Hello, All!

2013 Fit Sport 5 Speed manual w/ 80K miles. Stock, no mods. Wife's daily driver, I don't get to drive it often. We live in a rural area.

Wife complained about brake issues; I did find strong pulsing on hard braking and some light metallic noise; almost like something hitting the dust shield thin metal. After jacking up the front, I felt the right front wheel had more resistance than the left but nothing crazy. Removed the pads; both were very worn with the right wheel pads more worn than the left. Replaced pads and rotors with Bosch rotors and um some other (decent?) name brand aftermarket products. After reassembly, but still on jacks, there still seems to be a tad bit of dragging on the right front.

On the road, the basic complaints went away. Car tracks well under heavy braking, no noise, no pulling, etc. To me, the car rolls almost perfectly when in neutral and on nearly flat pavement. After a 5 mile drive with almost no braking, the left rotor was touchable but the right rotor was not. Continuing into town (and brake use), the right rotor would sizzle spit. Outside is about 40 degrees F.

When reassembling, I did put brake lube on shoe edges. I did not lube the pins as [1] the little pin booties were nicely positioned and seated, and [2] there was good action on the pins when I manipulated the unbolted calipers with my hands.

So, what is the best course of action in finding and reducing this drag? Grease the pins that felt good already? Throw $250 at it with a new caliper and hope that does it?

Thanks for any advice!

 

Is there a chance that the wheel bearing is dragging and causing the heat?

 

I don't think so... Only tested it by giving the wheel, with rotor and caliper removed, a good tug/twist and it seemed rock solid (no lateral play). Also wheel and wheel/rotor combinations spin well with caliper removed.

 

I would dismount and lube the pins, for sure. In my opinion, this should be done every year, at least here where we have winter and lot of salt on the roads.

 

I had the same problems with the front brakes. Since the disks were out of true you should also change the caliper pins. Mine were worn from the pulsating brakes before I got the car Take them out and look at them. Is the protective finish on the pins worn? If so, then they should be replaced. Not that expensive it you do it yourself. Best of luck. Clay

 

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I forgot that I have contractors working on grading the driveway, so I won't have access to it or my garage until next weekend. I ordered some pins to have on hand. I'll report back after I get to pull the wheel. Thanks again!

 

Without discounting other suggestion please also consider checking for rotor warp with a metal speed square, framing square, or whatever legitimate straight edge you have. with that, make sure those little pad spreader clips that look like coat hangers are installed on the pads.

​​​​​​Paired with what other folks posted, that should cover every potential cause of your fault.

 

OK, that brings up a question. See: someone else's upload of a page from the manual.
Note that step #6 specifies "09-11 models: Remove return pad spring (A)". Since this (and matching "install" step) is the only time a year range is mentioned, and the only time return springs are mentioned, I assume that our '13 does not have these. I didn't see these springs upon disassembly. I don't see these on the parts diagram... but then I looked up an '09 and didn't see it there, either.

So,
Should my '13 have these despite the specifically being "singled out" in the manual?
If I should have these, what is the part number?

Thanks!

 

Ahhg!! They got'cha. I swear I've read that before (perhaps on instructions that came with brake pads, I don't know,) and as a result done the same thing!

I can guarantee that if the brake pads for your car have holes for those clips, they should be installed. Some cars don't use them and instead have a pinch clip (I've tried looking up the nomenclature and gotten nowhere, and it really hurts my credibility, I know) kinda setup that pushes into the caliper's pistons
See the circular metal whatchacallit on the back of the pad here?

Those types, and I'm sure there have been other designs, don't use the spreader..coat hanger... whatever clips.

But all properly designed brake pads should have some physical method of keeping the pads from rubbing against the rotor, otherwise they will stick to said rotor when you let off the brake and cook!

The purchase and use of this framing square
Like this one!

Or any kinda affordable straight edge that will fit in between the lip that likely runs the circumference of your rotors (the short side of the square) will verify that your rotors have indeed warped. You'll see a gap between it and the rotor, and it may be less than the thickness of a fingernail, but rotors are machined down thousandths/ten thousandths of an inch to prevent brake drag

After you get some new pads and rotors (here's a link that will help you choose rotor type) you'll find that your pulsating issue is resolved AND that your car is faster/more responsive, you have my word!

 

Thanks for the reply, it is appreciated! When I get access to my driveway and garage again (next weekend) I'll pull the wheel and check for "spring holes" in the pads.
I had replaced the pads and rotors before starting this thread.

 

Right on. You may opt instead to get your rotors resurfaced, but at ~$35 bucks a piece (here's a direct rockauto link) for Raybestos, Delco, Centric, Advics,it wouldn't be unreasonable to avoid the service station altogether and have your parts by the time your driveway's done. I understand if you're apprehensive though. I look forward to hearing from yuh!

PS: I think the Raybestos "street preformance" rotors may be a joke. I think they just painted the mounting surface and added weight reducing "speed holes" to their economy variant which, unlike competition, lacked them, but I may be wrong.

 

Hello, all! Stars aligned last weekend (contractors, holidays, weather) and I got to finish this job.
I bought new pins and found some of those spreader clips with no luck. Was pretty sure the piston wasn't retracting. Rebuilding an auto caliper was a little beyond my skillset and time allowance, so I just bought a new caliper from Rock Auto. That did the trick! Brakes are just right once again! Thanks for everyone's help and input!

 

Thanks for the follow up!
I wouldn't think brake caliper seizing to be a likely fault. With that said I've rebuilt two sets of calipers, but both were on Tacomas. Do they salt roads where you drive?

 

There's a moderate amount of salt here, and 80K of miles. I was trying to overanalyze if there was a smidge of a piston seal leak but probably not. ACDelco caliper was way less cost than I thought and the R&R was a breeze. Thanks again to all!