gord boyd

I've posted question under brakes section as I'm paying $1300
to Owen Sound Mazda for new replacements. Not Happy!
This is AT and has two winters but I'm deliberately light in using brakes.
gord boyd

MrJynx

your brakes are dead after 37k? should that be covered under warrenty? That really sucks man


MrJynx

gord boyd

The only thing I can think of is maybe the DSC malfunctioned, but Serv. Mgr.
says winter environment real bad even if not on any gravel/dirt roads.
He claims Mazda 3 reverted to drums for this reason

Shamblerock

Sorry, but that is suspect. If you wore down the pads to nothing then one can argue that you used the brakes very aggressively and thus shortened the life. But if they are just not stopping the car or the disks/calipers are warped on not functioning properly, then I think you have a case to have them repair for free. One other thing to consider is getting an aftermarket high performance disks/pads somewhere else. It would probably cost you less than $1300.

gord boyd

He says back brakes were'nt operational and I did not notice. I always
lift gas pettle early, coast and then apply brakes easily.
I thought proper 2 year procedure would be to shave some from discs and gave authorization but upon returning, he gave me a loner and the explaination.

Shamblerock

Investigate and put up a fight. Calipers are covered under warranty to the best of my knowledge. If your brakes didn't perform well because of malfunctioning calipers, then they should cover the job under warranty. I am pretty sure you can get this price reduced to pay for new pads and rotors only.

samyv2

Dude I think he is ripping you off. I would take it to another dealer

gord boyd

4 rotors/all pads parts just around $950 and labour & taxes took bill to $1400.00

yiksing

I think your light braking is not properly break-in your rotors thus the short life

gord boyd

I've been asked by Peter at Mazda Owen Sound (Service Mgr) to write you.
As you can see from this thread I'm perplexed at such an expense when I've deliberately treated the car lightly and performed all service schedules and taken all advices from Owen Sound Mazda. I've taken car maintenance very seriously
as my intentions have always been to own this vehicle for 10 or more years. I believe Mazda Canada has to take some responsibility if annual checks for braking system should have been performed at your Dealers' location and there was no notification of that rqt. to the Dealer or to myself. I would like a face-to-face meeting with the Mazda Rep. for this Dealer, to discuss this and examine the rotors/pads removed yesterday.
Thankyou,
Gord Boyd

01Racing

Just a couple of thoughts on your brakes. 37000km is not that short a life span on brake pads these days depending on driving conditions. You say your very light on the brakes all the time, which could be why you need to replace the rotors and not machine them. If your car is parked outside and you make shortish trips, you probably have a rust build up on the rotors that cannot be machined out. If you are harder on the brakes and put more heat in them, the pads will clean the rotors off when you drive. If you dont "clean" the rust off the rotors when you drive they will become pitted and need to be replaced, as the pits become to deep to machine off. We see brakes all the time that are "glazed" and/or pitted, easpecially on lower kilometer or short trip driven cars.

gord boyd

Thanks, those are valid comments. My car is garaged all the time.
I would say Hwy/City split 60/40 meaning maybe 15 K kms frequent stopping.
Pitting should be inspected at each service interval.
I must be braking more than MT cars.

gord boyd

I'm awaiting response from Mazda Canada.

gord boyd

I have to ask if anyone else notice that new spec.'s may recognise a durability problem?

The AT only had 323 mm wide fronts and 302 rear.

scoop

If anything the new specs would make the problem worse in your case. Larger rotors equals greater braking efficiency, i.e. you would have to apply less braking pressure and less rust would get properly scraped off during each use. At this point I can't fault the brakes at all on my MT 8. I have maybe 21K on mine and the rotors look new. I don't baby the brakes and I have done many laps and gone for some very spirited drives, they are very durable, never fade and the pads last very well. I don't winter drive my car though and I even avoid many rainy days where I can. The hats on my rotors are still nice and clean, other 8s I have seen that were winter driven are all rusty.

The problem you are describing is common to MANY four wheel disc brake cars. I have owned a VW, two Audis and a Subaru in this configuration and rear brakes have always been a problem, mainly because the front brakes do much more work. It is particularly annoying on my Audi winter car that doesn't get exercised as much as it should when I am driving the 8 in summer. I just replaced the rear rotors and one rear calliper on the Audi again, the rotors probably had less than 20K on them. The rotors were unbelievable, totally glazed on some surfaces and huge chunks of the surface had flaked off. Every VW and Audi has had every rear calliper replaced multiple times, my Subaru is better but I have still had to have the rotor surfaces machined because of rust. It's a classic case of use it or lose it, it doesn't take long for "lot rot" to completely destroy this stuff. The rotors are made out of cast iron because it dissipates heat very well, the problem is that it gets a visible layer of rust within minutes of becoming wet. Once you get any sort of serious buildup or rust around the edges of the braking surface the spread seems to go exponential . . .

Keep an eye on the brake rotors, there should be no rust accumulation and they should be super shiny, except outside the pad contact area. If I see things getting out of control I take the cars out and deliberately abuse them on vacant roads doing hard stops and drive around with my foot on the gas an brake. Just be careful as you can generate a lot of heat very fast causing serious brake fade, i.e. your braking distance may increase dramatically.

Oops got a little long winded here . . . In summary, what you describe is completely normal in some driving circumstances and it would happen on other cars. It's a sports car with very large brakes, use them how they were intended to be used or they will keep rotting out on you . . .

Edit: One more thing, make sure you use your parking brake all the time, that will help keep things working back there over the long run . . . I know that the owners manual says not to use it in the cold. It's odd though, I have only every had sticking problems on one car and it was because the calliper was on its way out.