Hey there! I have an automatic 2016 Fit EX and have had some brake issues lately with a seized caliper and then a warped rotor cause of the heat on the driver side. I replaced the pads, caliper, brake hose, rotor, and even bearing since I noticed my driver side was still getting hotter even though I kept putting in new parts after replacing the caliper. With everything replaced I figured it'd be better now but the driver side is still getting much warmer - usually not enough to cause smoke or anything (there was some light smoke coming out of the wheel well behind the wheel this morning for the first time in 2 weeks but otherwise no smoke since replacing all parts) but the hubcap is noticeably warmer, and a thought came to my head. I'm a big guy, 300 lbs. Could my weight on that side put more strain on those brakes since the car is so small and cause the heat difference on that wheel? Maybe a stupid question but I can't find a straight answer online. Any other ideas of what this could be? I'm seriously at a loss and not in a position to go to a mechanic because I recently had to clear out my bank account to pay for my father's cremation so any help would be much much much appreciated. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

When you say the wheel is getting hot (including hot enough to smoke), is that only after prolonged braking or is it after a highway drive where you're doing orders of magnitude more driving than braking? Is it especially hilly where you live and do your ride your brakes down hills instead of using engine braking?

The Fit (like most front-wheel drive cars) already has a significant forward weight bias and your weight will add to that and shift it significantly towards the left front wheel. Is that enough to matter? Again, I would want to know your answers to the questions in the first paragraph.

I suppose if you wanted to test your hypothesis you could get your smallest/lightest friend to drive the car on your typical route while you ride in the passenger seat and see if the right front wheel gets hot (or at least hotter than the left front wheel).

Stupid question, but since doing all your repairs and replacement work have you bled the brakes? Did you replace and flush your brake fluid as part of your repair work?

 

It could cause more friction to be applied to the tire but the hydraulic loaded pressure is around the same. I think these cars have a 90% front 10% rear bias - correct me if I'm wrong.

You say noticeable difference but don't have any specificity..
200° F
1 kelvin?
What exactly.

As a note: I used to drive almost daily with around 6-700lbs in the rear of one of these - semi metallic pads wouldn't last 20k. Bought a set of carbon fiber ceramics - couldn't be more pleased.

Advise to check working pressure and look for ∆P between front left and right calipers, hoses, etc. Honda calls for a 2 year brake fluid change so it could also be an *underperforming* FR caliper. Generally would result in a pull.

If you bought a CHEAP caliper but did not check/grease moveable parts- well....
You didn't win after all. Keep us updated

 

Thanks for the response! As for your first question, the answer is it gets hot after both highway driving with little braking and back roads driving with a lot of braking. When it smoked yesterday, I hadn't used the highway at all and had driven about an hour so I was definitely braking more. But, like I said, with highway it happens too - why I thought the weight may come into play since there's little braking. I do ride the brakes going down hills but I don't live in a super hilly area so it's not often, if at all during the rides.

I haven't bled the brakes yet, I planned on it this weekend but just bought this car from a Honda dealer in January so figured they wouldn't sell a car with shoddy brake fluid. I drive for work so I'm already out of the 3,000 mile warranty with the dealership before you ask haha.

The test with a light friend is a good idea, I'll give it a try ASAP!

 

So the difference in temperature varies, on the low scale it's about a 15° F difference and on the high, about a 50-70° F difference, it happens whether I'm riding my brakes on regular roads or not touching my brakes on the highway.

As for the underperforming caliper, if it would generally result in a pull, I don't think that's it - I'm slightly out of alignment and my car actually pulls to the other side a little so I would definitely notice it haha.

As for caliper, all parts are greased and moving nicely, I'm not even thinking the caliper is the bad thing here, it's why I'm just at a loss.

Thanks!

 

Most likely stuck caliper slider pins or rust growth under brake caliper hardware causing the caliper to not slide back out.

 

1). Flush and bleed your brake fluid. Badly degraded brake fluid can cause both short-term and long-term issues. I may be a pessimist, but I wouldn't trust the dealership to do anything they don't have to do, which would definitely include any sort of maintenance that can't be readily documented by a car shopper. Along the same lines, if you're looking to keep this car or just generally want it to last a long time, unless you have written proof that a maintenance item (e.g., oil change, coolant change, etc) was performed I would assume that they weren't. If you do them yourself you will then know the date and/or mileage when they need to be done next and there is no confusion. Along the same lines, if you know your car is out of alignment you should fix that as well. I know you said that money is tight, but you're either going to pay for the alignment today or pay for a new set of tires much sooner than you would otherwise need to.

2) A 15F difference is inconsequential and could come down to which side of the car was facing the sun. A 60-70F difference is certainly more concerning and indicates that something is causing some (but not an extreme) amount of unnecessary friction. As a comparison, I had a stuck caliper on my car and after only a 10 minute drive I could feel the heat radiating from the rotor and wheel from a foot or two away. I didn't have a way to take a temperature measurement, but I have no doubt that it was much greater than 70F higher than the opposite side.

3) You have identified the two potential culprits in the wheel bearing and the brake system. Someone above mentioned the slide pins. Did you clean and grease (or replace and grease) those as well? A stuck slide pin could definitely cause the issues you describe. If you're confident that all the parts you changed were installed correctly and are operating as they should then we have a mystery that may require an expert opinion.

 

@t-rd I was thinking about those slider pins, too.

@Cranjusmcbasketball In other words, your pads are dragging on your rotors. That's my guess.

 

Possibly anecdotal, but 2G Fits also had a habit of eating driver's brake pads. Both my mother's and sister-in-law's Fits wore down the driver's pads while the passenger's had ~2/3 of their material remaining. Maybe needs a "rotate brake pads" item in the maintenance schedule?

 

Well, the fact that it pulls to the right considers the possibility of that tire taking more kinetic energy in the form of friction -> heat - I'd get an alignment then run a 10,000mi pad wear check on each side.

The fact that these are small cars, you're adding a "technical" 300lb added load to that side means there is more friction on that tire and consequently brake system during stopping. Friction creates...
In fact I'd be curious to see if the right side didn't perform better after a proper flush and alignment. DOT4 works great (do not use 5), and Z23 carbon fiber ceramic pads are like 60-70$ on rock auto last I checked. People don't realize how the smallest vibrations, misalignments or otherwise can really mess up harmonics, friction loading, etc. Run it like an airplane if you can.

That being said, 70° is not enough of a difference for me to be concerned. Double that- yes, but you're loaded that side and like I said, 90/10 brake bias F/R so that's getting a good bit of a workout. With regard to the smoke - it could be grease burning off or just pad material - I've seen it before. Good luck

 

The (US) owner's manual specifically says DOT4 is only to be used in emergencies, and should be flushed out with DOT3 ASAP. DOT4 has a higher boiling point, but is also more hygroscopic (absorbs water from the air faster) than DOT3. The absorbed water raises the boiling point of the fluid and corrodes brake system components from the inside.

 

BOTH DOT3 and DOT4 absorb water - that's the very nature of brake fluid...

If you want to get in an argument about chemistry, intended application, and insurance design, you're going to lose. These are heavily forward bias systems, so to have Americans who knowingly don't look after their vehicles very well run a higher hygroscopicity fluid is a lawsuit waiting to happen... Think

You can use DOT4 - in fact it was designed for higher load - higher temp applications, just stay up on maintenance (previously stated). The difference is about 20% moisture rate absorption, however 2 years is the GA interval for brake fluid changes, so anyone with a brain would maybe shorten it by 20%.

Physics and chemistry are tenuative, not static, so go ahead and use DOT3 but don't act like you know what's really going on just because it's in a book lol.

For the record, I'm on my second batch of DOT4 for my Honda and the brakes run great, the system runs great, and I never had any issues despite sometimes having hundreds - almost a thousand lbs in it as well as also sometimes hitting top speed unloaded.

Think. If your brake system was that sensitive to moisture, it shouldn't even be on the road - lol. Good luck

 

DOT5 is not hygroscopic.

You first. Ell oh ell.
It's your car.