Pictures of my brake job

Since instructions have already been posted on this forum before, I won't put instructions.
Just showing off my mad skillz.

The brakes were burning hot to the touch, so I had to pour a bucket of cold water all over to cool it down.

I was suprised to see that the centric pads don't fill the entire space of the centric rotor.
Just to double check, I put the oem pad on the new rotor and the oem pad does not fill the entire space either.
there is about 1/8 inch on the inside of the contact area of the rotor that the pad does not touch...meaning this small area will
have a small rust ring... which defeats the purpose of the e-coating. Confused on why they would not match their own
pads to their own rotors exactly, and the only exposed metal would always be wiped away by the pad.
I triple checked the part numbers and everything is correct.
The pads were marked in white lettering on the side of the pad material 105AB 12580 (couldn't find any info on the net about "AB")
Rotors on the box were labeled 120 45080
So I know everything is right...guess that's just how they made em.

I guess that's what you get for made in China. (Althought I still believe these are really good rotors)

Also, this bleeder kit that I rented from Advance Auto is total crap. It was brand new never opened, I even had to break the seal on it.
The bleeder pump had some sort of pop rivet attaching the handle to the cylinder pump rod. The rivet fell out after bleeding 2 calipers.
It was a simple fix just to put a screw through this hole to continue going, but this pump is worthless. The rubber pieces do not have a tight seal,
and unless you hold the pump in one hand and press the rubber pieces together for an air tight seal with your other hand, you will have air in your lines.

I would not advise on purchasing this specific bleeding kit to anyone.

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you were not able to get those rotor screws out. I noticed that you had to drill them. Did you soak them with pb blaster first.
 
Use this to remove the screws on the rotors.

Those pads look like they were crumbling. I've never seen pads in this condition before.
 
I had to do the same thing with one of the screws on my rear passenger side rotor. I drilled and used an easy-out to remove it the rest of the way, just in case I wanted to put a replacement one on later, even though they are not necessary.
 
kornholio: I sprayed penetrating oil on them. I tried a large screwdriver which would not budge. I then tried a regular large phillips bit, which instantly snapped the bit. I then tried a titanium bit or whatever material its made of, and it stripped the screw. I didn't spend more than a minute or so as I was pretty sure I was gonna have to drill out the screw head. It didn't take but 5 seconds to drill the head out. As soon as I popped the rotor off, I was able to simply unscrew the remaining screw stubs with my hand. It appeared that the rotor screw heads may have been rusted or sealed into the rotor, but they were as loose as a goose in the hub/bearing. These screws as have been mentioned before are only used for manufacturing purposes...they hold the rotor on on the car as the car is being assembled at the factory so that the rotor won't fall off. This is the only useful purpose I can think of for even having screws. Needless to say I have no plans to replace the screws.
 
That was an awesome brake job! I had the Centric rotors and Satisfied pro ceramic pads installed last year. Granted, we put a hell of mileages in our 9. It's an 08 and the clock is reading 105,000 as of today (boom06) If I recalled, we installed the Centric rotors at around 65-70k and that was a year ago (boom02). We have been experiencing long braking distance lately and the brake pedal requires to be fully pressed to have the truck stopped.

Took it to our trusted mechanic a few days ago and he said the front rotors are shot. He said it is common for this Mazda to eat up brakes. But I mean what could be the cause of this? I can't imagine to replace rotors every 30-35k miles??!! Was it due to the heavier weight of the 9 and small calipers?
*edit: we do a lot of stop and go traffic here in DC too

On the bright side, the new order came in and I am going with Power Slot rotors and Akebono pro-act ceramic pads this time. Let's see if they will last longer and provide better braking feedback :) *fingers crossed*

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I've heard good things about the Akebono ProACT. I installed a set(centric rotors and ProACTs) on an MDX for a friend a month ago and she likes it very much. I think I'll go with this set up when it's time to replace my brakes.
 
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