Brake troubles, and need help buying new parts

Katner

Member
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2008 Mazda5 Grand Touring
Last summer I needed to replace all four rotors and pads and, finding myself in the US one weekend, had the job quoted and completed. Trouble is the mechanic could sling a wrench but not count to four - he only replaced the fronts. Still that fixed all the issues and out of laziness I dropped the ball and forgot about getting the back done. Now here we are a year later and my rear brakes are squeaking like mad. I have need of some feedback in regards to a couple of issues:

I'm thinking I will replace the front rotors and pads again to even out the wear front-to-back since I kind of think that the fronts have been doing everything alone for the last 22k kms. Is that a little rash? The rotors look OKish. Definitely not new but they don't vibrate and don't seem to be making any odd noise. Still I will likely end up with different brands/types for the back since I'm buying online this time. Is it a good idea to have one axle with 1 year old brake parts of one brand and the other new of another brand (and possibly quality level)?

Next, I can't seem to find a place to buy EBC brake rotors. I was thinking of just simply going with Centric Premium from TireRack to make the buying process simple but EBC seems to be highly recommended. Will EBC inevitably be much more expensive? Tire rack can sell all four Centric's plus ATE PremiumOne pads for about $375 shipped. Any alternative would need to offer a better value or an increase in quality.

Any advice on this process, product selection, where to buy, etc would be greatly appreciated.
 
Personally I don't see anything wrong with what you want to do. The only issue I'd worry about is the runout (thickness) of the rear rotors. They might need to be replaced.

From the EBC website: http://www.ebcbrakes.com/buynow/canada.shtml

EDIT: The fronts do the majority of the work anyway..but if you've never done the rears at all...
 
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Sounds crazy to replace the fronts again in my opinion. Sand the front rotors with 220+ paper, replace the pads, fix the rear brakes, bed the whole set in, drive off into the sunset.
 
I doubt you need to replace the fronts. My front pads and rotors lasted 127,000km you're short changing yourself if you do that. When you do the rears, you need to replace the rotors when you replace the pads anyway so just do that.

the OEM stuff on this car lasts sooo long that I suspect I wont have to do brakes again until I get to 250,000km!

I can't say that of my previous car! I was luck to get 70,000km out of a set of brakes (pads and rotors!) stupid chrysler products!
 
I'm with everyone else here, and I've yet to own a vehicle that has rear brakes wear at the same rate as the front. You'll find that the fronts are larger because they always do more of the work.

There's nothing wrong with different brands, but I just suggest using ceramic pads only.

Rotors - http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?carcode=1441855&parttype=1896

Pads - http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?carcode=1441855&parttype=1684

Monroe and Raybestos are offering rebates as well.
 
after market cross drilled rotors + ceramic pads for all 4 corners are only running $200. Dont think, save money by buying after market and installing it yourself. Replace all 4s its cheap anyways.

DSCN1179.jpg
 
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