Disc breaks
 

Hey did the LX pro's have rear disc or just front also? i want to make my rear breaks disc and i've been thinking if i can find a protege junked that has the stuff i need i can buy that. any ideas?

i have a 96 LX 1.5L and only the front is disc brakes...the back is damn drum brakes...i hate drum brakes...but they r good for the one fact that they give off like no brake dust at all :)

any one know what kind of car i can pull rear disk brakes off of to work? well at least the callipers and such.

from what I hear the drums are better, but at any rate , the es does have disc , but I think the drums are more convenient , cause they don't give off dust , they last longer that 1+ years , and they are still pretty strong.....
Bruce
Hey Jesse , glad to see you are ok

I've always been told that disc breaks are much better? How long do rotors last? I always thought more than a few years at least.

well, on disc breaks, the rotors on my '97 have been replaced twice since the car was new, and breaks, last me about 9 months...

and yes i like the rear drums they are less work and stronger, but i love the look of front and rear dicsc..

I am thinking exactly like you guys. Right now I do not mind having drums in the rear. But if I were to buy nice rims, I would most likely get the discs off of the ES model. I do not know about the wear and tear of discs in the rear. I would assume at least 20% longer, if the brake balance is 60% front, and 40% rear. I really like the brakes and how they feel on my 97DX. I have replaced front pads once, and had the rotors shaved, thats it. Though, for now I have to stick with drums, I have no money, and I have to wait till I graduate college until I get any. But who knows, maybe by then I would be driving MazdaSpeed Pro or 6?

I know what you mean , for now , I am pretty content with my drums , really I don't even feal like swaping them out , but if someone did want to , I would say go to or call a junk yard and get them to send you everything that you need ... and then do it
Bruce

i dont kno if its worth the hassle to swap to 4 wheel disc

are the master cylinders different for the ES proteges?
would you need a different proportioning valve??

do you really want to get ur self into a mess just so they could look better?

from what i kno, discs offer less resistance to fade, and are easier to maintain

but initial stopping, they work just fine
its the repeated stopping that will make the rears over heat and warp

i put kvr rotors on the front and the carbon kevlar pads and the car stops great, just keep the back adjusted well

but if u just want them for the look, give mazda a call and ask about the master cylinder and proportioning valve
the rest of the parts would be easier to install

I did partially want them for looks but people kept telling me they were better than drums, and I thought i'd ask about it. guess they were wrong and i'll just keep the drums. thanks

well, the discs are better... but mainly because of cooling efficiency and ease of maintainence

if youre gonna race, by all means get them
because 2 extremely hard stops,
(from like 130kms) and they are mush
but i find the the drums are great for autocrossing and daily driving

they are just ugly

(by the way, sorry if i sound like a jerk, i really dont mean to :)

paint them then if they are ugly , lol

i already did adn to be honest they look pretty good. the real reason i wanted to switch to disc was cause of performance but it sounds like it won't make that much of a difference, i'm thinking i'll just keep them after reading what you have all said.

I like them but I have to get new disks 'cause they got screwed up when I ran out of pads and since they had been "shaved" before there isn't much left to shave so I'll probably invest in the cross-drilled rotors. In the picture you can see the disk at that time I had painted the center part of the disk black and it got paint on the braking surface but after braking all the way down the mountain (where I live) it came right off and had a nicely painted caliper and disk (center part)
http://pollito14.web1000.com/protege/rearswaybar.jpg

oh my gosh ur pro looks nice!!
what kind of body kit is that??

i have the kvr crossdrilled rotors and carbon kevlar pads on my car and they work great
just makesure to break them in properly

and if u have the cash, i would opt for the nickle plating as it improves the looks and doesent allow the rotor to rust