The brake drum supplier/manufacturer is almost certainly not located in the factory where they assemble the cars (either Japan or Mexico). It's much more likely that the drums are all sourced from the same supplier, or maybe a couple suppliers for redundancy/better "in region" availability/pricing, etc.

es

 

Honda brake parts are typically sourced from an outside company. Often, when a new foreign plant is built, their Japanese suppliers will simply create new plants near the new Honda factory. Of course, the suppliers face the same training and QC problems that Honda did, but in the case of brakes the problem doesn't show up until well after the car is sold.

As long as the brakes don't get hot, the disks don't warp. They may not warp for a long time, until the owner has to do a long hard stop on the freeway or goes down a long steep grade and gets the brakes sufficiently hot to allow residual stresses to reshape the metal.

This may be a case where it pays to look at the country of origin on the replacement part. If you are replacing a warped disk, I don't think that you want to replace it with one made at the same time and place as the original was!

 

But I wonder if the supplier of the Mexican built Fits is giving sub standard rotors. I know the factory does not make its own, I worked in an auto factory.
That is why I questioned if the Japanese built one have the same issue. My 09 and 10 Fits had no such problem. Built in Japan and ....different supplier?

 

Ford and Dodge bOTH have had issues with Mexico sourced break rotors.. is what it is..

 

Found this at CARandDRIVER about having warped brake rotors resurfaced under warranty at 32,500 miles during their Long Term test drive of a 2015 EX manual , 2015 Honda Fit EX Manual ? Long-Term Test Wrap-Up ? Car and Driver . Click pics to enlarge .

 

Thanks for the link. I certainly hope that the warping issue is not widespread, and certainly hope that it doesn't occur to me.
What are the telltale signs of warped brakes? I want to be able to actually discern if there's a problem instead of letting my paranoia misinterpret any small vibration or noise.

 

Feels similar to when the antilock kicks in.. Its fairly obvious.. All cars have a small amount of run-out in the rotors so the amount of pedal vibration felt at any time can vary. Its not particularly dangerous except in extreme occurrences (I've had a set of drums on the rear of a truck warp so badly they truck would make the back end step out. )

Usually its an annoying pulse int eh pedal when you brake accompanied by some vibration in the steering wheel if in the front.

 

Welcome . They probably did it under warranty since it was CARandDRIVER . Any other person ," it's normal thanks to nature , pay up " .

 

Our Fit seems to have warped rotors with only about 11k miles. I'm not too impressed with the car right now. Has anyone other than Car and Driver had the dealer take care of the rotors?

 

my wife's GK EX is about 12K miles and will be a yr old in a few weeks. no issues to report on the brakes.. actually everything is working fine after da initial driver window fix under warranty.

 

12k, no issues.

 

'15 EX from Mexico. 23K, brakes are working perfectly.

 

Zero brake issues, and I've had to stand on them because of bad drivers here in LA.

 

Over 40K and no issues with mine (and I've autocrossed the car, which involves a lot of heavy braking).

es

 

Be careful who rotates your tires.

Had issues on my Corolla with improper lug nut tightening sequence causing warped rotors.

This can happen with any car.

Also, do not turn rotors routinely when pads are replaced. If rotors are smooth and no vibrations are noted, do not turn rotors. They will be weakened and more likely to warp.

 

Yes Bob, some shops don't use a torque wrench when putting on tires and over tighten them which can cause this problem. They rely on air wrenches for speed and lower skilled labor to do the less technical jobs.

 

Funny how you make attaching wheels less technical, but in the grand scheme of things, keeping one's wheels attached is a vital part of automotive safety.

 

Just an update - took it back in and the brakes were indeed warped - however it's actually cheaper to just replace the rotors from RockAuto than it is to have them turned by the dealer ($380?! Are you kidding me?!) apparently after doing the one time turning they refuse to do it again, so I'm going to wait for the cross drilled and slotted ones to come back in stock and will be replacing them. Now I know why people hate dealerships.

Thanks for the article on the car and driver piece. They autocrossed the car though, I wonder if that might have had something to do with theirs.

Looks like I'm not the only one that has been having this issue though - thanks for everyone else who chimed in.

 

dealers probably just take 'em off and have them taken to a local place to have 'em turned, bring 'em back, and upcharge you for thier "work" ... I could be wrong, but...$380 is pretty absurd, to say the least

 

OP do you by any chance park every day on a hill where you turn the wheels to the curb and apply the parking brake?

Lug nut tightening is the easiest way to warp the rotors. Buy new ones, have a different shop do it.