Anyone do brake pads yet?

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2011 Mazda 2
Is it pretty straight forward - nothing oddball? Sorry for the dumb question, this is my first import car. :D
 
What do you think domestics use? BTW: the calipers are FoMoCo stamped.

Loosen the slider pin, pull the caliper up, pull out old pads, use a vise to push in piston, put in new pads, reattach the caliper.
 
I had a hell of a time finding pads for mine last week. Not even the Mazda dealership had any on the shelf. I ended up finding them through NAPA, but so far I'm not super impressed with the quality of those pads. Can't say I'm surprised because every other supplier was $65-$80 for the pads, with 1-5 days to get them in my hands, and NAPA was $32. But the brake job itself is a piece of cake.
 
I would rather have paid a bit more and gotten better pads, but mine took me completely by surprise and went from no indication of being worn to fading heavy under moderately strong pedal. I never got a squeak or anything else, but when I pulled the pads off they were toast. I was leaving for a short road trip in the morning and had no option but what I found, was going to have to borrow a car and drive 1.5 hours to find them if NAPA hadn't had them.
 
I would rather have paid a bit more and gotten better pads, but mine took me completely by surprise and went from no indication of being worn to fading heavy under moderately strong pedal. I never got a squeak or anything else, but when I pulled the pads off they were toast. I was leaving for a short road trip in the morning and had no option but what I found, was going to have to borrow a car and drive 1.5 hours to find them if NAPA hadn't had them.

How many miles do you have on your 2? The stock pads we pulled off our shop 2 had plenty of life left with 12k on them before running a better compound for racing.

-Derrick
 
I was just under 34K, I bought mine in August of 2010 and rack up the miles on my daily commute.
 
I actually like the OEM pads and will probably run them until they're gone. I'm hoping by that time stoptech or axis ultimates will be available as those as my favorite cheap pads.
 
I ran to about 35k (kms not miles) on my oem pads and they still had some life left. Changed them out for EBC greenstuff. Like the greenstuff but want something a bit more aggressive. If I don't go to a full Wilwood brake kit this summer i'll probably move to Hawk HPS+
 
I ran to about 35k (kms not miles) on my oem pads and they still had some life left. Changed them out for EBC greenstuff. Like the greenstuff but want something a bit more aggressive. If I don't go to a full Wilwood brake kit this summer i'll probably move to Hawk HPS+

I never have tried EBC pads. How's the dust on them compared to stock? I have not been thrilled with the HPS compound pads after having used them on 2 or 3 different cars. On the other hand, can't be too picky since there aren't many choices yet. So far my favorite streetable pad has been the ferrodo ds2500's, though they are pricey and probably overkill if you're not getting into the mountain runs or track days. Hopefully soon there will be more options for the 2.
 
Dust is worse than oem, or at least looks worse with the green stuff cus its light colored and ive got gloss black rims. Wipes off easy enough tho.

Those ferrodo pads available for the 2?
 
I don't think they are, but hopefully down the road they'll be. I loved 'em on my wrx.
 
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