Looby

Whats shaken gents and gentets? Got a quick one im hoping someone can help with. I am looking at new brakes for the rear of my 3 and I notice there is a different part number for pads for the 04-05 and 06-10 year models. what is the difference? is one caliper bigger or something?

Thanks
Looby

*Edit

KK so according to a couple of parts houses the rear calipers are the same but the pads are different. could it just be a compound difference?

icspots

Compound wise there was a change from '04-'05 and later models. Basically the early year pads had two issues. 1) The rear pads wore incredibly quickly (mine went out in under 30k miles), and 2) the created a ridiculous amount of dust.

Size-wise the differences are only between trim level, but even then only on the fronts. 3i/3s/MS3 all have different front brake rotors/calipers. Rears should be the same across the board.

Looby

sweet. one last question. as far as aftermarket pads go... would there be a benifit to running the 2 nd Gen pads on 1 St Gen or don't bother?

TRISPEEDFD3S

If the caliper is the same on all models, the pads should be of the same model number also, plus there should be a difference in compound if we are talking aftermarket. I think what icspots was refering only to the change in OEM brake compound, hence the part number change. Hope that helps.

icspots

Correct. The OEM pads that Mazda uses were changed after '06. Aftermarket pads are already going to be a different compound and will vary depending on what you buy. I personally installed Hawk HPS on the rears with centric rotors. No issues in ~80k miles.

jdshipe

I am looking for recommendations on rear brake pads for a 2008 Mazda 3i. My 20 year old daughter drives the car.