Brake pads

[BigAl]

Just had the first set of replacement front pads at 59500 miles (rears still have 5mm to go at). Cost £179.26 inc labour at a Mazda dealer.

Alan

[rmvf]

Thanks for this info AL.

[twabrigs]

38000 miles, new pads need front and rear, and new rear discs (corrosion apparently). Mazda dealer £170 for the four sets of pads and £320 for the discs. Local independent £264 the lot.

[twabrigs]

which was painful enough, I assure you.

[Deeps]

Noticed on my car that whilst the front discs are very shiny the rears are banded - partly a little rusty and partly nice and shiny - which seems to indicate that the pads are either not laying flat or that when braking the full face of the pad is not making contact with the discs. The car will be going in to have it's summer wheels fitted in a couple of weeks so I shall obviously point this out to the dealer for checking when the car is up on the ramp with the wheels off. I don't think it can be pad wear as such as the car only has 6,000km on the clock. In the meantime, however, has anybody else noticed/experienced this on their car?

[twabrigs]

I did notice that Deeps, but unfortunately only after the Mazda dealer had already condemned the rear discs at the last service. The nearside rear pads were binding as well which didn't exactly help matters. I live on the coast so maybe the salt air, Scottish salty winter roads and open alloys haven't helped. Never had a car before needing new discs after 38k though.

[rmvf]

Same here, got car booked in for April asked for new pads on rear, let's see what they say about discs

[Deeps]

Thanks for the input guys and I shall certainly be pointing out these rear discs to the dealer in a couple of weeks. As earlier stated, with only 6,000km on the clock I don't think it reasonable that the rear pads should have worn so much that they are in need of replacement especially considering that the best part of 2/3rds of that total distance have been driven on motorways where braking wasn't necessary and with probably half of the remaining 1/3rd on dual carriageways. In town I might have been willing to swallow the pain but not under the aforementioned circumstances.

[twabrigs]

And another new set of rear discs required at 62k, having replaced them at 38k. Noted at last service and now an advisory on today's otherwise clean MoT. Dealer quote £297 for rear discs and pads which is less than they did last time, but I'll see what my friendly local independent says.

I love this car but it seems to chomp through brakes like nobody's business. 24k miles for a set of discs?

[YX1109]

Had same problem with my last Car a 6 , rears rusty and marked very early on . Dealer said leave as is
due to the fact in normal driving the fronts do the braking and the rears get little wear and tear. Therefore
they tend to rust and mark. Never did have to change them in over seven years ownership. Car M.O.T'd
no problem each time. Did just under 50k mixed mileage some on very poor roads.

[twabrigs]

Thanks for that  - local garage said similar re the fronts doing all the work and the rears therefore getting the chance to corrode and score. There is a slight judder though, and it does need new pads so am renewing the discs at the same time to be on the safe side. £150 instead of the Mazda dealer's £297. Hopefully the last set of discs I'll put on this car, planning to keep it another 2 years or so.

[Anchorman]

Don’t be afraid to work the brakes hard. Friction materials enjoy temperature (I was testing and developing them for 17 years).  If the surface is slightly banded and scored it won’t make much difference to performance but it will respond well to burning the surface off.  If you drive hard (but safely) leaving braking late and bring the speed down to nearly stopped several times or down a big Hill then drive it normally for 10 minutes doing light braking you’ll clean them up.  Don’t drag them though by driving against the brake.  Don’t worry if they smell a bit but don’t have smoke pouring off.

[twabrigs]

no concerns about driving hard - thanks for the tips

 

[Dave]

My old CX needed new brakes after 70K, only time I've needed them

[MikeTB]

Just to show what can happen.
I live very close to the sea and until recently my car stayed outside. I also do a very low mileage.
This year I have replaced all the pads and the rear discs at 15,500 miles. Rear discs were seriously corroded.
Happily I can now keep it in my garage.

Note that i did the job myself in about an hour. Discs and pads only cost about £75. I used Borg & Beck parts.