Well I finally got around to replacing my rear rotors and pads on my 2017 Mazda 6 GT.
Being in Canada, the rear brakes started to rust almost immediately. Back in early 2020 (I think), I went to 2 dealers to complain about my rusty brakes and to have them fixed under warranty. The car only had about 20,000 Kms (12,000 miles) and they blew me off, wanting close to $700 to replace them. Long story short, I continued to drive on them until this weekend. I'm at 40,000 kms (24,000 miles).
I ordered parts during the winter and only just got around to doing them yesterday.
The pads were down to almost nothing, and the rotors were disgustingly rusty.
Amazingly though, they still worked and the calipers moved just fine.
The biggest hassle was getting the two 14mm bolts out. Man they were tight.
Turns out they had locktite on them from the factory. Small wonder I pulled a muscle in my arm getting them out (just kidding).
The first side took me about two hours, and the second side only an hour. Lesson learned on side one. I had also ordered four new caliper pins, but the originals were in pristine condition. The rubber seals on all four pins were still in tact.
After reading several threads, a couple of observations and notes:
Going into maintenance mode does not retract the piston. All it does is back off the motor so that it allows you to push the piston in.
As many have said, do not turn the piston. Push it straight back. What I did to do that was leave the assembly together, and used a large straight bladed screwdriver.
I jammed the screwdriver between the inside brake pad and the rotor, and just pulled on the screwdriver, using the brake pad to push the piston in. Worked like a charm. Once the piston was all the way in, the rest was straightforward (except for those 2 bolts...lol).
The only moment of slight panic was exiting maintenance mode. The instructions I had (from a thread on this site) said to exit, I had to push down on the EPB switch again. WRONG.
To exit, you have to pull up on the switch. It's the opposite of what you do when entering maintenance mode. I found the correct procedure on youtube.
At the end of the day, everything is working properly. Big sigh of relief.
Being in Canada, the rear brakes started to rust almost immediately. Back in early 2020 (I think), I went to 2 dealers to complain about my rusty brakes and to have them fixed under warranty. The car only had about 20,000 Kms (12,000 miles) and they blew me off, wanting close to $700 to replace them. Long story short, I continued to drive on them until this weekend. I'm at 40,000 kms (24,000 miles).
I ordered parts during the winter and only just got around to doing them yesterday.
The pads were down to almost nothing, and the rotors were disgustingly rusty.
Amazingly though, they still worked and the calipers moved just fine.
The biggest hassle was getting the two 14mm bolts out. Man they were tight.
Turns out they had locktite on them from the factory. Small wonder I pulled a muscle in my arm getting them out (just kidding).
The first side took me about two hours, and the second side only an hour. Lesson learned on side one. I had also ordered four new caliper pins, but the originals were in pristine condition. The rubber seals on all four pins were still in tact.
After reading several threads, a couple of observations and notes:
Going into maintenance mode does not retract the piston. All it does is back off the motor so that it allows you to push the piston in.
As many have said, do not turn the piston. Push it straight back. What I did to do that was leave the assembly together, and used a large straight bladed screwdriver.
I jammed the screwdriver between the inside brake pad and the rotor, and just pulled on the screwdriver, using the brake pad to push the piston in. Worked like a charm. Once the piston was all the way in, the rest was straightforward (except for those 2 bolts...lol).
The only moment of slight panic was exiting maintenance mode. The instructions I had (from a thread on this site) said to exit, I had to push down on the EPB switch again. WRONG.
To exit, you have to pull up on the switch. It's the opposite of what you do when entering maintenance mode. I found the correct procedure on youtube.
At the end of the day, everything is working properly. Big sigh of relief.
