My S2000 has close to 43k miles on it and the front brake pads dont have too much thickness to them anymore. The rears look a little thicker but not too much. The brakes do not make any noise at all however I am just trying be extra cautious to take car of wear items before they MUST be replaced. The local Honda dealer would probably make me wait 2 weeks for an appointment and try to charge me $500 for a job that should cost a whole lot less.

I dont race the car and really try to lay off the brakes when stopping from high speeds.

Should I just get OEM replacement pads ?

H&A has OEM front pads for $34.50 and rears for $43.73 so their very inexpensive.

Will aftermarket pads give me any benefits of longer life with better braking ?

If I decide to purchase OEM pads do the rotors need to be turned / resurfaced ?

Does the brake fluid need to be replaced ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Michael

 

OEM pads are very good street use. Rotors do not need to be surfaced unless there are problem grooves or surface variations. Brake fluid should be changed at least every two years. It is a fairly simple job worth one hour of labor plus parts.

 

Even if aftermarket pads have claims of "less dust", they will probably have more dust than stock pads. I regret not getting stock replacements...

 

How about that! Maybe the Honda guys know something. If OEMs worked that long, use them again. You know they fit, you know they work. And congratulations for driving the car responsibly! Sounds like you are getting the value you paid for. By the way, have you had clutch, rear end, tranny, or thrown rod problems? I would doubt it. There is a lesson in this.

 

Buy the OEM pads and have a local independent honda shop put them in and bleed the brakes. Some shops will insist on turning the rotors whenever they change the pads.

Easy job to do yourself, if you have tools, a service manual, and some aptitude...

 

I have NOT had clutch, rear end, tranny, or thrown rod problems at all. I tend not to accelerate from a stop agressively very often and evidence of this is my 2nd set or rear S02's lasting for 18k miles to date with approximately 2k-4k miles of tread left.

20k-22k miles out of rear S02's must be a record ?

I do "VTEC" the car several times a day and tend to drive at higher than average speeds on the highway. I live on the eastern end of LI where the highways are open and their is siginificantly less traffic. 100mph + bursts on a daily basis are not unusual where 75mpm-80 mph average speeds can be obtained with ease.

Families in Minivans sometimes blow buy me at +80mph.

So you all think that turning / resurfacing the rotors is something that does'nt have to be completed ? The rotors are very smooth and like I said on my original post the pads still have a little meat left on them.

Thanks,
Michael

 

i agree w/ stock parts.

i disagree about having a dealer do it. You can do it yourself with hand tools in under an hour (changing the pads, not bleeding the brakes). There are too many dealer horror stories to trust them!

 

Use OEM pads....u got 43k miles from them which is very good.
As for the rotors, if they arent worped dont change them or machine. Just slap new pads on.

If the rotors are warped, replace them. Dont machine. If you machine the rotors there is a big chance that they will warp very easily...

Hope this helps
Peace