Brake upgrade 'How to"

**ls six** · 11-12-07, 21:45

These were my stock brakes. Look familiar?

This is not a brake job "how to". I'm going to assume you know the basics of doing a brake job from here on out.

What I found is that the 99+ V6 mazda 626 has larger rotors all around than our stock 93-97 MX-6/Probe. And same year 626.
EDIT: Stock Diameter for all front rotors between 93 and 97 and 98+ 626 4 cyl's is 10.2" 98+ 626 V6 front rotors are 11.1". Thats a nice .9" improvement. Rear is about a half inch larger than stock.

The part list needed is short and the cost over stock replacement parts is small. About $50 for me.

You will need ... the rotors front and rear for a 99+ 626. Auto zone PN 31255 front and 31256 rear.

The pads for the rear are identical to our stock pieces and our fronts will fit but the 99+ 626 pads are taller. PN DG755 front DG584 rear.
Rear

Front

Front rotors compared to stock.

And rear.

What makes this work are the caliper brackets from the 99+ 626.

they relocate the calipers out enough to clear the larger rotors.

Our stock calipers will fit perfectly in these brackets. EDIT: you WILL need the 626 front calipers as well as the brackets, if you use your stock calipers your rotor will grind against the caliper under braking[/i]

You will also need either the spare tire from the late V6 626 or a spare from another car that will fit over the calipers ie RX7 spares or many Ford and Chrysler spare wheels. Our stock spares are windowed and the lips of the windows will hit the caliper when the wheel turns but the 626 spare is a plain dish type steel wheel.

New front's mounted.

Rear.

You dont need to attack the dust shield as I did this one.^

The fronts fit with no problem. The rears will JUST fit inside the dust shield. After everything was mounted I went around the rotor with a screw driver and pryed the shield away till it no longer rubbed.

On a side note these are also used on the Mazdaspeed Protege. And the rotors are shared with the early mazda 6/3

LAST EDIT: All right! To sum everything up and be sure your clear on what you need without having to troll the entire thread ten times heres the breakdown of what you will need and what will and wont work based on 2 years of learning ....

The parts you will need are all from the 98-2002 Mazda 626 sedan with the V6 option.

You will need all 4 rotors, the front calipers and brackets, and the rear brackets.

The rear calipers are the same part number so you can use your stock rear calipers if you want or need to.

The simplest (though not allways cheapest) way to get all the parts you will need is to buy "loaded" calipers for a 98-02 626 V6 that will include the brackets and will simply bolt up like replacement stock parts with the 626 rotors.

They will come with pads but you'll proabably want to upgrade to performance pads and keep the parts store pads as spares.

The pads both front and rear will interchange, however the 626 front pads are slightly taller and have more surface area. This might not apply to all aftermarket pads especialy if manufacturers realise they can market MX6/Probe pads as 626 pads and save costs.

The rear pads are the same.

You can also use the 626 pads with stock MX6/Probe rotors/calipers and brackets to increase the pad area slightly. Or if you have a fovorite pad for your mx6 or probe and they dont make one for the 626 you can still use them with the 626 upgrade.

You will need a different spare tire for your car if you do all 4 corners. The 626 spare will work as well as several others.

Good luck and have fun

**tchnprgrmr** · 11-12-07, 23:30

wow! good information.

Have you driven with the new brake system yet? How does it seem in comparison to stock?

**the3wang** · 11-12-07, 23:36

wow awesome job karma'd! btw do you have the part numbers for the brackets?

**NickR** · 11-13-07, 5:10

Good post! I never knew they changed the brakes on later model 626's (I used to own a 93 626, and now have a 2000 626, and never noticed the difference).
One very minor point: are you sure it's the 99+ 626 which has the larger rotors, and not the 98+ 626? The big model year change in the 626 was 98. (This might matter for someone sourcing parts from a junkyard.)

**PaulG** · 11-13-07, 12:09

If the size of the rear pads is the same, then is there any advantage to having a larger rotor? (same pad to rotor surface area).

**max626** · 11-13-07, 12:20

Nice upgrade and its 98+ that received the new brakes, also 00+ got a newer rack&pinion but now iam getting off topic lol

**robii** · 11-13-07, 14:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulG

If the size of the rear pads is the same, then is there any advantage to having a larger rotor? (same pad to rotor surface area).

i was asking me the same thing...

**mx6ReMiX** · 11-13-07, 21:36

better cooling maybe ? but then the rear brakes don't seem like they heat up as much as the fronts anyway.

**I4MX6** · 11-14-07, 1:19

^Thats why you usually want a larger rotor since its more area to dissipate the heat over. Its unfortunate that you can't combine the Protege calipers with this otherwise I'd do it. The larger rotor with larger pad would make for a great OE upgrade.

**93speedstud6** · 11-14-07, 1:50

actually, the 02+ protege rear calipers have 1/4" larger pads, i did the swap and used the protege rotors as well that are larger. cant say i noticed a large difference, but i also got cheap pads.. and i think my replacements are seizing already as well... stupid brakes..

tyz94pgt · 11-14-07, 1:54

Wow, not too bad of a discovery! Good job

**I4MX6** · 11-14-07, 8:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by 93speedstud6

actually, the 02+ protege rear calipers have 1/4" larger pads, i did the swap and used the protege rotors as well that are larger. cant say i noticed a large difference, but i also got cheap pads.. and i think my replacements are seizing already as well... stupid brakes..

I know, I kinda wrote the how-to for them...

....and actually the Protege rotors are identical in size to ours. They are even the same part number. Mazdaspeed version is different though.

**93speedstud6** · 11-14-07, 15:49

oh good call, i stand corrected, and yes props to you, i used your how-to haha (or at least i got the idea from it)

**ls six** · 11-14-07, 19:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by NickR

Good post! I never knew they changed the brakes on later model 626's (I used to own a 93 626, and now have a 2000 626, and never noticed the difference).
One very minor point: are you sure it's the 99+ 626 which has the larger rotors, and not the 98+ 626? The big model year change in the 626 was 98. (This might matter for someone sourcing parts from a junkyard.)

The 6 owners that first made me realize it might work were saying 99+ parts and I bought all 01 parts to be sure they matched my brackets. Autozone didn't have the right Pn for the 01 so I got the fronts for the same price as our stock rotors for an 00.

Is it a 6 cyl? I should point out that the 98+ cars had 2 different brake sizes. The V6 has the parts you want.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulG

If the size of the rear pads is the same, then is there any advantage to having a larger rotor? (same pad to rotor surface area).

More leverage and more mass to absorb thermal energy. Our brakes are actualy pretty strong as far as stock brakes go. It's fade that we have real problems with. These should be more resistant to fade just because of the size.

**ls six** · 11-14-07, 19:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by tchnprgrmr

wow! good information.

Have you driven with the new brake system yet? How does it seem in comparison to stock?

I have and they grab strong right away. My brakes werent any where near new so a fair comparison is imposible but they are strong. I havent been able to drive enough to bed them properly tho. My water pump started leaking bad and the old ignitor problem is starting again

Quote:

Originally Posted by the3wang

wow awesome job karma'd! btw do you have the part numbers for the brackets?

No sorry. I bought mine for $40 at a local salvage yard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyz94pgt

Wow, not too bad of a discovery! Good job

thanks.