New PR5 owner!

Greetings everyone!

Spent the last hour or so reading random posts and looking at build photo's. Decided it was time to register up and say hello.

I'm fanatic new owner of a 2002 Mazda Protege 5 (PR5 is the cool way to abbreviate it correct? Haha)
Picked her up last Wednesday night and if I didn't have to work, sleep, be with the girlfriend I would be driving and wrenching on it all day..
Here is some photo's of her, 86k original miles.


**Edit** Not sure how to get these pictures to show up inside my post.. *
I bought it with the drivers window regulator broken and already ordered a new one off Amazon and replaced it. Made sure to order a drop in K&N filter while I was at it as I can't stand those paper filters..

Looking to the brakes soon as they are getting close to being finished and the rotors are warped pretty bad so I'm probably going to replace those too. Any recommendations on types? I'm thinking ceramic pads of some type, but is it worth it to get those drilled and or slotted rotors? Amazon sells a few rotor/pad combos for the front and rear from two companies. Max brakes and power stop, I looked into Max Brakes website and they seem like nice replacements, but I'd love to hear what everyone thinks is the best bang for the buck!

Also I read that the timing belt is good till 100k ish miles, but I'm not sure if mine will be okay just due to age and possible cracking even though I only have 86k miles? The car was owned by only one other person and they lived in southern California for the life of the car thus far, so I know it hasn't been in cold climates for most of its years.

Anyway! Happy to be here and learn some more!
Hope there is some Mazda meets in southern CA that I can join up on!

Ethan

Damn man love that white, congratulations

Congrats, I would definitely do that timing belt it's recommended at 7 years and just under 100k miles IIRC.

Thanks, yeah I'm really happy with the car so far! Always been a white car fan and was super stoked to find a white PR5. (P5? Am I doing this right? Haha)

I'll get that timing belt changed asap then thanks!

Anyone have any advise on the braking situation I mentioned?

3lectriclazer said:

Thanks, yeah I'm really happy with the car so far! Always been a white car fan and was super stoked to find a white PR5. (P5? Am I doing this right? Haha)

I'll get that timing belt changed asap then thanks!

Anyone have any advise on the braking situation I mentioned?

Click to expand...

welcome.

i find the the drill/ slotted rotors are just for look when used for everyday driving. I have used both blank and slotted and found no benefit, the slotted one wears out your pad really fast.

best for me are regular blank with a good set of pads and tires

Welcome aboard!

Generally referred to as "P5" or I have seen "MP5"...

I just had a set of Akebono Brakes put on about a month ago, flat rotors and ceramic pads. stops like a dream and virtually no brake dust on my rims. Ive seen forums that have good results with a Mazda6 brake swap too if you want to go bigger and decrease the chance of the rear calipers seizing.

There's a lot of info on the swap in this thread:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123797660-Mazda-6-Brake-upgrade

good luck.

Thanks for the brake info guys!

I was leaning towards slotted rotors for awhile, but knowing it will cut down on pad time makes me sway back towards just getting some new blanks. Anyone use the ACDelco Rotor blanks? I don't want to get a cheaply made blank rotor, but I'd rather not spend a ton either haha..

blk02P5, how long did your Akebono pads last about? I take it you got the Pro-Act?

Sorry for the delay, I literally had them put on about a month ago, they should out last the AC delco that I had put on before that, that lasted about 15 months I think, so not long at all. I wouldnt recommend them, I tried to do them cheap and im pretty sure I had a warped rotor for most of the life of the brakes that I just dealt with.