2008 Mazda5 GT rotors and pads

[jschner]

I have 75k miles on my 2008 Mazda5 GT. Front brakes really need to be done. Rotors were turned once about 25k miles, same pads. Just recently the brakes started really getting bad pulsating the whole vehicle. Pads have very little life left in them.

I know others have changed their rotors and pads and I wanted to know what has been reliable and what hasn't?

I have been looking at the Stop Tech slotted and Centric Cryo or does it really matter and just go regular rotors?

Also, what pads have worked well with your Mazda?

 

[m5pa]

I have about 2 years and 10k on regular Centric rotors and Akebono ACT pads in the front. No problems here and they seem to be holding up better than the OEM stuff. I live with lots of hills, salt in the winter and the car sees about 75% stop and go driving. I might try slotted next time, but my experience is that is that in normal driving, slotted or drilled are overkill. They need a lot of heat to work really well and you don't generate that much of it in normal driving. Unless you drive really hard all the time. They also tend to be much noisier, especially when cold and can make for longer stopping distances until they warm up.

Pads and rotors came from Tire Rack.

 

[Donewood]

I bought Ceramic Pads and Drilled disks from my 5, two years ago. I'm certain that they are performing much better that the OEM.s But I do mostly Hiway. I go 100km on the hiway doing 120Kph for my daily drive.

The drilled disks eliminated the break shimmy that my 5 suffered with when I got it new to me a few years back. never had the impression that they were slow to grab, as they are far superior to old glazed OEM pads. Drilled disks are far less prone to glazing and scorring (Something I discovered racing motorcycles as a kid), as the holes provide a self cleaning action. They are also way quieter than the shimmy was. I have a complete thread on this site about doing the break job at home. It went very easy, and saved me almost $800.00 bucks from what the stealership charges for the crappy OEMs. ($960.00 +tax) There are lost of performanc choices for us as they Race the Focus in Europe and UK. and it's the same platform as our 5.

 

[Robotazky]

I have about 2 years and 10k on regular Centric rotors and Akebono ACT pads in the front. No problems here and they seem to be holding up better than the OEM stuff. I live with lots of hills, salt in the winter and the car sees about 75% stop and go driving. I might try slotted next time, but my experience is that is that in normal driving, slotted or drilled are overkill. They need a lot of heat to work really well and you don't generate that much of it in normal driving. Unless you drive really hard all the time. They also tend to be much noisier, especially when cold and can make for longer stopping distances until they warm up.

Pads and rotors came from Tire Rack.

I don't see how Centric can be beaten. The quality is incredible and they are as cheap or cheaper than Duracrap from Autozone if you shop around.