MSP Brakes on P5

[Sport23]

It was around $600. I'm not sure what I payed for the brake lines since I got them on the forums years ago. Stepping up to the slotted rotors and ceramic pads also adds a good bit to the price. You do a full brake job with MS6 fronts for < $250, even cheaper if you have a local u pull it junk yard to get the calipers and brackets. If you don't mind spending a little more you can get remanned calipers, new pads, and new front and rear discs for about $300.

 

[Flav]

I'd like to bring this back up and look for some specific answers. I'd like to redo my brakes this week on my days off.
So here are my questions
1. msp = mazdaspeed protege?
2. for the fronts if I go with the mazda6 (2007ish) V6 model will they clear stock wheels? (I ask this because during the winter months I have 16inch rims (i think, can't remember this exact moment)
3. what are my best options for rears? (I recently had my driver side rear rotor GLOWING red the other day.. (not sure what it is yet.. doubt my caliper is seized though because they are fairly new and its only happened the one time now)

 

[pcb]

(I recently had my driver side rear rotor GLOWING red the other day.. (not sure what it is yet.. doubt my caliper is seized though because they are fairly new and its only happened the one time now)

I'll bet it is seized or at least dragging. I got out of my car once and noticed that smell of burning brakes. It was my passenger side rear,.. I had tightened up the p-brake too much. I grease my slider pins every year and I'm thinking that isn't enough. They really need it by the time I do it in the spring. Your p-brake cable could be seizing up,... lift that corner of the car and make sure it spins freely.

 

[pcb]

(I ask this because during the winter months I have 16inch rims (i think, can't remember this exact moment)

I think your winter wheels might be 15 inch rims,.. that's what mine are and I think it's kinda the standard for winter wheels. Stock summer wheels are 16 inch.

 

[Flav]

Yeah I'm going to check out the rear when I have the chance to lift it, I am pretty positive it did have something to do with the E-brake though.

 

[Installshield 2]

The design of the stock protege rear calipers is a joke...there is a small set screw that is used to retract the caliper piston for pad changes...while a caliper is frequently heat cycled through ranges of nearly 900 degrees F, that is bad enough...but even worse the cap bolt used to 'seal' that set screw does a piss poor job...and more often than not, the caliper is useless after a ridiculously short life cycle...

The MSP rear calipers do not have this...you retract the piston the way most single piston slide calipers work (a disc tool that rotates the piston into its cylinder with a wrench)...so just because of that alone, its a great upgrade...and a DIRECT fit for any 5 lug 3rd gen...no ebrake modification or anything else needs to be done (other than proper rotors and pads, of course)...

sticking rear calipers with ebrake usage is very common though...especially when the ebrake is applied when the rotors are hot, and the ambient temp is very low...its caused by oxidation forming between the iron rotors and metallic elements of the pad material...they're in a way cold welding together, but usually not enough to quickly break free when driving...when its colder, the brake fluid viscosity 'thickens' and tolerances between the caliper slides and everything make it harder to release, thats all...if a caliper is already having problems with a sticking piston, it'll quickly torch everything together...and you'll need a new caliper....

So the MSP calipers can still do this occasionally, too...but a very good layer of high temp grease on the slide pins and pad seats annually will go a long way in preventing this. Also, if its really cold out, try not to yank the ebrake as hard as possible...if your pads are in proper shape, it takes very little cable pressure to lock the car in place even on hills (but always leave it in gear just in case)...

 

[Justin2129]

I love my brake set-up! I still need to find an e-brake solution though.

if you re-route the p5 ebrake lines they will reach to M6 rear calipers. i took my ebrake cable off the brackets and zip tied it to different places. ebrake works just fine

 

[Justin2129]

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123797660-Mazda-6-Brake-upgrade

 

[pcb]

I was looking at the pictures of your e-brake install on the other thread (I don't know how to cut and paste a pic) and I'm a little confused,...
What is holding the e-brake sheath from moving inside the bracket that is holding it,... on the original P-5 caliper, that sheath slides into the bracket about another inch and a half until it hits the metal part on the sheath where the big square c-clip thing lines up with a slot and locks the sheath in place. What is keeping the sheath from sliding from the pressure of the e-brake being applied?
It looks like it will slide another inch and a half which would make the T-lug at the end of the wire be way past it's connection point. I'm a bit nervous about the 90* angle over such a tight radius of the last foot or two of the cable. It looks like that would get even tighter when the car is set down compressing the suspension.

These two links from your other thread seem very helpful
We may have an option for complete e-brake compatibility.

http://forums.probetalk.com/showthread.php?t=1701263582
http://www.mx6.com/forums/2g-faq-per...grade-how.html

 

[Justin2129]

what is the ebrake sheath? sorry lol

Ive had this on for over a year and a half and 40k miles, and im pretty comfortable with the way it's set up. it's never rolled or moved any after applying the ebrake, even on a hill.

 

[pcb]

The sheath is the outer "casing" of the cable with the "wire" inside. When force is applied to the wire via the hand brake that force needs to be "braced" at the other end of the cable or the wire will just travel up inside the sheath. If the sheath isn't braced solid, the whole cable will move. Think of your brake lever on your mountain bike. If you disconnect the sheath from the adjuster screw thingy then rotate it toward the lever, but the wire inside the cable is still connected to the lever, then your brake won't work. The whole cable moves with the the brake lever movement. When I look at your pictures, it looks like if you were to pull the brake lever really hard it would force that "sheath" to move further into the bracket until finally the metal part on the sheath hits and stops further movement, by then the T-lug would be almost two inches past the brake caliper connection point. As far as the tight 90* angle thing it's the same as a mountain bike too. The rear brake cable usually travels further with more and tighter curves in its placement. That brake lever always takes more force and has way less sensitivity to is feel due to extra drag and slop that wears into the wire and inner sheath.
Sorry if I sound like I'm trashing all your hard work, If that was the brake system I had I would try to pull the sheath "up" out of the bracket about 1/3" -1/2" until the T-lug was sitting snugly in the connection point then try to brace the sheath from movement back down,... perhaps carefully cutting two notches in the sheath right at the point on top of the bracket where the sheath meets it then putting in that square "retainer"clip thing that was used for the original caliper,.... Or using a piece of pipe (the length from the metal reinforced part on the sheath to the top of the metal bracket) that would fit over the whole cable but would hit the metal reinforced part,... perhaps you could use a piece of copper pipe (easier to work with) and cut it down its length then you could pinch it together till it's the right diameter. It might stop the cable from sliding in the bracket.
I'm not sure about your set up but most rear brakes need full movement at the parking brake connection point on the caliper (or drum) to allow them to self adjust for brake pad wear. I had a seized cable once and my caliper stopped adjusting so the the brake pedal travel increased and the other side would engage way before the stuck one. The car was pulling to one side before I looked into what was wrong and figured it out.

 

[Justin2129]

hmm I see what you mean now. I'm replacing the rear hubs when the tax return comes in, so I'll take a look at it then. I'm all for making it better lol

 

[pcb]

Like you said,... "it's been working fine for over a year" so I'm probably just being a fuss ass,... It is just the P-brake (Emergency, my a$$,... my "Emergency Brake" is barely even noticeable when I pull on it Hard when I'm travelling.) . But if it was me,... I would crawl underneath and watch that junction point and watch for spongy-ness and see if the sheath pulls into the bracket when a friend (or your beautiful assistant,... (wife)) pulls the hand brake hard. If it doesn't move in or wobble around, then I'm worrying about nothing.