Brake service

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Ohliuw

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Due for the 2nd anniversary oil change, but I also want them to clean the brakes.

I called my dealer and he offered oil change + brake service + inspection, which he said is service B. The cost is reasonable stealership - $230CAD.
Given the cost of oil change alone is almost $90 (up from $60 last year!!!), I am ok with it, but want to make sure that the will actually clean and adjust the breaks, not just to inspect.

So what should ask to make sure that they will do the appropriate service and not some ´inspection’ bs?

thanks
 
In my opinion, no brake service is required.
There is nothing to "adjust", and the closest thing I can think of to 'cleaning' would to be to blow any dust out with compressed air.
Of course 'inspection' (checking the pad thickness) is always a good idea, but your brakes are quite likely in very good condition because of regeneration.

BTW - I don't think there is such a thing as a "B" service code for the Clarity...
The Maintenance codes are "A", and "0-8".
 
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MrFixit said:
In my opinion, no brake service is required.
There is nothing to "adjust", and the closest thing I can think of to 'cleaning' would to be to blow any dust out with compressed air.
Of course 'inspection' (checking the pad thickness) is always a good idea, but your brakes are quite likely in very good condition because of regeneration.
Click to expand...

well, from what I have read (and observed on my brakes), the regen braking is actually why the breaks need to be cleaned- mine look worse than on a 20 year rusty old car.

apparently when they don’t get hot enough to dry, so they tend to rust à lot
 
Ohliuw said:
well, from what I have read (and observed on my breaks), the regen breaking is actually why the breaks need to be cleaned- mine look worse than on a 20 year rusty old car.

apparently when they don’t get hot enough to dry, so they tend to rust à lot
Click to expand...

You could be right... Some other forum members have discussed badly rusted disks.
This must be climate dependent too. My car is almost 3 years old, and the disks look very good.
 
MrFixit said:
You could be right... Some other forum members have discussed badly rusted disks.
This must be climate dependent too. My car is almost 3 years old, and the disks look very good.
Click to expand...

A lot of salt and slush in Quebec for several months in a row, so my callipers look really bad.

I just want to make sure that they will do the appropriate job and lube them etc, and not charge me ridiculous amount just to take a look at them.
 
OP I understand your concern, but IMO it's unlikely they will do more than an inspection. Some may call me a skeptic.

I have rusty rotors (New England) but hadn't thought about caliper slides sticking. My personal suggestion is find a good independent mechanic...
 
Let’s assume it’s the brakes you’d like the service department to clean. This is likely a new service for them, so they may have to make up a price and a description of the work to be performed.

You’re going to have to tell them exactly what you want, for example; scrub the rust off the rotors with a Brillo pad, steel wool, wire brush, etc. They’ll probably charge you at leas one hour of labor.

The rust problem is a combination of metallurgical compositions and the fact that the brake pads don’t get used in the same way as they did on dads Crown Vic. Unless you’re a real go-getter who makes routine panic stops, most of the braking is being done by the electric motor. The pads just don’t have many opportunities to polish the rotors.
 
It is especially important to clean and lube the brake pad pins in vehicles subjected to rust and/or lots of road grime. If the pads can not move freely, they can stick to the caliper or to the rotor; neither are good.

As a DIY’er, a proper brake service includes removing calipers from rotors, remove/clean pins (or replacing them with new if they are really bad), remove/clean pads, clean around piston area, cleaning and/or turning rotors, and fluid flush/bleed. X4 this is a lot of labor and time but on my hybrids there’s usually no parts other than fluids and cleaning supplies as the pad/rotors still look great. I don’t have to deal with heavy corrosion though.

FWIW
 
It is not unusual for rotors to be reasonably low cost - to the point where it may not be cost-effective to turn them if they are rusted / grooved.
Because of the low volume of this vehicle however, aftermarket parts are rare, and OEM parts are always more expensive.

Just for the fun of it, I looked at replacement rotors. The OEM rotors (they are a different part for the front and the rear) cost roughly $100 each at the on-line Honda OEM stores.
I was surprised to find that AutoZone shows that "Duralast" aftermarket rotors are available. The cost for these Duralast rotors is about $60 each. This is not too bad, but I am not sure how much they would charge to turn them these days.

Calipers are a different story... From Honda, they are around $300 each, and no aftermarket parts are available [yet]. But, there is certainly no reason that anyone should need a replacement caliper at this point... As @fotomoto says, maintaining the integrity of the sliding pins should be good enough. Calipers always seem to get quite rusty and they are perfectly fine.
 
Well, I se this in my app, the question is what “Service front and rear breaks” include???

Minder 9:

Service front and rear brakes
Check expiration date for Temporary Tire Repair Kit
Inspect tie rod ends, steering gearbox, and boots
Inspect suspension components
Inspect driveshaft boots
Inspect brake hoses and lines (including ABS/VSA)
Inspect all fluid levels and condition of fluids
Inspect exhaust system
Inspect fuel lines and connections#
Inspect stay RR, RR Subframe
Inspect under body battery cover
 
Check this out,

The US and Canadian models have slightly different Maintenance Minder Codes...
Note - The US "0" is very similar to the Canadian "9" but it says to "inspect" the brakes, wheras the Canadian says to "Service " them.

Very odd, but maybe due to increased chance of corrosion in Canada?

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upload_2021-6-28_17-1-4.webp
 
Ohliuw said:
What is a brake service? A brake service involves the inspection, cleaning, and lubrication of all the brake components.
Click to expand...
Let me propose another way to think about this...

Part of the dilemma here is that "cleaning" is not likely to include turning down the rotors if they are rusty enough to warrant that.
Also, nobody is going to de-rust the calipers because every caliper I have ever seen eventually gets very rusty yet it is still completely serviceable.

But, you should be able to trust a reputable mechanic to do what is needed if an issue is found during the inspection. You could argue that Lubricating the sliding parts / pins should be included as "lubrication". Brake pads are straight-forward - they are easily measured, and easily replaced if they are out of tolerance [at additional cost]. If there is significant damage to the rotors because of corrosion, then he will likely recommend turning them [at additional cost]. These services [if required] cannot be known without doing the inspection, and you should expect to pay more for them.
 
I have the garage that has serviced my ICE cars over the years do my seasonal tire change on my 2018 Leaf from winter to summer tires. I have always requested to clean and lube the brakes at the same time. He commented this year that there was a lot of rust to clean up this time around. They generally charge about $65 for this service. It goes to a Nissan dealer for the summer to winter tire change as a battery inspection is done at the same time to maintain the battery warranty. They "service" the brakes at the same time and this costs $240.00.

I might add that that I've requested the same service for my ICE cars over the years as rusty brakes are a problem here in Ontario Canada where the use of road salt is extensive. The Leaf brakes do seem a little more rust prone because of the lack of heating than the ICE cars I've owned. The cost of not doing this seems to be seized up calipers in turn wearing out the pads and rotors prematurely not to mention the horrible effect on "fuel" economy.
 
Due to the much stronger regen-braking with my compact, sporty BEV, I use its brakes much less on than I do the brakes on my Clarity. However, while my Clarity's rotors are always rusty, my compact, sporty BEV's rotors are not.
 
insightman said:
Due to the much stronger regen-braking with my compact, sporty BEV, I use its brakes much less on than I do the brakes on my Clarity. However, while my Clarity's rotors are always rusty, my compact, sporty BEV's rotors are not.
Click to expand...

Isn't your Mini much younger? Has it even gone through a Michigan winter?
Are you implying that there is some metallurgical difference that makes the Clarity more susceptible to rusting rotors?

Don't forget that even though you may feel that you "use the brakes" more on the Clarity, in reality, most brake usage is actually invoking heavier regeneration and not really using the friction brakes...
 
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