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Premature rotor wear.

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H

Hellotalkie

Golden Member
02' Protege5

I purchased the vehicle used last January with 120,xxx miles. Initially the car needed front and rear rotors. Got around to replacing them around March 2012. The front rotors starting vibrating in October, became unsafe in December.

Had my mechanic test the calipers, said they were fine. Replaced the rotors and brake pads. I took a cross country road trip (~4,000 miles). The rotors are now vibrating. I brought it to a local mechanic in norcal, telling me the same thing. Front calipers are fine. Recommends drilled rotors for cooling, as well as new brake pads.

I won't authorize the service till I find out why the rotors are wearing out so quickly. My mechanic back home is looking to see if there are any places around here that will warrant his parts since he purchased the ceramic rotors from a national parts store.

The vibration only occurs when on the brakes. I don't use my brakes a lot, tend to engine brake as often as possible too.

any suggestions?
 
cr2250 said:
02' Protege5

I purchased the vehicle used last January with 120,xxx miles. Initially the car needed front and rear rotors. Got around to replacing them around March 2012. The front rotors starting vibrating in October, became unsafe in December.

Had my mechanic test the calipers, said they were fine. Replaced the rotors and brake pads. I took a cross country road trip (~4,000 miles). The rotors are now vibrating. I brought it to a local mechanic in norcal, telling me the same thing. Front calipers are fine. Recommends drilled rotors for cooling, as well as new brake pads.

I won't authorize the service till I find out why the rotors are wearing out so quickly. My mechanic back home is looking to see if there are any places around here that will warrant his parts since he purchased the ceramic rotors from a national parts store.

The vibration only occurs when on the brakes. I don't use my brakes a lot, tend to engine brake as often as possible too.

any suggestions?
Click to expand...

ceramic rotors? I think you are mistaken...

your rotors are likely warping because they are of poor quality.
 
Something is happening to cause the brakes to overheat, or you got some really cheap parts installed. Did you bed the pads in?
 
Use napa premium rotors/pads. Have a GOOD brake job done (IE specifically ask them to clean and lube the caliper slides) and don't ride your brakes and you will have no further issues.


Do not install cross drilled or aftermarket rotors. Do not install cheap autozone/advance lifetime junk rotors or their junk pads.


Napa premium or OEM. I guarantee that the problems will stop.
 
I had a '98 Protege EX. It would wear out the brakes at 15K like clock work, and the rotors would start to vibrate at 3K to 4K every time they were replaced. It did this from the time it was new, until I sold it at 82K. I had every brake component replaced under warranty from the dealer at least three times.

My family owned a Mazda dealership at the time, I had several relatives with '96 - '03 Protege's, all with the same issue of very short brake life, although not all had issues with vibration, or at least not all noticed it. They have since sold the Mazda franchise due to quality issues like this, so I'm not familiar with newer models. I know I'll never own a Mazda rustbucket again.
 
WilliamM2 said:
I had a '98 Protege EX. It would wear out the brakes at 15K like clock work, and the rotors would start to vibrate at 3K to 4K every time they were replaced. It did this from the time it was new, until I sold it at 82K. I had every brake component replaced under warranty from the dealer at least three times.

My family owned a Mazda dealership at the time, I had several relatives with '96 - '03 Protege's, all with the same issue of very short brake life, although not all had issues with vibration, or at least not all noticed it. They have since sold the Mazda franchise due to quality issues like this, so I'm not familiar with newer models. I know I'll never own a Mazda rustbucket again.
Click to expand...

I've been through 3 sets in one year. Annoying because everything else about this car is fine.
 
run outs will cause wobbing / warp brake feeling.. ie your axle is slightly bent or hit a lot of pot holes. you cant see it but a machine can. I had the issue with my old car, hit so much nyc pot holes, i can keep chaning brakes rotor every 8-10k but it'll always comes back.. was too expensive to fix, end up ditching the car and not hit too much pot holes with the new car. Was also expensive to do the on car lathe.. found a few places that was charing 200 per side.

http://www.ebcbrakes.com/automotive/pro_cut_lathe.shtml
 
Installed ATE rotors today. Gave me a 1 year guarantee. The rotors I had on there had a lot of rust on the back, also were shot, couldn't keep using them.
 
you probably had cheap rotors on there. ceramic pads are actually stronger then cheap rotors, so youll actually wear the rotor down during braking. you need a higher end rotor to withstand the extra strength and heat of ceramics.
 
cr2250 said:
02' Protege5

I purchased the vehicle used last January with 120,xxx miles. Initially the car needed front and rear rotors. Got around to replacing them around March 2012. The front rotors starting vibrating in October, became unsafe in December.

Had my mechanic test the calipers, said they were fine. Replaced the rotors and brake pads. I took a cross country road trip (~4,000 miles). The rotors are now vibrating. I brought it to a local mechanic in norcal, telling me the same thing. Front calipers are fine. Recommends drilled rotors for cooling, as well as new brake pads.

I won't authorize the service till I find out why the rotors are wearing out so quickly. My mechanic back home is looking to see if there are any places around here that will warrant his parts since he purchased the ceramic rotors from a national parts store.

The vibration only occurs when on the brakes. I don't use my brakes a lot, tend to engine brake as often as possible too.

any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Did the mechanic check the run out during the installation? According to many brake manufacturers in most cases excessive run out is responsible for disc thickness variation which leads to vibrations. And you won't solve the problem by installing new rotors if the run out is too much. They will start vibrating at some point.

Read this EBC's article (first paragraph): http://www.ebcbrakes.com/automotive/brake-vibration.shtml or this by StopTech (Myth #1): http://www.stoptech.com/technical-support/technical-white-papers/-warped-brake-disc-and-other-myths or even this by Brembo (paragraph 8): http://bremboaftermarket.com/en/car_disc_catalogue/Instructions_Installation.aspx
 
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