Ralphie : 2013 Honda Accord EX

['93CB7Ex]

i have centric slotted rotors and ebc red pads on my 6/6. works well. my oem rotors were blue in spots hahaha.

[owequitit]

So busy commenting in your own thread, I forgot about mine LMAO.

Nah. I have a set of Powerstop rear drilled/slotted rotors and ceramic pads sitting in my garage. Powerstop does not make a front set for my 2013 ex.

Like an idiot, I bought them from Amazon before checking Powerstops site. I assumed that Amazon just didn't have the fronts, and id get them somewhere else. Well turns out, they don't even make them.

Instead of returning the powerstops(had them on my 2002 Accord, they were Ok), I am just going to get a different brand for the front brakes. I don't think it matters if you go with two different brands for rotors/pads like it would for say tires or spark plugs.

SO when I finally buy a front kit, and the weather here warms up, ill be installing them.

I need 4 new tires BAD. I might go to Costco before March 1st...they have Gforce Comp2's for around $89 a tire. I think total cost was like $397. That's pretty good imo. Tires are rated well.

LOL.

Well unfortunately, as we have discussed in my thread, the brakes on these are just undersized. Honda has done that for a long time too to keep unsprung weight down, but seriously, I would rather have the stopping power. I didn't have nearly the trouble with it on the Si and I think it's because the brakes were bigger, the car was a lot lighter and not as fast. Not sure what Honda was thinking with the brakes on this thing. Also not sure why the EX-L V6 MMC didn't get the same bigger brakes that they put on the Sport and the Touring. Because the Sport with its 4 banger definitely needs bigger brakes than a V6 6-Speed. LOL. Under an 18" they could fit another 1"-1.5" of brakes easy, if not 2". In contrast, the GTI comes with 13.4" rotors and it is still several hundred pounds lighter.

I don't think there is an issue with different rotors, especially since the fronts on these do the vast majority of the braking.

[Ralphie]

Did you ever fix the brakes?

The vibrating issue is well known on the last 4 or 5 generations of Honda product. In an effort to minimize brake dust, they changed the pad compound. The downside is that apparently, they leave deposits on the rotors that cause the shimmy when you stop (most notable when you stop hard). There are a couple of different solutions.

You can stick with the stock stuff and just machine the rotors every 20-50K (depending on how you brake)
or

You can put a set of more aggressive pads on it. A switch to something like EBC Greenstuff works and you don't get a lot of extra noise or need high temps to get good braking, but you do get a little bit of dust in return. I have even heard of this pad swap taking the pad material off of rotors that already have the vibration and correcting it, though I haven't tried that personally.

So busy commenting in your own thread, I forgot about mine LMAO.

Nah. I have a set of Powerstop rear drilled/slotted rotors and ceramic pads sitting in my garage. Powerstop does not make a front set for my 2013 ex.

Like an idiot, I bought them from Amazon before checking Powerstops site. I assumed that Amazon just didn't have the fronts, and id get them somewhere else. Well turns out, they don't even make them.

Instead of returning the powerstops(had them on my 2002 Accord, they were Ok), I am just going to get a different brand for the front brakes. I don't think it matters if you go with two different brands for rotors/pads like it would for say tires or spark plugs.

SO when I finally buy a front kit, and the weather here warms up, ill be installing them.

I need 4 new tires BAD. I might go to Costco before March 1st...they have Gforce Comp2's for around $89 a tire. I think total cost was like $397. That's pretty good imo. Tires are rated well.

[owequitit]

I have seen a lot of guys posting on the FB forum that they have warped rotors and issues with vibration at hard stops.

On mine, when im doing highway speeds and I quickly need to slow down(not locking them up), I get vibrations through the steering wheel.

I have been so busy I have not had time to pull the wheels and see what they look like but I know I replaced my 2002 Accord pads/rotors right before I sold the car and it was painless so I figured id just replace them anyway.

Last time I used powerstop pads/rotors and they were kind of loud but I sold the car soon after.

Not sure what most people use on these. I would go OEM again but I am not sure if there is an issue that is causing people to have problems using OEM stuff.

Did you ever fix the brakes?

The vibrating issue is well known on the last 4 or 5 generations of Honda product. In an effort to minimize brake dust, they changed the pad compound. The downside is that apparently, they leave deposits on the rotors that cause the shimmy when you stop (most notable when you stop hard). There are a couple of different solutions.

You can stick with the stock stuff and just machine the rotors every 20-50K (depending on how you brake)
or

You can put a set of more aggressive pads on it. A switch to something like EBC Greenstuff works and you don't get a lot of extra noise or need high temps to get good braking, but you do get a little bit of dust in return. I have even heard of this pad swap taking the pad material off of rotors that already have the vibration and correcting it, though I haven't tried that personally.

[Ralphie]

Wow, last post was Jan lol.

Nothing to report.

Two kids under the age of 5, a new house, the car payments for my wifes truck, and odds and ends, and I have no money to do anything.

Did a big service 3 weeks ago. She has 53k now. No major issues or complaints.

I still want to trade this in for a 6-6, but the time is not right lol.

I also think I want to get a Porsche 944 as a project car(since you can find many under 10k)

I guess we'll see.

[Ralphie]

40K is actually surprisingly low, no need to use OEM pieces again, huh? What's the desirable setup for these cars? Shockingly the NAPA Gold rotors were huge in the Subaru world, and one of the go-to setups for the STi. I had an issue getting my head around using NAPA rotors over the OEM Brembos, but I never ended up replacing the rotors before I sold the car.

I've got drilled/slotted rotors on the Vette (the brand is escaping me, but I remember them being a known brand, PowerSlot or the like) and I honestly don't really care for them compared to other rotors I've used. They're a bit noisy for what they are.

I have seen a lot of guys posting on the FB forum that they have warped rotors and issues with vibration at hard stops.

On mine, when im doing highway speeds and I quickly need to slow down(not locking them up), I get vibrations through the steering wheel.

I have been so busy I have not had time to pull the wheels and see what they look like but I know I replaced my 2002 Accord pads/rotors right before I sold the car and it was painless so I figured id just replace them anyway.

Last time I used powerstop pads/rotors and they were kind of loud but I sold the car soon after.

Not sure what most people use on these. I would go OEM again but I am not sure if there is an issue that is causing people to have problems using OEM stuff.

[AccordWarrior]

40K is actually surprisingly low, no need to use OEM pieces again, huh? What's the desirable setup for these cars? Shockingly the NAPA Gold rotors were huge in the Subaru world, and one of the go-to setups for the STi. I had an issue getting my head around using NAPA rotors over the OEM Brembos, but I never ended up replacing the rotors before I sold the car.

I've got drilled/slotted rotors on the Vette (the brand is escaping me, but I remember them being a known brand, PowerSlot or the like) and I honestly don't really care for them compared to other rotors I've used. They're a bit noisy for what they are.

[Ralphie]

Well, almost at 40k miles. Sheesh, I love driving it but hate seeing the miles rack up.

She needs new rotors and pads as the OEM ones are garbage.

I want to do mods so bad but no moneies

[Ralphie]

Yea I wasn't too thrilled about putting higher wattage bulbs in my low beams as they are clearly for high beams only.

I just wanted some extra throw and my DDM 5k 35W kit was just horrible but they're only $25 for you definitely get what you pay for.

Im on the fence about the next step. Ill either get "brighter" bulbs from autozone or get a respectable kit that will not interfere like the DDM.

I am dying to convert to dual exhaust and buy one of the cheap flushmount spoilers online. They paint them OEM colors and reviews have been pretty positive. Also they attach via 3m tape, no screws required, so I like that in the event that I want it off or it falls off it isn't leaving behind holes.

Other than that, I just want to do a mild drop and some gunmetal wheels and id be content.

[owequitit]

Really? Damn.

Only reason I did it is because a few members on the 9th gen group ran the h9 bulbs for over a year with no issues.

When these bulbs go, I am just going to buy brighter OEM bulbs from autozone lol.

Don't know if it will or won't. The HID's put bigger than stock load on the wiring for the first few seconds they are warming up, but then the current draw goes down and the thermal load on the wires is reduced.

If you look at the electrical curves of HID lights, you will get a spike in power draw at the beginning and then a drop as they warm up, and it will stabilize at a lower value than an incandescent bulb. This is part of the reason that CFL's don't save you money if they are turned on and off frequently because they actually average a higher draw than the incandescent bulb. Frequent on and off cycling also shortens the lifespan of these types of bulbs (HID included).

However, with a higher wattage incandescent bulb, they just draw more current, and even though it doesn't seem like a lot, it does put extra load on your wires. To be fair, by car was quite old when they finally burned through and ran them for a number of years (probably around 3-4) when it happened, so your car's might last a lot longer just based on the age of the wires.

Just wanted to give you an FYI. Also, you can find some aftermarket HID setups where the wire is positioned to not interfere with the halogen reflector. Mine don't and they work great and I know the Accord projectors blow my reflectors out of the water.

[Ralphie]

Really? Damn.

Only reason I did it is because a few members on the 9th gen group ran the h9 bulbs for over a year with no issues.

When these bulbs go, I am just going to buy brighter OEM bulbs from autozone lol.

[owequitit]

Beware of that headlight mod. We used to do that stuff with the high beams in the low beam socket on CB7's and it would eventually cause the low beam wiring to start to burn and melt. I had to replace both of my low beam sockets for that.

[Ralphie]

SHAT

No updates.

Hit 31k miles. I need to perform the basic maintenance but other than that, no new mods. Been busy working and my photography business has been busy so I have had like 0 time off.

[Ralphie]

Here is with the H9 mod-


and with the DDM kit installed-


Basically I had to sand down a plastic nub inside the socket and trim about 3mm of metal off of one of the clips so that I could A) attach the stock harness and B) twist the bulb in to lock it into place.

They went in smooth and look great. I miss the blue hue and that igniting look when they kick on, but I need to see lol.

[Ralphie]

Well I pulled out the DDM 5k HIDS.

I had a horrible shadow on the drivers side that ended up being a shadow caused by the return rod on the bulb. I guess because these housings were designed for halogen bulbs, when you twist the HID bulb in, the rod can cause issues.

After doing research I think H11B bulbs work better than H11A, which I believe is what I got.

I just bought the $25 DDM kit. They looked great but the lighting was worse than stock.

I found out about a mod using h9 bulbs instead of h11. They are 65w as opposed to 55w. They are meant for high beam applications, so their life won't be as long but they retain the OEM throw and cutoff and provide way more light.

Ill post pictures in a minute.

Going to send the DDM kit back to DDM and get a refund. Sometime down the road, when I have money I will maybe invest in quality pieces, OEM ballasts and morimoto bulbs but the H9 bulbs are $9 each so for now, it's OEM-ish lol.