2003 Protege5 Brake Rotor Loose?

[Noisy Mazda]

I'm new to the forum, I need some help.
My 2003 protege5 has been making a series of front end noises.
I've replaced both wheel bearings and put new brakes on the front.
When the brakes are applied, there is a grinding, thumping sound from the driver's side front.
It doesn't make the sound if you go in reverse and hit the brakes.
I jaced up the car, pulled off the wheels and discovered the brake rotor is loose on the hub on the driver's side.
The Rotor is not lose on the hub on the other (passenger) side.
I've never taken off a wheel and seen a rotor loose like this.
I found an illustration of the brake system and it doesn't describe how the rotor is even held on there.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[CheeseHelmet]

The disks being "loose" is perfectly normal, the wheels hold the disks onto the hubs.

The grinding/thumping sounds like a warped rotor, do you feel thumping on the brake pedal? If so you might want to try removing the disks and cleaning the hubs and faces of the disk to make sure nothing is causing the disk to sit off-center. If that doesn't fix it then you may need new rotors.

 

[MazdaSpeeder]

Rotors don't get loose unless the lugs on the car are loose. They're held in place by the wheel. Definitely could be a warped or damaged rotor. I'd replace your fronts and see if it keeps happening. I suppose it could also be a caliper problem, but rotors seems more likely.

 

[CheeseHelmet]

Rotors don't get loose unless the lugs on the car are loose. They're held in place by the wheel. Definitely could be a warped or damaged rotor. I'd replace your fronts and see if it keeps happening. I suppose it could also be a caliper problem, but rotors seems more likely.

Now that you mention it, sticky calipers could cause a disk to warp. OP, feel your rims after being in stop-and-go traffic, if any of them are abnormally hot you may need a new caliper.

 

[Veik]

Rotors are held by lug nuts
if you remove the lug nuts, its held by rust/dirt/whatever, but a few bangs will loosen it.
There is no other screw that holds in in place.

When you replaced the brake pads, did you install the brake hardware back properly?

 

[nilsonov]

check brakepad wear?

 

[barberus]

I just had my mechanic look at my 2003 Protege5 for the same reason. I get sort of a "Scraping" sound once in a great while (not every time I stop) but I do always get a rythmic, but gentle, jerky feeling as I slow down. My mechanic said the following: he can "flip" (or something similar) the rotors in front and back and replace the back pads which are 10 or 15%.
I don't understand why the back rotors would be messed with if what I hear is in the front!
Could this be the same issue as NOISY MAZDA's having?

 

[theboricua]

03 mazda protege5

03 mazda protege 5 makes rubbing noise on front tire driver side when I press brake. When I go on reverse and press brake it dont do it I installed new disks, new pads, new hardware kit and the noise still continue. please help I been dealing with this for months