new brakes on order

mpvue

Member
just thought I'd post this before I actually started.

5 has 32K miles. when having a tire repaired the tech commented the rear brakes were low; sure enough, they are. that was a surprise because I've never worn out rears before the fronts. the fronts are down pretty far too, but still have some meat.
so after much looking, I decided to order a set of rotors and pads from one of the MANY ebay sellers. $170 free shipping. cadmium plated, drilled, ceramic pads.
problem with these sellers is you don't really know what you're getting, but at the same time, everyone complains about the OEM rotors and the autozone rotors, so how bad could they be?
I saved another $20 when they gave me a partial refund, just because I asked for a tracking number, wondering when I'll get them!

so, I'll either really regret this, or have one heck of a deal. I'll keep you posted.
 
DSCN0811.JPGDSCN0812.JPG

no name rotors, holes all chamfered, cadmium plated. hopefully the hubs and edges won't rust. plan to install them this weekend.
 
That is odd that the rears are toast that quick... Maybe somebody left the ebrake on while driving once?

I might recommend getting the "hardware" kit as well when you are doing the pads.

It is hard for me to believe, but I am at the other end of the spectrum, as our 2006 Mazda5 has 83k miles, and the original brake pads are just now at 50% remaining. Given that pads wear faster as they get thinner, I still might see over 100,000 miles on my original pads and rotors!!
 
Last edited:
no chance the brake was left on, it alarms when you do that and has a light, should be foolproof :)
our M5 is all all-around get around, lots of local driving besides highway. it just seems like the rear brake bias might be a bit more aggressive than on other cars, IDK...
 
got the brakes done, but my camera batteries weren't holding a charge so I couldn't take any pictures. :(

but, they came out pretty good, initial impression is that they are not as 'grabby' as the stock setup, braking is more linear now.
the cadmium plating is pretty good, hopefully it'll hold up a good while to prevent rusting. the original front rotors were FULL of rust in the cooling vanes!
 
just thought I'd post this before I actually started.

5 has 32K miles. when having a tire repaired the tech commented the rear brakes were low; sure enough, they are. that was a surprise because I've never worn out rears before the fronts. the fronts are down pretty far too, but still have some meat.
so after much looking, I decided to order a set of rotors and pads from one of the MANY ebay sellers. $170 free shipping. cadmium plated, drilled, ceramic pads.
problem with these sellers is you don't really know what you're getting, but at the same time, everyone complains about the OEM rotors and the autozone rotors, so how bad could they be?
I saved another $20 when they gave me a partial refund, just because I asked for a tracking number, wondering when I'll get them!

so, I'll either really regret this, or have one heck of a deal. I'll keep you posted.
Keep us posted on how well they last. The quality of Made in China rotors are really a crap shot. I usually resort to NAPA rotors for bang for the buck. I’m at 34K and also due for brakes but will be taking a slightly different approach :D
 
Im at 34K and also due for brakes but will be taking a slightly different approach :D

how can you be due for brakes at 34,000 km/miles??? your brakes should be lasting a heck of alot longer than that!!! I replacd mine at 126,000km with alot of "spirited driving and braking" if you're replacing them that early, I suspect you have some sticky pistons, or something.
 
how can you be due for brakes at 34,000 km/miles??? your brakes should be lasting a heck of alot longer than that!!! I replacd mine at 126,000km with alot of "spirited driving and braking" if you're replacing them that early, I suspect you have some sticky pistons, or something.
brake wear is highly divergent from person to person, as is tire wear. my rear brakes needed to be done at 32K miles, but my fronts could have gone a good bit longer, but I changed them out anyway because 1. I had new ones already, 2. I had the tool rented already, and 3. I had the garage access, so I figured I'd rather do them now, instead of needing to do them in the dead of winter.
 
how can you be due for brakes at 34,000 km/miles??? your brakes should be lasting a heck of alot longer than that!!! I replaced mine at 126,000km with alot of "spirited driving and braking" if you're replacing them that early, I suspect you have some sticky pistons, or something.
To be fair, I did say due for brakes, not urgently. Also, mileage does not dictate when you need to do brakes, where and how you drive does. If you do a lot of HW or long distance commuting you can rack up miles fast. I would guestimate mine can last another 5-10K miles max, which puts me at 40-45K miles, consistent with my past driving habits. I can prob use them for longer but I like a fresh pair of pads sooner than later. Like mpvue the rears are wearing faster.

I don’t see any signs of sticky piston or caliper slider pins (uneven pad wear) <- Mazda are notorious for this and have rebuilt calipers in the past. I just don't like the brake feel right now (fluid flush alone would prob help) and have a little project that involves a pair of MS3 calipers so I am planning for spring and shopping for rotors.
 
so far I'm 50/50 on how I feel about these brakes...
the rotors seem fine, pedal feel is good, but they seem noisy. some of that could be my fault; instead of putting that spray on anti squeal stuff, I just greased the backs of the pads.
but I still hear the pads 'grinding' when I apply the brakes, a slight sound but it's noticeable. maybe these pads are more metallic than OEM, IDK.
if I'm not happy w/ them I'll replace them early w/ some Hawk pads.
as long as the rotors hold up well, it's still a good deal because I paid $150 for everything, which would have been a good price on rotors alone.
 
Did you bed them in with the progressive stops from high speed then letting it sit technique? People seem to be split on whether this needs to be done or not. I've always done it. Wouldn't the Hawks be a little noisier?
 
Did you bed them in with the progressive stops from high speed then letting it sit technique?
I 'thought' I bed them in correctly, brought it up to about 40 or so, brought it down to almost stopped-but not quite- a few times, seemed to be ok. maybe the hawks would be noisier, IDK.
I've become hyper-sensitive to suspension noises and creaks and knocks lately, it's driving me nuts. I think I hear stuff others don't.
 
brakes have been great, occasional hum at low speed, not really that much. biggest thing I notice is at low speed braking (like between stoplights or in traffic) one of the calipers 'clicks' once when brakes are applied. I've checked that all is tight, since I had the caliper brackets off when I changed the rotors, i checked the caliper bracket bolts and the caliper sliders, all seems ok.
I'm wondering if maybe the pads are rocking in the caliper slightly, IDK.
 
Speaking of brakes, I was reading the Consumer Reports ratings of used Mazda5s and both brakes and suspension were given the lowest rating on the '08 and '09 (the solid black circle if you are used to their rating system). The '06 and '07 models also had issues with these, along with some other problems that were fixed for the '08 model.

So while it's not ideal to have to change brakes at 32,000 miles, it appears that this is not that far out of line for the Mazda5.
 
Back