> I got my 03 pilot back from the dealer - one item puzzles me - 85k
> miles on it and they said I really needed rear brakes - they wanted
> $500+, but I only went for rear pads - $162. Is it normal for the
> rotors to rust on the part facing away from the wheel?
In your area, absolutely. You're somewhere around New England, aren't you?
How bad is it? Got pics? Personally, I can't see two years of driving
warranting the replacement of rotors for rust.
What /can/ happen though, is that you'll get rust on the friction surfaces.
This gets buffed into a glaze, reducing the effectiveness of the rears. The
effect is to throw more load on the fronts, accelerating wear, and possibly
leading to overheating (and warping) of the front rotors.
Those rear rotors will rust like crazy in a short period of time. I always
thought rear discs were a dumb idea anyway. Too much trouble.
> I will check
> how much to replace them on my own - are they like my 94 civic, move
> the caliper out of the way and just slide off old and slide on new? I
> would guess $150 for the pair of rotors?
No, not "slide on new". You MUST first sand off ALL the rust on the hub,
and make sure it's super clean, or else you can get some serious vibration.
Use 50-grit emery cloth.
And if your parkoing brake is the kind that's a small drum inside the disc,
make sure you move the parking brake lever to "off" before removing the
rotor.

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Rocky - 21 Sep 2005 03:53 GMT
I just picked up the car and the a/c finally works ice cold-front and rear
console too, well at night in CT.
I'll try in the sun on Wed. I'll take a photo of the rotor and email it.
>> I got my 03 pilot back from the dealer - one item puzzles me - 85k
>> miles on it and they said I really needed rear brakes - they wanted
[quoted text clipped - 31 lines]
> make sure you move the parking brake lever to "off" before removing the
> rotor.
Rocky - 30 Dec 2005 10:56 GMT
I was at the dealer yesterday - now they say the rotor rust is gone after
drive the car every day.
>> I got my 03 pilot back from the dealer - one item puzzles me - 85k
>> miles on it and they said I really needed rear brakes - they wanted
[quoted text clipped - 31 lines]
> make sure you move the parking brake lever to "off" before removing the
> rotor.