rotors and pads... how difficult is it to do it yourself?
 

i bought some pads and rotors (rear) a few weeks ago and the shop that put them on must have done something wrong as they are grinding again, just 2 weeks later!!! the dude is shadey so i'm guessing he isnt going to give me a free fix... i could do what he did, i'm sure of it...

so, how hard is it? what could be the issue i'm having? the rotor is scuffed pretty bad, what could he have done? could bumps cause this (in the road).

post up some pics and Ill tell you exactly what he did.

It's fairly easy .. I did it myself this past summer and I would consider myself a class 'D' mechanic .. not exactly a newb but way far from an expert. Just use the guide posted on http://protege5.ugly.net/04-11.PDF (pages 19 & 23) and you can't go wrong.

Lets hope he didn't put the pads in backwards but you should have heard that from the beginning.

i DID hear something from the beginning... but it was very intermitant... then with my laziness/working all day and his shop hours i just let it go until i REALLY heard it this past weekend.

here are some pics, not sure they'll help but:
- notice how bad the rim looks... the others are fine but this one is brown and nasty.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...e/100_4257.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...e/100_4255.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...e/100_4259.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...e/100_4260.jpg

WTF!! oh my lord. Dude...did your rims look like that BEFORE he did this? those have to be the nastiest rims/pads/rotors I've ever seen in my life....and I pull cars from junkyards for fun!

Where do you live?? We may have a member nearby who can inspect these in person and help you out.

Damn, thats just messed up. I've never seen aluminum rims rust!!

Either that, or that is the nastiest layer of brake dust I've ever seen in my life!! Anyway you look at it, something ain't right there .. you should definately check that out.

yeah, thats brake dust...those certainly dont look like new rotors..he probably didnt lube the slider pins, and the caliper froze, and grindedup those new pads

Dude thats horrible. Take it to a real mechanic. It's difficult to see exactly from the pics but looks like they have overheated for sure, any smell????? Frozen caliper sounds like a logical explanation but that should have been picked up at the time of installation. From at the colors on the caliper I'd almost guess that thing would have had a glow at night after driving.

the other three are normal... it's not rust, it's brake dust i'm guessing....

i'm a bit ticked as i cant afford to spend money on the brakes yet, i cant afford not to....

so, back to the original question... how difficult will it be to do it myself?

Blitz its not very difficult at all if you have some mechanical knowledge and a nice place to work on it, warm at least, so you can take your time.

You are basically going to have jack the car up , from a proper jack point and be sure to secure the car with some sort of jack stand, DON"T RELY ON THE JACK!!

Then from there you are going to have to remove the securing bolt on the caliper and although I'm not familar with Mazdas, I'm going to assume it is a hinged caliper that pivots on a pin. Make sure your emergency brake is not on. Then you should be able to at least lift the caliper and pads out of the way. From there try to assess the damage to the caliper and if it has been warped from heat of needs any type of machining. If this is too much for you, I'd at least recommend jacking up the appropriate side and getting the wheels off the ground, then rotate the wheel, it should spin freely if the caliper is not frozen, if the wheel does not rotate freely and your emergency brake is not on then lower the car and take it to an authorized shop, don't risk your life over a brake issue. If you require a new caliper than not much you can do than replace the part and go from there. If you are going to be more strapped in the future with repairs and you are quite handy yourself then you may want to invest in a good service manual and take your time doing the repairs. If your nervous, use your digital camera to take pics as you do the repair and this will help with any issues that may arise on reassembly.

But like I say if your timid at all then leave to the pros.

^^ What he said. Follow the steps I sent you on the PDF manual from protege5.ugly.net and you should be set. As Shasta said, you'll need to jack up the car, secure it, take off the wheel, remove a bolt from the back of the caliper and pry it open to gain access to the piston and brake pads.

thanks for the advice... i am comfortable putting things together, especially if i've taken them apart... i'll give it a go this weekend providing the dude who did the work originally isnt willing to help for free... and we all know he wont be.

well... i'm being told it's the caliper now...

i'm deciding on trying this myself or not... i worry that it's harder then i think.... i also cant stand paying for something if i dont need to.

told ya