brake dragging???

[detroittiger39]

Ok, with the ten thousand posts for brake problems with the 8th gen. accord I can't seem to find a clear solution to my brake issue. As many others have done I just replaced my rear pads on my 08 accord with duralast pads. This was my first experience doing a brake job, but my pops helped my out. We did everything correctly as many have instructed on the site; greased the caliper pins, etc. However, one thing I didn't read before we did them was proper retraction of the caliper piston by screwing it in. We eventually figured it out after struggling for a minute, but I hope we didn't damage the caliper. So The problem I'm having now is an ever-so-slight metal on metal brake dragging noise from the same side we had with the caliper confusion. What I am trying to figure out is if anyone knows if trying to compress these type of calipers would result with some slight dragging. For further detail the caliper looks fine, we were very careful when doing everything, I just wonder what the issue is. One last thing when I took the brakes apart a second time I noticed that on both the driver and passenger side, inner pads had a slight line in them from uneven wear. When I put the dragging side back together, spin the wheel, no drag, smooth. Apply the brakes once drag is back. Seems like sticky caliper piston. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Fredsvt]

If you tried to force the caliper instead of rotating it back in, it can damage the internals.

Apply the brakes and make it drag.

Once at that point, crack the bleeder, does the brake release?

[detroittiger39]

So let me guess if the brake releases does that indicate the caliper is ok, and if it holds mean the caliper is bad? I'm going to check it in the next few days. I personally think its an issue with the caliper bracket or whatever the metal clips are called, not from a damaged piston. I'm going to examine them close, grease them up, and someone told me to file them down if rough. To me it seems that attempting to compress the caliper shouldn't cause damage because it retracts and pushes during normal braking, it doesn't screw in and out when braking. Also, I still wonder why there is uneven wear on both the rear driver and passenger pads. I believe its only on both inner pads, but might be both outsides, can't remember. I know its only one pad a side for sure. I just can't figure out why.

[Fredsvt]

Yes.

If the pads are not free in the bracket, you can have similar symptoms.

The caliper only moves in a few thousandths of an inch in normal applications when braking. The piston moves out on balls and ramps within the caliper. Shoving it in without screwing it, can crack or damage these parts.

When you did the brakes, did the pads come out easily when removing or did you have to pry them out? Did the new pads slide in very easy, they should have.

The inner pads usually wear more than the outers, especially with factory installed pads. The inners will be almost gone and outers at about 30% remaining.

Replacement Honda pads don't seem to do this, nor aftermarket quality pads.

[detroittiger39]

When I did them the pads came out fairly easy, not exactly slide the old pads out slide the new ones in. It took a minute to get them back in, but more so trying to get them perfectly aligned then they popped right in. So, not sure if you would say they slid in and out easy. When I take them apart I'm really going to examine the clips thoroughly and lube them up good. When I was talking about the uneven wear I meant the 1 pad on each side of the car had a discrete line in it like a diagonal line across the pad. I guess you could say more on the corner of the pad, but it is a random line on the one pad and a different random line on the other. You can see if you look at the pad sideways you can see the slight uneven wear on the other side of the line.

[Fredsvt]

How do the backsides of the rotors look?

[detroittiger39]

I'll have to look but I do remember when I originally did the brakes, I cleaned them really well with brakleen and asked my dad if the slight imperfections in the rotor was ok. He claimed they looked really good, but when I compared them to the fronts there was a big difference. The fronts were smooth as can be, the backs had some slight grooves. If it gives you a better understanding the original pads still had quite a bit of life, the inside prb. 1/3 left maybe a little less. Its not like they were grinding or anything, just squeeky.

[elp_jc]

Aside from possible caliper damage, did you know you have to align the piston grooves to look like this: '+'? The reason is the pins on the back of the inner pad must fit inside those grooves. Otherwise the pads would be crooked, will wear out very quickly and unevenly (and make noise too), and your parking brake won't work properly on that side. There's a very good DIY video somewhere on this board; do a search.

As Fred said, you might have damaged your caliper from shoving the piston in. You don't damage the piston itself (as you pointed out) but the parking brake mechanism. So, once you check that the inner calipers are positioned correctly, try to rotate the wheels with the parking brake applied not too hard, and if you can rotate the wheel with the 'bad' caliper a lot easier than the other, I'd strongly suggest taking the caliper apart, inspect if for damage, and replace it if necessary. Good luck and keep us posted.

[detroittiger39]

Brake issue solved!. Well, hold that thought, temporarily solved! Until the premature wearing sets back in. Thanks for the help everybody, but my solution was took off the uneven duralast pads, swapped em at autozone for the ceramics for free, 10 dollar difference. Once I examined everything very thoroughly it was quite clear that the caliper springs/clips whatever you call them were really covered in gunk. The ceramics came with new ones, greased the pins very thoroughly, made sure all was aligned including the pistons, and all is well. Caliper seems ok.