Brake pads, discs, caliper on Jazz 1.3 2011

[neilmcarthur]

I had new brake pads and discs fitted at the end of November 2019. Now, after only 8472 miles driven, one of the back wheels needs new brake pads and discs and possibly a caliper. Given that these come in pairs I may have to spend another £1000. I've been to two Honda dealers in London who tell me this can easily happen. What do you think? At this rate I'll be paying out £1000 every 8000 or so miles. Neil McArthur

[culzean]

I had new brake pads and discs fitted at the end of November 2019. Now, after only 8472 miles driven, one of the back wheels needs new brake pads and discs and possibly a caliper. Given that these come in pairs I may have to spend another £1000. I've been to two Honda dealers in London who tell me this can easily happen. What do you think? At this rate I'll be paying out £1000 every 8000 or so miles. Neil McArthur

I had the same problem with OEM rear discs and pads on my wifes MK2 ( see attached PDF photo ) after a couple of years from new, I fitted OEM Honda discs to replace the 2 year old rusty ones and same problem after another few years.  Went to Eurocarparts and bought Eicher rear pads ( less than half cost of Honda ) and Brembo pads ( again much cheaper than Honda ) and the discs have been fine since, no sign of rust.   I have heard that brake pressure on rear brakes was originally set too low ( rear brakes do hardly any work,  less than 15% of stopping power ) and some dealers tweaked it up to prevent rear discs rusting so badly.

https://www.eurocarparts.com/brake-discs
https://www.eurocarparts.com/brake-pads

[Jocko]

some dealers tweaked it up to prevent rear discs rusting so badly.

I don't think they did. The only way you can up the pressure is by replacing components. I know the VSA modulator is rewritable, but that doesn't affect the pressure with no ABS.
Fitting harder pads to the vehicle will increase the pressure required to operate the brakes and also normally increases the life of the pads.

[123Drive!]

My rear caliper also went last month, see my post. I think it was £160. I didn't have to replace the disc or pads.

Personally it's ok if you want to car to be serviced by Honda but any wear and tear jobs get it done by a good recommended independent garage. You save a lot of money, around 50%.

[sparky Paul]

You should replace discs and pads in axle sets, but one caliper can be replaced if the other side is in good order.

When you have to replace pads or discs, it's usual to examine the old components for any unusual wear patterns, and from that you can often identify problems with the caliper, and rectify it by refurbishing the caliper or carrier, or recommend replacement. You can also identify seized pistons during the process of winding back to fit the new pads.

If the OPs brakes are in this condition after 12 months, I would guess that this wasn't done, and a sticking caliper was not identified at the time. Either that, or there wasn't enough care taken to descale the carriers when fitting the new pads.

The problem with franchised dealers working on older cars is that they do most of their work on newer cars during the warranty period, when everything is shiny and clean. Fitting parts to nearly new brakes is easy, but a ten year old car with crusty brakes needs additional care, and a good independent will be used to that. Some dealers do not take that care, and I do speak from old experience.

Also, there is no way that spending a £1000 on a ten year old car's brakes is sensible. Find a good independent who should be able to do that work using aftermarket components for a third of that, less if it doesn't need a caliper.

[culzean]

some dealers tweaked it up to prevent rear discs rusting so badly.

I don't think they did. The only way you can up the pressure is by replacing components. I know the VSA modulator is rewritable, but that doesn't affect the pressure with no ABS.
Fitting harder pads to the vehicle will increase the pressure required to operate the brakes and also normally increases the life of the pads.

There is definitely a problem with rear discs on MK2,  whether brake force, or pad / disc material.  There was nothing wrong with the calipers on wifes MK2 to cause the horrible rear discs - and after I replaced  pads and discs the first time I believed that was the end of problem.  But no, a couple of years later same problem.... only changing the discs for a none-Honda brand cures the problem.  Of course the main problem is having disc brakes on rear of a small  car where drums are more than adequate, last the life of the car ( drums last life of car, brake shoes normally over 100,000 miles ).  Drums are pretty well sealed and do not get plastered in dirt the way discs and calipers do.

[embee]

..... Went to Eurocarparts and bought Eicher rear pads ( less than half cost of Honda ) and Brembo pads ( again much cheaper than Honda ) and the discs have been fine since, no sign of rust. .....

https://www.eurocarparts.com/brake-discs
https://www.eurocarparts.com/brake-pads

I too use Eurocarparts for brake parts, I've used Brembo and Eicher items from them on various cars with good results.
I agree about the issue with rear discs especially on light duty cars, made even worse when they are used in urban traffic all the time, they never get used hard enough to clean the discs properly and the surface rust just glazes over.
Sliding calipers not sliding freely are probably the most common cause of premature wear issues.
You also find some "skilled mechanics" don't actually understand how self-adjusting brakes work, and don't go through the correct resetting procedure when fitting new discs/pads. It is essential that the parking brake resetting procedure is gone through properly and the cable adjusted accordingly, otherwise the adjuster system may not be in the right range and could potentially cause drag.

[madasafish]

My Mark 2 (8 years old) has lovely shiny original disks.
When I changed the rear pads to Brembo 3 years ago, I stripped, cleaned and ceramic greased all moving parts (not calipers), replaced the tinware and carefully assembled it. The disks were slightly worn with small ridges when I did so (5 years of Honda prepaid maintenance). They now appear as new.

It's all about the maintenance ( and braking on steep roads giving them a workout?)

[Westy36]

I fitted Pagid discs & pads on the rear of our Jazz. 2 months later and they still look like new! Brilliant quality and a great price from CarParts4less.

If you are having a bad experience with Honda garages, have you had a look at this?: https://good-garage-guide.honestjohn.co.uk/