It is finally time for new brakes on my HCH manual transmission car. 85K miles, regenerative braking really reduces pad wear!

I know with antilock brakes one does not just compress the piston in the calipers for fear of pushing old, dirty fluid back up into the sensitive antilock valving. So bleeding is required.

Is this any different with the Honda ABS system? On other antilock cars I have just opened the bleeder valve and the ABS pump would kick in, pushing out fresh fluid. How do the Civics behave? Any special procedures?

Don't tell me to go to the dealer, either. I always do brakes and oil changes myself. Cheap and easy.

Lifespeed

2003 Civic Hybrid 5 speed

I have the same HCH - 1 in a manual.

I bleeded the brakes like any other car, but I did the lazy way with my friend in the car pushing the brakes. Try it, its no different than a non-abs car. I put in dot 4 super blue in the car, looks fancy!

Former Honda riceboy in hybrid training



Car Devotion

Yes, the brake bleed was no different than a non-abs car. Although I understand the preferred sequence is FR, FL, RR, RL.

I will also alert any other HCH MT owners that you will pretty much never need to change the rear shoes. They should be good for 200K miles, based on near-zero wear on my rear shoes at 85K miles. I changed them anyway - already had the parts.

Parts are much cheaper at yourhondaparts.com. $200 for a full brake job including rotors and shipping, OEM Honda parts. My local stealership wanted $360 plus tax, and had to order them anyway !!

Lifespeed

2003 Civic Hybrid 5 speed

I checked my ORIGINAL front pads at 175,000 miles. They're still good, with plenty of material left! Unbelievable. I think I will do a fluid change though, thanks for the reminder!! For my 200k service, I'll do plugs, valves, and a coolant flush/change. I did my MT fluid change at 125k, and the oil looked brand new. I changed it anyway.

You must use the regen braking even more effectively than I do! I will point out that you can't easily see the inside pad, which is the piston side and wears more quickly. I bet you're pretty darn close to needing pads

Also, the new rotors were much more true and smooth, even though I did not think the rotors I replaced were that bad. If you're going to go to the trouble of bleeding you may as well change the pads and rotors. They're cheap and you will notice the difference.

Lifespeed

2003 Civic Hybrid 5 speed