I am planning on buying some rotors for the front from EBAY.

Cross drilled and slotted.
I also planning on buying some semi brake pads from advance auto.

Is this a good combo?
Any suggestions?

Also how hard of a replacement are they? I have replaced a set on my 97 integra and the 2 little phillip bolts were hard to brake loose. Is this the same case in the 2007?


Please help me I will post a step by step instructional post when done.

Thanks

 

don't go cheap and buy OEM pads, and they are easy to install. tasauto.com has some great package.

 

Do you NEED new rotors? Kind of hard to imagine you do on an 07 and more likely that you've been confused by cross drilling & slotting hype, rice boys, bro's, or some other form of douchebaggery. Don't take my word for it, though...

http://www.marcusfitzhugh.com/CLK/DIY/brakecdrill.html

If you have some slight shuddering during braking it likely may be that you've made a stop with hot pads & rotors and have unevenly transferred some pad material to your rotors. If this is the case then you just need to take some sandpaper to the rotors and sand them in a swirl pattern to help remove the transfer. You can even use a palm sander/orbital if you like. Then bed the new pads in correctly. If you simply do need new rotors because they're worn beyond spec or actually warped, then get some brembo blanks and focus on driving well...you'll impress more people this way. I got tired of crap pads from local chain retailers and for not much more money run a much better pad like a Hawk HPS. You can order them from tire rack, amazon, or many other favorite online sites you like. I'd also recommend porterfield pads if Hawks don't interest you.

The newest Accord I've done brakes on is a 2003, but I think they're basically the same. The philips screws can be easily broken free with the lightest setting on an impact wrench at low psi and adapted to a philips bit with a combination of reducers and an adapter socket, or the ancient way of helping break a screw free by sticking a normal screwdriver into it and firmly hitting the end of the screwdriver with a hammer.

One of the most important steps is bedding in your new pads and rotors properly. To do this properly you'll need a decent stretch of preferably flat road with hopefully no other cars around. Take your car up to 40-60mph and brake hard down to 10-20mph - by hard I mean to the point where you're about to lock up the wheels, but not quite. Accelerate back up to 40-60mph and repeat. Do this 6-10 times (your new pads & rotors should start to smell/smoke if you're doing it right). DO NOT come to a complete stop at any point. After you've completed the above 6-10 times drive the car around 10-15 minutes to allow the brakes time to cool off, preferably without coming to any complete stops.

 

Article makes sense.
I will reconsider the discs.


on the 2003 did you have those philip screws on the disc?
And I imagine there is something else holding it on.

Is the caliper hard to remove?

any other tips.

thanks again

 

Yes, it has the philips screws. The wheel is essentially what holds the rotors on, which is nice and makes changing them much easier than some older generations. The calipers are not hard to remove, but an impact wrench or breaker bar may be necessary depending on how much room you have and how strong you are. If you are only doing pads then you only need to remove the lower slider pin so you can swing the caliper up and access the pads. If you are changing the rotors as well, leave the slider pins alone and remove the caliper bracket bolts to remove the entire caliper so you can slide the rotor off and also access the pads this way. Either way you will need a large C clamp, and I suggest a small piece of wood, to press the caliper piston back into the bore to make room for the new, thicker pads. The piece of wood is used as a bridge across the piston to give the C clamp something to push against so that you don't have to screw the clamp all the way down into the piston and back out when you're done pressing it in. You could use something else...a hard piece of plastic, etc, as long as it's firm enough and you're careful not to damage the piston face or dust boot. The piston will push almost all the way in to be flush with the caliper inner face, you'll feel when it stops moving. I usually loosen the master cylinder reservoir cap when doing this, and if you've added fluid recently to top off the reservoir it may overflow as you push fluid back into it from the calipers, so it helps to put a pan or a large rag under the master cylinder, or siphon/suck some fluid out if you have some way of doing this (turkey baster?). Depending on the pads you get, they may or may not have anti-rattle pads/shims already built in. If they do I wouldn't use the original shims as I've seen them slide their way down to where they can interfere with the brakes, or off-center the pad if they slide far enough to be under only part of the piston. With the Hawk pads I've used they come with their own shim and I haven't had any problems with squeaking or anything using just the included, glued on shim. Keep the OEM shims in the new pad box if you're concerned you might need them later. If any, I put some anti-rattle grease (Hawk pads come with a packet, or you can get some at your local parts store) on the end clips and between the piston & shim, and outer shim & caliper fingers. When you install the new pads the ones with the wear indicator (metal tab sticking off the back of the pad) are usually installed as the inside pads.

You didn't mention if you're doing the rear as well and if it has disc brakes. If so, the caliper has the e-brake mechanism as well so things are a little different. The piston of a rear caliper w/e-brake is different and has to be screwed back in, not pressed with a C clamp or anything else. It can be screwed in using a spanner wrench or I usually just use a pair of large needle nose pliers held open to an appropriate width. There are special tools for this, but the pliers work fine in my experience. I believe there's also some little nubs/pegs on the rear inside pad that should line up with the piston face.

Here are some pictures that you may find helpful:

2007 4 Door V6 EX 6 Speed Manual Front


2007 4 Door V6 EX 6 Speed Manual Rear w/Disc

 

wow that was great info. I appreciate it.
thanks a bunch. I will post pics as soon as I can.

 

Are the rotors on the EX the same on the VP?
I was looking into some EBC brakes and they have a listing for the ex but not the vp

 

I'm not 100% sure. Looking up parts I show 45251-S87-A00 for the EX and both 45251-SDC-A00 AND 45251-S87-A00 for the VP and I'm not sure what the difference is. It appears the EX and VP use different calipers and pads from Honda and they do look physically different from the parts look-up photos.

 

As said, when it comes to essential components of your car (i.e. suspension, brakes, etc), don't cheap out and go the eBay route. Tons of horror stories from guys getting selected parts from there. A small percentage of eBay sellers actually sell reputable products.

Since you have an '07 it's very likely your rotors are still like new. Some options later down the road are to get them resurfaced, Brembo blank rotors, OEM, etc. And the misconception of crossed AND drilled rotors is true.