Well, this is a first. I replaced the rotors and pads on my '15 back in the fall (now 68K miles) in order to cure pulsating...turned out it helped but still feel it in the pedal. So I've been stewing over this for a few months and on a lark I decided to pull the handbrake while at speed and low and behold, the entire pulsation is from the rear. I don't know how that happens, never experienced on seen this. I've not torn into it yet, but will get drums and shoes. Funny though, about 8K miles ago I pulled the drums and everything looked great. Car bought at 57K miles and did have pulsations back then, so not a sudden change.

 

Not sure how you would create enough heat to warp rear brake drums on a Fit.

Are you sure you don't have a bad tire?

 

I can't imagine them overheating either and since the chime comes on with the brakes applied and the car is moving there's no way to forget they're on. It's a manual though.

 

"Please release the parking brake!"
Scaredy-Fit won't let me play in the snow. Does the 2015 have stern words for you, or just a chime?

Warped rotors (the same mechanism should apply to drums) are supposedly caused by what is essentially melted pad friction material leaving a deposit on one spot on the rotor surface. If the rotor were warped like a potato chip, it would make the caliper slide back and forth on its guide pins which should be virtually imperceptible through the brake pedal/hydraulic system (unless a guide pin is seized up). Heavy braking (heating up the rotors and pads) followed by coming to a complete stop and then standing for a period (sort of melting the pads against the rotors) and finally driving away normally (letting the rotors cool down with the melted spot deposit on them) leaves a hard deposit on both sides of the rotor. The rotor effectively gets thicker in that one spot, spreading the brake pads, pushing the caliper piston, and forcing brake fluid back into the master cylinder which you feel at the brake pedal.

 

The rear shoes were adjusted too tight. And the only reason rotors warp is either excessive heat (mountain driving or towing) or over torquing lug nuts.