DIY Front Brake Job
 

Hi,

I'm gonna be doing my mother-in-laws front brake pads and I didn't know if anyone could point me towards a good writeup? Also, if anyone has any pointers, I'd appreciate it.

The car is a 1.8L 2000 Protege ES. Done brake jobs before, just not on this car.

Appreciate any help.


***EDIT****

Just noticed the brakes forum and am reading. Still appreciate any input, though.

Thanks,

Dave

You will need a metric Allen socket (5mm I think) to remove the lower caliper bolt so you can pivot the calipers up and remove the pads. You will also need a BIG C-clamp (3" or larger) or a piston retractor tool to push in the caliper pistons; the calipers may not be very big but they're quite thick, and a small C-clamp or a set of channel-lock pliers won't cut it.

Other than that, everything else is pretty standard.

Thanks. I have the 5mm and a Caliper tool from autozone that has about 12 different ends to push back different pistons.

Sounds like I should be all set.

You don't need to do anything on the upper part of the caliper? It'll pivot up? That's nice. On an A4, the caliper splits in half.

Thanks.

Carguycw, Does a Pro5 have the same 5mm through bolt for the caliper or is it a torx bit. I only looked at mine briefly and thougt it was either a T-50 or T-55 torx bit. Haven't needed to change the pads yet, but most other Mazda's with similar front brakes (Probe GT, 626, MX-6 etc...) just had a 10mm head for a wrench or socket...

Thanks for any info man...