today i put new rear pads and rotors on my 2003 mazda protege 5..
i used channel locks to twist in the pistons and pushed them in by hand. everything went together nicely and the brakes seem to be working fine but now i can pull the handbrake all the way to the top with a little resistance and the car will still roll in first gear at idle.. any ideas?

 

sounds like you blew out the rear calipers. there is an allen bolt on the back of the calipers that needs to be turned in order to press the calipers or else you will destroy the rear pots. hate to say it, but it sounds like the only fix is new calipers.

 

Okay so I jacked the car up and adjusted the Allen bolt until the brakes rubbed and backed them out a tiny bit and now the hand brake and everything works better than ever. I'm thinking I got lucky.

 

yeah, if they work now, you are lucky. i destroyed one of my calipers the first time that i changed the brakes.