NIce!^ NOw you just need some wheels!

 

The force is strong in Jedi54 and he's using his mind tricks on me to get some Advan T5 18x9.5's with Toyo 255x40 T1R's.

The plan is to put my stockers on my daughter's Mazda6. I just love hand-me-down rationalization.

Thanks again for your DIY!

 

what's the metal clip on the right pad for? my mazdaspeed pads didn't come with that...

http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/p...Y/SDC11340.jpg

thanks in advance..

 

That's the inboard rear passenger side pad wear indicator ..... when the pad has about 2 mm left, the wear indicator starts touching the rotor and causes a screeching sound to let you know your rear pads are almost gone.

 

That's it exactly. Of course we here in RX-8 Club who uber-maintain our vehicles will never get to that point. "If a pad wear indicator never touches the rotor in the woods and there's no one to hear it, does it still make a sound?"

 

sweet. so i can leave it out. thanks man!!

next question: brakes perform way better now but after bedding in i started getting the brake squeal again. i didn't use any grease or anything since the pads didn't come with it and i don't have any, so can someone tell me a good way to get rid of the noise? what to use and where to put it?

 

Did you reuse the shims from the OEM pads.....that will help the noise

You can use the silicone grease between the pad and the caliper.......ie piston on one side and body on the other. A trick that works well often is to use some high temp RTV or gasket compound...and put a bit in the same spots....

 

As dannobre says reuse the shims that came on your stock pads and apply some high temp silicone (or better copper) grease to the caliper piston/clamp-pad mating surfaces. Of course don't get any grease on the rotor-pad mating sides. Also apply a little grease to the channels that retain the ends of the pads since they move in and out sliding in these channels. Basically think about everywhere the exterior sides and ends of the pads are contacted and lubricate.
Also lubricate the slide rods on the calipers themselves (pull them out of their booted sockets to do so).

 

ok yeah i did reuse the shims but it was sad to cover up the pretty blue and mazdaspeed logo. ;(

still squeaky but i didn't try grease yet. so copper? grease on the shim where the caliper touches it and where the metal clips hold the pad in?

 

Yes, where the caliper makes contact with the pads (exterior sides only) and also the channels that hold the ends of the pads.

Copper grease: http://www.amazon.com/Loctite-Copper.../dp/B0006Q7H36

btw: don't be concerned that Loctite also makes something that is anti-seize.

 

Interestingly one [rear] side of my non-Mazdaspeed stock pads came with the wear indicator and one side didn't. I guess they figured that if one side was worn that was enough warning. Or they ran out at the factory.

The same wear indicator came on the Hawk Ceramic rears (both sides).

 

sweet thanks. i'll just order from them.

there's only one indicator (on the passenger side) on the oem pads, so i suspect that's why your mazdaspeed only had one. only question is why mine didn't....

did you just leave the blue pads sticking out then or did you paint them? it looks a little odd at the moment..

 

I bought one of these at Sears for $12 to turn in the caliper. Worked like a champ and it works for other cars to.

 

Yup, Autozone has it too.

But I have the full kit from Harbor Freight (as pictured in the DIY). Very inexpensive with assured fit and ease of retraction.

 

.+1

 

ZumnRx8, thanks for this write-up.

Got Loan-A-Tool from Autozone, and changed my rear brake pads in ~1/2 hour last weekend. My wife was surprised when I was taking the car off the jacks so soon after I started.

 

^ur welcome!

 

Dude, you are a life saver. I was changing all my pads and couldn't figure out why the C-clamp wouldn't depress the rear calipers. And, I had no idea why one rear pad had the bracket and the others did not. great write up and great pics. Thank you so much!!

 

ur welcome^

 

you helped us too with the rear caliper thing. We ended up turning it with needle nose pliers.

Still need to format the post better. It is amazingly impossible to follow with everything mashed together..

 

photobucket deleted your pics. Please find some where else to host them. Your DIY is a life saver will be installing my new brakes this weekend.

 

Just as an FYI:

When depressing the rear brake calipers, at least for me, the needle nose pliers wouldn't cut it. But, channel locks worked perfect!

 

nice... thanks....

 

how do your rotate and depress at the same time with channel locks?

i have done it several times with needle nose pliers. just lately i had to use the box tool that goes to a rachet..

had to push them way back..

beers

 

You have to rotate the rear calipers back into their sockets, so that's why the needle nose pliers are referenced as an alternative, channel locks wouldn't work very well. However the dedicated tool is recommended.

The front calipers may be retracted back with channel locks as they retract straight in, although I prefer a 'C' clamp.