won’t feel it using them but it’s often enough to let them drag a tad. The usual symptoms being smelly overly warm brake and wearing out pads much too fast.
 
"Not as likely as you name brand but theses days who knows! In the last few years I’ve started encountering brake pads that are actually a boy too large across the tabs. The need a bit of careful file or grinder work to actually ride properly in the clips. If yours popped right into the clips fine. If you had to fight with them and really mash the clips to get them in look to that for your issue."

I just encountered this with Raybestos EHT for my Ody. Easy to remove with a file, but I was surprised that this level of pad had so many imperfections on the tabs.
 
Originally Posted By: Driz
Not as likely as you name brand but theses days who knows! In the last few years I’ve started encountering brake pads that are actually a boy too large across the tabs. The need a bit of careful file or grinder work to actually ride properly in the clips. If yours popped right into the clips fine. If you had to fight with them and really mash the clips to get them in look to that for your issue.
If you have a ton of miles on it in that lovely Rustbelt environment try the hose first but in my experience it is usually the caliper. Honda’s are as bad as the rest for the pucks ( I’ve owned 5) dragging and a rebuilt is plenty cheap and easy. There’s something magical about 100k and brake pucks sticking usually just a little when you live in the salt mine of the North.
The thing to remember about those pucks is that they get a tiny bit of rust on the outer edge of the pucks contact surface in the bore as it’s somewhat exposed as they wear . They grow a tiny ring of rust out there and when you push them back in withthat new pad it drags just a little bit now back inside the bore. You won’t feel it using them but it’s often enough to let them drag a tad. The usual symptoms being smelly overly warm brake and wearing out pads much too fast.


And to add a bit here, if you do pull the piston out you can wipe it clean, but should not wire brush it to get the rust off. If there is rust it means the chrome plating is no longer intact and the piston needs replacement or replace the caliper.
 
Originally Posted By: Driz
In the last few years I’ve started encountering brake pads that are actually a boy too large across the tabs. The need a bit of careful file or grinder work to actually ride properly in the clips.


Yep. I have encountered those from the big box auto parts stores. But these Akebonos went on real easy with smooth movement. I bought Wagners for the front (haven't put them on yet) and I suspect those will be just as easy.

At any rate, I re-checked the pad install and bled the caliper. Hopefully that will take care of it.
 
Originally Posted By: RyanY
"Not as likely as you name brand but theses days who knows! In the last few years I’ve started encountering brake pads that are actually a boy too large across the tabs. The need a bit of careful file or grinder work to actually ride properly in the clips. If yours popped right into the clips fine. If you had to fight with them and really mash the clips to get them in look to that for your issue."

I just encountered this with Raybestos EHT for my Ody. Easy to remove with a file, but I was surprised that this level of pad had so many imperfections on the tabs.


Ditto, and on a Raybestos set too. However I've had that in the past on other pads.

After cleaning up the caliper bracket I like to spread grease under the shim, and then on the shim. Help slow down rust. Then I put the pads on. I like them to slide easily. Not too easily as I suspect that may lead to clunks. But if they need hammering to install, I'll work back and forth then pop out and take a file to the high spots.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
But if they need hammering to install, I'll work back and forth then pop out and take a file to the high spots.

It's actually recommended to file down and bend pack pad ears in the aftermarket if they don't let the pads slide in the caliper brackets smoothly. But from what I've noticed, many aftermarket pads simply don't meet OEM dimensions, they come up short. But the funny part is that the Wagners ThermoQuiets I've installed for my truck-driving friends work fine, it's the cars that are much more sensitive.

On Toyotas, Wagner pads have smaller dimensions than the OEM Sumitomo(Advics)/Akebono/NBK pads and they do result in the pads making a clunk especially when backing up as they are free to shift in the caliper brackets. This was on a D476 application for older Camry/Avalon/LS400. I also saw this in a set of ThermoQuiets I installed on a friend's Subaru(QC1539), the pads also had the same issue but didn't make any clunking noises as the pads were specified with a spring clip staked on one of the pad ears.
 
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