Glad you got the rotor off.

BTW: I'm 100% certain that there are 5 holes in the back of the front hub. I have one sitting in my garage that I ruined.

I gobbed anti-seize all over my hub, but I didn't find that it made that big of a difference when I went to change the rotors again.

 

do you think you could post a picture showing the holes you are talking about? i just really don't see them...

and yeah, i just figured that putting the anti-sieze on would be better than not doing it.
i DO know it sure as hell helps for the bolts. everyone should use anti-sieze! if you ever sell your car the next owner will thank you, lol!

 

is it normal for a new brake pad to be "dragging" against the new rotor?

on one of my front brakes, i have pushed in the pistons as far as they go, but the inside pad is still dragging against the rotor a bit.

 

did you put the v-springs back in, for the pads?

James

 

In my experience, yes. Not enough to slow the car down, but enough to make the rotor difficult to turn by hand. It'll stop doing that in very short order.

 

i didnt read the whole thing to see how everything went....but if u really have problems with getting rotors off, heat it up with a torch and then throw water on it. do that over and over then try to hit the rotor off. the heating and cooling really makes a big difference. and for the brake lines, flared wrenches are ******* over rated. you didnt have to cut the lines though....u could have just got a pipe wrench and unscrewed the banjo bolt from the brake lines. it make u wonder how the hell u stripped the banjo bolts outside in the first place because its so easy to unscrew. then since the bolt would already be rounded on the outside, u just take a file and make like 2 sides flat and then just use some small channel locks or so to screw it back together.

 

yup, i used them. however i didn't use the "guide plates" that go on the sides of the pads because i didn't have enough. people have told me they aren't needed though.

that's what i'm hoping.


i did try a torch but not using water. maybe it's the fact i only have a propane torch though. it takes a long time for it to get the metal really hot.

you misunderstood me about the stripping the brake line nut. i am talking about one of the FRONT brakes, not rear. i needed to take off the stock rubber line where it attaches to the MC hard line (since i am replacing with SS lines). the FLARE NUT stripped there.

- Aaron

 

Man, with all the tales of woe on here I'm going to have to go get a pair of front hubs for spares and replace the rotors. Actually since I'm doing a track-day car I may grab the rear hub carriers (with hubs of course) too. Having spare hubs ready to go in the support vehicle could easily save a weekend. There is at least one GXL and one TII at my favorite (read cheap) wrecking yard.

 

yeah, it would be GREAT to have some good hubs i could just use instead of trying to get the current ones free from the rotors.

taking off the hub was SO easy also, just slid right off like butter.

 

i have a question if anyone wants to answer:

for the hub nut preload, can i just hang a 1-2 lb weight off a stud at a 90-degree angle?
the laws of physics say YES...

- Aaron

 

I bought a fish scale at a hardware store for something like $5.

 

keep hammering till the rotor breaks off from the hat , gives u the piece rotor look,
then hammer more till u crack the hat and pry it off,,

 

wow, i can't BELIEVE my bad luck.

right now, i have pretty much everything done. i got all the new rotors and calipers on now, and got all my brake lines on.
then i went to tighten the very last part of the brake lines on the front passenger side caliper. i was tightening the flare nut from the hard line that goes into the caliper, and i STRIPPED THE CALIPER THREAD!!

don't know what i'm going to do now, i really don't want to get a new caliper

- Aaron

 

Same happened to me. I took the caliper back to the auto parts store where I bough it (rebuilt unit) told the guy the threads came busted and he didn't even look at it. He just handed me another one. Good luck.

 

ok, ordered a new caliper but the guys at NAPA ordered the wrong ******* caliper. christ i will never get this done, the world is against me.

in other news though, i DID find something that would allow me to recover the stripped thread:
i found a high pressure hydraulic fitting, that has a threaded female 3/16 flared input on one end, and a threaded male 3/16 flare output on the other, however on the male end (that would go onto the caliper), the thread is actually a 1/4 inch, allowing you to tap the caliper thread.
bad thing though is that it is a 1/4 NPT thread, and that tap is IMPOSSIBLE to find for some reason...

- Aaron

 

Aaron - are you in Ottawa or Pembrooke?

I know a hydraulic shop in Ottawa that may be able to help you out. They would almost certainly have that 1/4 Tap, and if you take them the caliper, they may even just be able to do the job for you. They've made PS lines for me in the past, and have ordered me some weird fittings. It's worth at least a call!

The place is called:

Diotte's Hydraulics
5-645 Belfast Road
Ottawa (Ontario) K1G 4V3
Tel.: (613) 244-4735
http://www.diotteshydraulics.on.ca/

 

Geez Aaron, I think your brake job is taking longer than mine did last year

NAPA should be able to get you the right part, but if not, Canadian Tire had 4 piston front calipers for my car, but that was something like 6 years ago. I tried to get a rear caliper from both Canadian Tire and NAPA last year, but neither could get them anymore. Thankfully, I managed to salvage my old one - who knew you could replace the sliding pin on the caliper mount?!

 

thanks for the suggestion Nick. unfortunately i am in Pembroke at the moment
i wouldn't have so many problems in Ottawa (apparently Partsouce has these calipers in STOCK).

NAPA says the caliper will be in Saturday morning. $119 AFTER the core refund.
i guess i will just wait and get the new caliper since i really have no other way of getting down to Ottawa anyways.

i'm going to call around today to some local shops to try to find a 1/4 inch tap...but i still don't know if it's just safer to go with the new caliper or if this solution will actually work well...

 

If you tap the threads, you are going to have to completely disassemble the caliper to clean out all the shavings, but that's really no big deal.

 

i think if you do it neatly enough you don't need to take the caliper apart. just need to make sure all the shavings are out cleaned off.

 

this can't be happening to me.

i stripped yet another rebuilt caliper. this doesn't make any sense.
could be the brake line. must be the brake line.
murphy's law can't be this cruel...
and i'm going overseas in a week so i will never get to drive my car.

:|

 

I own a 1/4" NPT tap, FC3S.USD has it right now. Let me know if you need it, I'm going to sudbury (via pembroke) on the 15th.

On another note, 1/4" NPT is a large tap(for brake). I dont think its a good idea to do this at all. Edit: I just thought about this more and it has bad idea written all over it. NPT is designed to seal on the threads, the tap is tapered. You'd have to use teflon tape to get it to seal perfectly, and even then its very questionable for use on brake lines(due to very high pressures).

If you made the brake line, and the inverted flare on the end is imperfect/damaged, then you will strip the thread every time trying to stop it from leaking. Make sure the inverted flare is in good shape.

 

thanks for the post Nik.
yeah, i agree. even if it did work, it would always be there in the back of my mind, you know what i mean? like i would always be hesitant about it.

what i'm going to do is HOPE they don't notice the threads stripped and will take the caliper back to NAPA and try to return it.

i will pick up a genuine Mazda brake line and i'm going to be in Ottawa tommorow. i THINK partsource has a caliper in stock in an Ottawa warehouse, but i won't know until tommorow.

what i'm thinking is that the flare nut wasn't long enough, like there wasn't enough threads to compress the flare against the caliper. so then it just started eating its way down...

 

OK, so i got another rebuilt caliper and the stock Mazda line and everything went fine. the brake system is now complete

i have done the initial "bed-in" procedure by performing a series of HARD stops from about 60 to 20 (mph). it is stopping really good, much better than before, but i have a few issues:

- pedal feels "long" and a little mushy
- car pulls a little to one side under FULL braking
- i can't lock up the tires under FULL braking; granted the pads are rotors are still fresh and i have pretty sticky tires

i have already fully bleed the system 2 times and i am pretty sure all the air is out. but i will do it one more time to see if that will make a difference.
i am still using the N/A master cylinder, does anyone know if the TII master cylinder will have better pedal feel at all with the TII brakes?

 

I really wouldn't worry about any of that just yet. Drive it normally for a few days or so and check it again. If it's still pulling to one side, then that's probably something you'd want to look into.

Did you rebuild (or get rebuilt) calipers on all 4 corners?