I have a 2021 CX-5 at 36,000 and at the oil change they noted less than 20% remaining "red status" 4mm on the front and rear. I asked for a quote. Their "value" package with "cheaper quality parts" was $1,605 for all four wheels. 450 labor, 943 parts and for the premium parts (VPM pads and rotors) $2,655. Time to start calling around.
The stealer sure wants a lot for all around brake work
- Thread starter SWCX5R
- Start date
N7turbo
2023 CX-5 2.5T ... 2024 MX-5 RF GT
Sounds like the dealer, when quoting prices like this, is getting bolder as they assume people are getting stupider. At 36k miles I can't imagine it needing new rotors unless they are chewed up or have runout causing vibration. You may get by with just new pads/pad guides (clips) and lubeing the caliper pins and contact points with caliper grease.
Come to think of it, that's exactly what I did when replacing the rears at 37k miles. It was actually a bit premature because gauging the amount of remaining pad it could have gone another ~10k miles before factory minimum material thickness (2mm IIRC). But I never run them that low and change around 3-1/2-4.
**** regarding new pad material thickness ( disregarding dealer percentages) I've measured new pads at: front - 10 mm, rear - 7.5 mm. I do mostly "around town" and some suburban driving with lots of stops, and taking measurements over several brake changes have gauged pad wear to be about 7,000 to 8,000 miles per mm of pad wear for my type of driving. If the car "lives" on the interstate the pads would probably last > 100,000 miles.
Last edited:
OK. Let me elaborate a little more. Regardless of the amount of highway driving your car does, let's look at the miles and wear. Putting aside the "red" condition as stated by the dealer, they show 4 mm remaining. If at 37,000 miles the amount of wear [ 7.5 mm (new thickness) minus 4 mm remaining] equals 3.5 mm pad wear. So, 37,000/3.5 equates to about 10,000 miles per mm. At this rate of wear it would give about 20,000 more miles until hitting the 2mm factory specified minimum.
This is if 4mm truly remains, but then again dealers have been known to take "liberties" and more pad than 4 mm may be remaining. The best way is to measure it yourself.
Finally, as I mentioned in my post above, I don't wear pads (or shoes if drum brakes but thankfully those days are gone) down to factory minimum. I prefer a bit more braking material to remain for heat absorption if heavy braking is encountered.
I've never had my pads wear front and back evenly. At least 2 front replacements for every rear.
HyFlyer
2019 CX5 sig 2.2 diesel / 2016.5 CX5 touring 2.5na
- :
- Southwest Ohio
Seems like modern cars (Mazdas at least) wear the rears out first. The lil' black boxes using the rear brakes quite a bit for "stability".
That's not the normal way things are going these days. It's almost always the rears that need replacing first. This is due to the rear wheel brake bias built into modern cars. It is done to prevent nosediving when first hitting the brakes. You can google it and get a better understanding of why modern cars are set up this way. On my 2017 Mazda 6 (since sold), the rears gave out much sooner than the fronts.
My experience has been the same. Especially with a physically smaller pad that has less material thickness than the front pads.
N7turbo
2023 CX-5 2.5T ... 2024 MX-5 RF GT
I don't believe the brakes are biased toward the rear. If that were the case they would put the large front brakes on the rear.
Instead, the rear pads are simply undersized. They come from the factory about 1/2 the size vs the fronts.
- :
- Canada
Rear brakes wear faster because of their size, the non-vented rotors, and electronic brake distribution (EBD). EBD adds a rear brake bias that changes based on different factors.
It seems that Mazda and other manufacturers have tweaked their EBD systems to also help reduce nosedive when braking.
It seems that Mazda and other manufacturers have tweaked their EBD systems to also help reduce nosedive when braking.
Last edited:
As long as you put the EPB in service mode, rear brakes are just as easy as the front.
Not identical, but personally I would say way easier than drum brakes.
Haha. As an older gentleman, I find drum brakes are a lot simpler and easier to do. I did them all the time on older cars.
I did my rear brakes on my 2017 Mazda 6 before I sold it, and they were a PITA.
Thankfully I was aware of the procedure to go into maintenance mode first, but they were still not fun. Maybe because I'm in Canada and I had rust to deal with.
- :
- 2016.5 CX-5 GT AWD titanium/black 2016 Miata Club ST MT white
You're personally offended by this? Really?
Do you own a dealership or perhaps work for one?
New Posts
- Question
