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41,000 Miles on my 2006 Honda Civic Si Coupe, last 10,000 dwb. (Hint?)

On two recent long trips on the New York State Thruway/Mass Pike, there would be periods of time where my car just wouldn't glide, the deceleration rate during glide was much much higher than "normal."

When it first happened, I pulled off to a service area to rule out one of my tires going flat. (I pretty much ruled it out before I stopped, handling wasn't effected at all.)

I haven't been on this section of I-90 in a long time, so I considered that using my own eyeballs as a level could be fooling me. Maybe the problem was I was actually on an incline. Wrong. During one "trucks use low gear" section complete with runaway truck ramp, instead of engine braking down the hill I had to *drive* down the hill. Light throttle, but still.

Light winds, so that wasn't it. (Besides, when someone would pull directly in front of me I would still have higher than normal drag.)

Then, as suddenly as the drag came, it would go away completely.

Another observation - a Darwin Award Candidate nearly clipped my front quarter in his weave through traffic. The drag disappeared immediately after the heavy application of the brakes.

Another observation - I face out parked for the duration of the long weekend. At home, I can't do that, I have to back out of my driveway. I haven't noticed the problem since returning home.

Probably not relevant - had some body work done recently (a baseball bat diameter tree branch fell on my car during a wind storm) and it was painted the first week in August.


So, all in all it feels like a hanging pad to me. But only 41,000 miiles and 18 months, I wouldn't expect that.

-mr. bill

Bill, the hanging pad is what I would guess as well. Maybe try reseating the rears by doing the old "back up at a good clip and then stop" routine?

Or is that only for drums?

I'd get each wheel in the air individually and spin it to
find the draggy one[s], and then try to figure out why.
If any of the Prius concepts in my brake-job (http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/brkjob/) page map over,
it might help. In this area, rusting parts are a huge
problem. Holler if ya want in-person help, too.
.
_H*

Hi Mr. Bill, second what Hobbit suggests, and on top of that I would suspect that your brake pad/s have seized to the rotor due to extreme rust from not being used. On my Focus I have 4 wheel discs and if I leave it a couple days and start moving there is a loud unpleasant sound from the brakes and an initial resistance.
One possible solution to not letting your pads stick/etc is to pump your brakes when at a stop or after a drive to make sure the pads and possibly lines are exercised-you can do this with ICE off also. Good Luck

Thanks all. Jacked up and spun each wheel, forward and reverse. They spin fine.

I'm still convinced that I had a hanging pad though. I'd also been out of town for a few days before the round trip to Rochester.

So, I'm taking advantage of opportunities to use the brakes a little more aggressively from time to time.

-mr. bill