Hi. So as I stated in another post, I found that my front left wheel didn't spin well compared to my right wheel (when on jack stands and in neutral) and I felt like it was a dragging brake pad. So I disassembled the caliper and even removed the caliper bracket to try and clean it up and grease it. My piston side brake pad was stuck so bad I had to hammer it out with a drift and in the process I damaged the retainer clips.

So I went to honda and bought new retainer clips (at 7$ a pop, ouch) and some m-77 paste as required in the service manual and when I was reinserting the pad it was getting stuck again to the point of requiring a slight hammer tap to get it back out! This is after I thoroughly sanded both the sliding parts of the pads and the tracks in the caliper bracket and coated everything with assembly paste. Even with brand new retainer clips, it was almost worse than before!

Obviously I wasn't gonna hammer the pad in place so I went back to the 40 grit emery paper and resanded the pad ends to the point of almost deforming them. I suspect I removed .5 millimetres of metal and rounded off the edges. I also bent the (brand new) retaining clips back so they didn't "pinch" the pads as hard and now the pad slides in a bit more easily but it's still "grabby".

Why is this? It didn't seem like the pad was that corroded. It is 2 years old but it is at about 75% pad life. Did I get a misshapen pad?

I have OEM calipers, OEM pads, OEM shims, OEM retaining clips and I'm using the spec lube from the book. Why are the pads so tight? I'm afraid of getting brake drag again.

 

What happens is that the caliper's metal (underneath the top & bottom stainless steel end clips) rusts, and the "rust swell" tightens and binds the pads. That is NO GOOD.


Per Honda TSBs on its other cars (not sure about the Fit), the best practice is to remove the SS clips and file the material underneath to assure that the pads freely "fall out" of the holders. Then, coat the area you filed with the Molykote, which will inhibit the rust in the future.

Don't mix up the top & bottom clips, they are different.

Filing the pad's backing plate edges addresses the tightness but does nothing to address the actual cause of the binding pad, so after this winter you may have more issues.


Once you know to do the procedure it's no biggie.

 

I sanded the areas underneath the clips also! I went down to bare metal. I don't think the clips are different since they both have the same part number. So the fitment of the pads is supposed to be loose to the point were they nearly fall out when installing them?

 

That's the way I like 'em. Falling out. The pads, the pads....LOL



So if that's the case, filing (defiling? ) the pad edges is warranted.




I'm always careful with the clip and slider-pin position, they ARE both different top & bottom on many Hondas.

I see that the clips ARE identical on the Fit. The slider pins are different.



Even with properly sanded and lubricated components, I have needed to file the edges of some good quality aftermarket pads. I wonder if Honda changed vendors? Often, replacement OEM parts are different from the factory's (eg, the oil filters).

 

The previous owner unfortunately swapped right with left so the squeel bar had to be on the bottom. I though perhaps it was because they were inverted that the right pad wouldn't go in, so i tried the pad on the left caliper bracket (since I remrved them also) and although it was right side up it still would fit without a struggle so I sanded down that pad the most.

I found the Moloky hard to work with. At times the liquid "carrier oil" would seep out like water and at other times a thick paste would come out. It's like it separated. I tried mixing it but it's in a small tube like toothpastes so it's hard to mix.

I did notice two different caliper pins. One pin had two flat lines that ran across it. I hope I get the in the right way.

 

That problem of rusting and binding the brake pads where they slide is a common one. I have not needed to replace the pads on either Fit yet, but I have on many GM products with the same problem. I always remove the mount and stick it in the sand blaster removing all rust in the pad mounting area. Then I coat the area both under and above the stainless clips with a light coat of anti-seize (a trick I learned from airplane brakes). That will all but eliminate future rusting.

 

Thanks for your suggestions! Great advice guys. I'm pretty confident my brakes are I know since I've sanded and coated all the specific areas with Molykote. I thought of using anti seize also. I just think the fitment is not that great for the OEM pads.

Does anyone know if the caliper slide pin with the two flat sides goes on the top or the bottom? If I inverted them, I'll switch em around when I mount my winters.

 

You could always note the slider positions on the cool (free) running side, and check the hot side to make sure it is the same.


Sorry, can't help you specifically, I work on too many different Hondas to remember. Last did the Fit's brakes two years ago...