07 Mazda 6 lack of brake bite

[Chester11]

Hello:

Raybestos professional grade pads were installed a few years back.

They seem to be wearing ok, but don't have a nice initial bite, especially at a highway speed where traffic stops suddenly.

The pedal feels solid - so I may replace the front pads to see if that makes a difference.

Any pad recommendations? I typically use Raybestos products, but have had good luck with Akebono pads on my Honda.

The Mazda boards are dead, so figured I would ask here.

 

[SnowDrifter]

Personal preference, I really like Meyle stuff if I can get it for my application. Get the high carbon rotors and the ceramic pads. A word though, they like to be broken in HARD. I'll usually do some gentle 35-5 stops to get some heat in them. Then run 4-6 50-5 stops back to pack followed by a drive with no stops to cool everything down. They just feel really.. odd unless you bed them in. Never had a customer come back dissatisfied with 'em

 

[Trav]

For pads I would go with Advics which are probably OE on this car, no offense to Snowdrifter but anything from Meyle is rubbish and not worth the price of the scrap its made from, stay well clear of anything they make.

I would go OE rotors from an online Mazda dealer. You need to consider calipers and brake hoses at this age, an under performing caliper or deteriorating hose on any position can cause the whole system to under perform and feel weak.

At a minimum change the pins and boots on the caliper and inspect everything carefully, personally I would swap hoses at 10 years.
Make sure the mating surfaces on the hub are spotless and use a little never seize on it, also clean the rear of the wheel to rotor mating surface with a wire wheel in a drill (just enough to remove any junk).

 

[FlyNavyP3]

You mentioned that you prefer Raybestos products, I installed a set of Raybestos EHT pads on the front of the GFs Lexus about 7,000 miles ago along with a pair of Raybestos Advanced Technology rotors. So far I've been exceptionally pleased with their performance. Dust levels are unbelievably low, as in less dusty than the Akebono ProACT pads that are on the rear. Initial bite is excellent hot and cold and the pads are nice and quiet.

Trav's recommendation for Advics is also spot on, the best initial bite pad I've ever had on my 4Runner were Advics pads, my only complaint with them was they were dusty and wore fast.

 

[andyd]

Glazed rotors? Any pad with a low dust claim is prone to glazing. I prefer cheap soft and grabby pads. Dust is an acceptable trade off.

 

[Chester11]

Thanks guys...great advice. I will price out the Mazda OE pads just to compare.

FlyNavyP3 - running the same setup on wife's Honda (but with the original rotors). I like the feel of that combo, and just stumbled into it.

 

[HerrStig]

Akebono, or EBC.

 

[Chester11]

Originally Posted By: andyd
Glazed rotors? Any pad with a low dust claim is prone to glazing. I prefer cheap soft and grabby pads. Dust is an acceptable trade off.

Dunno - these aren't supposed to be be low dust. I noticed the last couple trips that quick stops in traffic seem to take longer than they should. In Baltimore everyone does a panic stop when traffic jams up. If they were glazed - they aren't now.

For my sanity, I'm going to switch to something else...I figure new brake pads are cheaper than paying for a new front end. I'll flush the brake fluid out too just in case there is some air, and check the calipers. I used Prestone last time, maybe I'll spend a couple bucks on DOT 4.

 

[Chester11]

Just an update...I replaced the pads tonight - should have watched college football instead.

I used a cheap harbor freight bleeder - and it seems that air just gets past the threads on the bleeder screws.

The pedal just feels really soft. I got lazy and only bled the two front wheels. I'm going to have to take off all four tomorrow and do them all.