[ed626GT]

Has anyone replaced their brake rotors themselves? Do you need to do anything special with the wheel bearings? The Mazda dealer who failed my car for safety inspection because the rotors are "pitted and rusty" wanted to do new rear wheel bearings. The car has 50k miles on it. I just put new front rotors on my wife's Sable wagon, it was easy, hopefully the Mazda is similiar. It's a 91 GT 626 with ABS.
Thanks. I've had it 10 years now and it's still a great car.
Ed

 

[Importheadmp89]

brake rotor replacement

Replacing them is easy. The rotor is seperate from the bearing. You dont need any special tools, maybe a brake tool for the caliper, other than that its a breeze. I replaced mine a month ago, its like replacing the pads only that you take the whole caliper off. If the rotor dosnt come off use one of the screws that hold the rotor on to the hub to break it away( it might if its old, mine's an 89 also with ABS). It took me an hour to replace the front ones, I plan one replacing the rear ones this week. If you have any problems let me know.

 

[anarchyx34]

The front rotors are easy. There's 2 bolts holding the caliper to the steering knuckle. Those come off. Pull the calper off and then undo the 2 screws on the hub face. These screws might require an impact screwdriver, so if you're using a regular screwdriver and they dont seem to be coming out, get an impact driver before you strip them. Then the rotor should just pull off. Sometimes they get stuck/rusted to the hub, which might require a good tap with a mallet. Now, the rear ones may be a different story. If they're anything like the rear drums on the lx and dx models, the bearing is pressed into it. I'm not sure about that though so dont be surprised if that's the case. I cant believe they failed a car beacuse of "rusty and pitted rotors". That's rediculous. They all rust and start to look like shit after a while. They're cast iron for christs sake. I think they were just busting your balls.