Hi all, I wonder if I could introduce myself to everyone with a technical(ish) question?

I'm looking to buy an '05 Civic Sport (3 dr, 1.6 VTEC) and went to look at an example at my local Honda dealership a couple of days ago. I had a good walk round the car but noticed that the brake discs - particularly those on the front- were VERY heavily worn, resulting in a lip of about 1/8" depth round the entire disc.

The dealer agreed to replace the discs as part of a purchase agreement, but my question is this: given the age of the car, is this kind of wear on the discs typical, or is it indicative that the car has been driven hard? I appreciate that as a Type R look-a-like the Sport is likely to attract the kind of driver who isgoing to push the car hard, but I want to gauge how excessive the previous owner has been!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

I just changed the pads and rotors on my '97 DX and they had a bit of a lip on them too, so it could be from normal wear if it has a lot of miles on it. Definitely get new pads/rotors with the car if you buy it. Check other things like the CV boots on the axles, and the drive belts for the PS, alternator, etc. If its around 100K miles or more, ask them about the timing belt.

 

If its a manual the rotors tend to wear down faster than on automatics but that also depends on how it was driven as a manual.

 

You should have just taken a cut in the price, then installed some cool cross drilled slotted rotors yourself.

 

Yeah, its a manual but its only done 26K. So I'm guessing now that the car has been ragged to have worn the discs down that much.

The dealer did offer to change the discs (and the pads) as part of a buying agreement, but I'm concerned that if the car has been driven that hard theres gonna be other problems with it.

 

If you know a mechanic take one with u or take it to them and have them check it out, dont listen to the dealer, they will lie their *** off to get you to buy the car, checking carfax helps too but i wouldnt completely trust carfax either. EX the carfax for my car says never in an accident but it did get hit in the rear panel. Make sure you spend a coupple of bucks more to get it checked out, it may save you more in the long run.