Bought Centric rotors, Stoptech pads, slider pins, bushings, springs to do the brakes. The pads were quite low and the rotors were a bit grooved. I've done about a dozen brake jobs in my life so no big deal, right?
Started on the driver's front. Rotors were incredibly rusted to the hubs:
First I did some medium banging after a PB Blaster soak. No movement.
Then I used some big bolts I had lying around through the bracket mounting holes on the knuckle (i.e. not the bracket itself). Mushroomed the bolts. Still no movement.
Mounted my steering wheel puller to the bracket mounts and bought grade 8 bolts instead of using the smaller bolts that came with the puller. Stripped the 1.5" block and the center press bolt. No movement.
Went to town with a 4lbs mini sledge. Finally popped it off along with about 2 lbs of rust and dirt.
Mounted up the new pads, pins, spring clip and rotor. Turns out the knuckle mounts were bent so the bracket now impacted the rotor. That knuckle is ruined.
Figure "what the hell" might as well try the passenger side at this point. Soaked it again and went right to the mini sledge. Big mistake! Hamfisted and angry I knocked one of the mount ears clear off the knuckle. That much I'll take the blame for!
Put the old rotors and pads back on, loosely remounted the calipers, drove 10 mph to my local mechanic to get the knuckles replaced and finish the brake job I'd started. Stayed on the side of the country and county roads, using the trans and the rear brakes (which I never started) via e-brake to stop when I had to... Clunking the whole way (rotor kept slapping the caliper bracket).
Mechanic stated he'd never had brakes that difficult to remove - front passenger (the one I never loosened) and both rear. I live in the country with lots of trucks, very old to huge and new, lots of salt and sand, crappy winters and lots of rusty vehicles of all makes. It's saying something when he says that's the worst he's seen. To get the rotors off, he used one of those large three-claw pullers with arms 1"+ thick and a hydraulic press in the center. He said every single thing he went to change/remove was "a job". Nothing came smoothly or easily.
He couldn't get the bearings out safely. Those needed to be replaced.
He couldn't get the sensors out of the knuckles after soaking for about 36 hours despite multiple tries. Those needed to be replaced.
Miscellaneous bolts needed to be replaced as you'd expect at this point in the story.
Explain to me how a company that makes the Miata - the near-pinnacle of reliability and maintainability (I've owned two NBs, one I bought with nearly 90k mi!) - can produce something of such a weak constitution? I should mention it's an 08 with only 51k mi and during the winter I give it regular undercarriage washes.
I have a 97 Jeep Cherokee with 145k mi. When I purchased it with around 110, it still had the original rotors and drums, rusted and grooved. The calipers had phenolic pistons which were crumbling apart! I didn't know until I did a thorough inspection. New calipers (metal pistons this time), rear wheel cylinders, rotors, drums, pads and shoes and all the hardware bits, front and rear. The entire job was easier than the one front corner on the MZ5. I'm not saying the rotors and drums weren't sticky, but nothing like this. The rotor hats on the Cherokee are much deeper than the ones on the MZ5 and yet, rusted and old as they were, a few good smacks and they came off without damaging any of parts of the suspension or steering.
I noticed that some of the steering and brake components have a FoMoCo stamp on them. So who do I blame for the inferior product? FoMoCo for making it or Mazda for putting the junk on their vehicles?
If I had an inkling I'd have sold or traded it at a loss instead of doing a brake job that ends up costing over a grand.
Am I alone in this occurrence? I don't expect Mazda to recompense me, "old" cars are always a risk, but I feel this information should be passed on to owners, potential owners and to Mazda itself. I was considering a CX-5 if they decide to bring the diesel here with an available stick. But now I am hesitant to buy a newer Mazda product. Further I'm quite concerned when my wife's MS3 needs a brake job. Should she sell or trade it before it gets to that point (she only has 32k mi on it right now)?
I always by used and I don't expect anything to go perfectly by the book, but this is beyond and reasonable expectation of quality, especially considering mileage and age.
Started on the driver's front. Rotors were incredibly rusted to the hubs:
First I did some medium banging after a PB Blaster soak. No movement.
Then I used some big bolts I had lying around through the bracket mounting holes on the knuckle (i.e. not the bracket itself). Mushroomed the bolts. Still no movement.
Mounted my steering wheel puller to the bracket mounts and bought grade 8 bolts instead of using the smaller bolts that came with the puller. Stripped the 1.5" block and the center press bolt. No movement.
Went to town with a 4lbs mini sledge. Finally popped it off along with about 2 lbs of rust and dirt.
Mounted up the new pads, pins, spring clip and rotor. Turns out the knuckle mounts were bent so the bracket now impacted the rotor. That knuckle is ruined.
Figure "what the hell" might as well try the passenger side at this point. Soaked it again and went right to the mini sledge. Big mistake! Hamfisted and angry I knocked one of the mount ears clear off the knuckle. That much I'll take the blame for!
Put the old rotors and pads back on, loosely remounted the calipers, drove 10 mph to my local mechanic to get the knuckles replaced and finish the brake job I'd started. Stayed on the side of the country and county roads, using the trans and the rear brakes (which I never started) via e-brake to stop when I had to... Clunking the whole way (rotor kept slapping the caliper bracket).
Mechanic stated he'd never had brakes that difficult to remove - front passenger (the one I never loosened) and both rear. I live in the country with lots of trucks, very old to huge and new, lots of salt and sand, crappy winters and lots of rusty vehicles of all makes. It's saying something when he says that's the worst he's seen. To get the rotors off, he used one of those large three-claw pullers with arms 1"+ thick and a hydraulic press in the center. He said every single thing he went to change/remove was "a job". Nothing came smoothly or easily.
He couldn't get the bearings out safely. Those needed to be replaced.
He couldn't get the sensors out of the knuckles after soaking for about 36 hours despite multiple tries. Those needed to be replaced.
Miscellaneous bolts needed to be replaced as you'd expect at this point in the story.
Explain to me how a company that makes the Miata - the near-pinnacle of reliability and maintainability (I've owned two NBs, one I bought with nearly 90k mi!) - can produce something of such a weak constitution? I should mention it's an 08 with only 51k mi and during the winter I give it regular undercarriage washes.
I have a 97 Jeep Cherokee with 145k mi. When I purchased it with around 110, it still had the original rotors and drums, rusted and grooved. The calipers had phenolic pistons which were crumbling apart! I didn't know until I did a thorough inspection. New calipers (metal pistons this time), rear wheel cylinders, rotors, drums, pads and shoes and all the hardware bits, front and rear. The entire job was easier than the one front corner on the MZ5. I'm not saying the rotors and drums weren't sticky, but nothing like this. The rotor hats on the Cherokee are much deeper than the ones on the MZ5 and yet, rusted and old as they were, a few good smacks and they came off without damaging any of parts of the suspension or steering.
I noticed that some of the steering and brake components have a FoMoCo stamp on them. So who do I blame for the inferior product? FoMoCo for making it or Mazda for putting the junk on their vehicles?
If I had an inkling I'd have sold or traded it at a loss instead of doing a brake job that ends up costing over a grand.
Am I alone in this occurrence? I don't expect Mazda to recompense me, "old" cars are always a risk, but I feel this information should be passed on to owners, potential owners and to Mazda itself. I was considering a CX-5 if they decide to bring the diesel here with an available stick. But now I am hesitant to buy a newer Mazda product. Further I'm quite concerned when my wife's MS3 needs a brake job. Should she sell or trade it before it gets to that point (she only has 32k mi on it right now)?
I always by used and I don't expect anything to go perfectly by the book, but this is beyond and reasonable expectation of quality, especially considering mileage and age.
