2003 Honda Accord EX from North America - Comments

The only problem I have experienced with my Accord is that the brakes squeak 95% of the time. They also make a metal on metal grinding noise when braking from much lower speeds.

The brakes on this car are pretty bad. They work fine, but they squeal most of the time and grind off and on, but mostly from low speeds.

I just had the rear rotors and pads replaced. The Honda dealer service department said that the front pads were fine and were not in any need of replacement. I can live with the squeal and occasional grind if that is just the way they are. The grinding noise is not normal to me though. My dad has a 2004 Honda Accord EX-V6 automatic and his brakes make no noise AT ALL. They don't grind or squeak or anything.

I went to school in California and my car was not driven much since I graduated high school in 2003, so that is why I only have 40k miles on the car in 7 years!

I have not had one single problem with this car since they replaced my rear brake pads and rotors on my car. I keep seeing comments online that it could be my brake pad squeal wear indicators, but it is not a screech, it is a squeak. If I press down harder on the brakes they will not squeak nearly as bad, if they even squeak at all.

I have an appointment at Honda tomorrow for them to look at the front and rear brake assembly and whatnot. My brakes also shimmy slightly, but not like what other people on here are complaining about, and I am hard on my brakes. I drive quick and use my brakes for what they are supposed to do, which is stop the car, and if needed, I will hit them hard. THEY ARE BRAKES. That's why we have them.

If anyone knows anything about the slight grinding noise at low speeds or the squeaking noise, comment PLEASE!!! I just would like to know if this is normal.

The last portion of your review confirmed the root cause of your brake trouble. The problem here is not the unit, but the operator.

"and I am hard on my brakes. I drive quick and use my brakes for what they are supposed to do, which is stop the car, and if needed, I will hit them hard. THEY ARE BRAKES. That's why we have them."

Accords are not sports cars. They are family cars that handle a little bit better than other family cars, but at the expense of some more road noise relative to other family cars. If you want to drive like hard, buy something more suited to your kind of driving. Sounds like it will save you money in the long run not having some many brake repairs.

I do not buy that comment. Brakes should stop, it's not a HP issue.

Read some car magazines. Articles on sports cars always have some words on the beefed up brakes, cross drilled rotors, vents for air cooling, extra thickness, etc. Do you think the manufacturers add that expense for no reason?

Family cars are designed to be cost competitive in their segment, so every part is designed to be just good enough for that segments average driver. Cars designed to be fuel efficient are especially designed for every part to have the minimum possible weight -- including for instance, thinner rotors and calipers.

Why do you think there is a market for upgraded brakes? I would be very surprised if you can't find some to fit an Accord.

You can ruin the brakes on any family car driving them like sports cars with aggressive hard braking. Same thing for transmissions. Several of my friends over the years burned out their manual transmissions racing around town. It took a few repair bills and advice from the car mechanics for them to wise up. They whined, "But the dealer told me I could drive it hard." The mechanics tell them, yes, as long was you don't mind the repair bills. Since it took years for my friends to figure this out, I don't really expect others to believe this right away either.

Besides, people look silly racing Accords, Camries, Impalas, Tauruses, etc.

A 1977 Corvette owner I know has factory drum brakes, no discs, no drilled rotors. Discs less prone to fade. Stock Accord should be fine with stock brakes, plus a stick car has less brake wear if so equipped.

Spend a bit more unless that goes against the low cost import mentality... and upgrade to ceramic brakes. Either that or briefly let your brakes cool a bit so that they are not prone to fade. They should still stop you.