Well I have 41,500km (25,800 miles) on the car and the front brakes are pretty much down to nothing now, the rotors also have to be replaced on the front due to a LARGE wear step where the pads do not contact at the top and they are slightly warped (very light vibration at high speed braking). Not so bad considering how and where the car is driven I may only have to do fronts right now since the rear rotors dont even have a wear step yet. Will get some pics up if anyone is curious, they even sound different now, not metal on metal but a definite solid sound when braking kinda like an old lazy susan spinning with large roller bearings that have dirt in them.... Yes my grandmother had one that sounds like my brakes If I had to guess there is about 1mm of pad left, maybe more or a bit less.

 

Did you put Slotted or Cross Drilled Rotors or combination?
I have cross drilled rotors and they SUCK in Winter. I believe slotted are best.

 

Neither, just the basic vented disc at the moment, have not bought parts yet since I have to shop around first for best price, was thinking slotted due to all the rain/snow we get plus to dissipate extra heat. Oh and I looked closer at the rears and I will change the pads there also since they are getting low.

 

I wouldn't go to slotted, but maybe cross-drilled. The slots will greatly increase your pad wear for very little gain in braking power. The slots were introduced in racing and supposed to remove any glazing that could occur under extremely hard braking. Cost doesn't matter in racing.
Cross-drilling was developed to give the gases an escape route. Some parts of the pads will vaporized under the heat of hard braking. As a result the pads ride on a gas bubble and that reduces the contact area and braking power. The cross drilled holes will not increase pad wear in significant ways.

 

Gotcha I just wonder if I can actually change to a cross-drilled rotor here, they might not allow it since it isnt stock and approved LOL

 

Trying to find actual comparison tests and am quoting the following:

There are many claims as to the benefits of drilled vs slotted rotors on stopping power. This guide is intended to provide some facts about drilled and slotted rotors. As a member of the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), I was pleased to see a paper "The Effect of Rotor Crossdrilling on Brake Performance" by two GM engineers published in 2006. They examined three vehicle platforms with cross-drilled rotors vs standard rotors to measure convection cooling capability, fade characteristics, wet braking, pedal feel and lining wear. The result is summarized as follows:

1. For the sports sedan, the coefficient of friction was 21% higher for drilled rotors than standard front rotors at 340F and higher using 15 brake snubs at 62mph. The track simulated 124 mph fade test showed 37% better brake output for drilled rotors. The drilled rotor brake temperature was about 150 degrees cooler.
2. For the performance car, the coefficient of friction was significantly higher for drilled rotors especially at high temperature.
3. Wet braking at high pedal pressure was the same for drilled or standard rotors. Wet braking is not significantly improved by drilled rotors.
4. Pedal force was much more consistent with drilled rotors over the brake temperature range. That is, to stop at the same deceleration rate, the driver does not need to modulate pedal pressure based on different brake temperatures. This reduces driver fatigue and improves brake response.

The authors also reported that drilled rotors prevent pad resin glazing on the rotor. So we now have solid evidence that drilled rotors have benefits over standard rotors. However, I have not found any published paper to show how slots affect brake output. So I reviewed inertial dynamometer tests using ISO NWI 26867 from Link Testing in Detroit with slotted rotors vs standard rotors. The results showed no significant difference in the coefficient of friction during the fade sections, hot stop section or pedal sensitivity portion of the test. My hypothesis is that slotted rotors do not contribute to rotor cooling whereas drilled rotors improve convection heat transfer to cool rotors and reduce brake fade. I should also point out that the pad lining wear for the slotted rotor was very severe during the test, i.e. the pad was chewed up over 20% more than the lining with stock rotors. While I believe that slots will help remove gas and debri from under the pad, I am not sure that this has a significant effect on brake torque for normal street driving. Perhaps the effect of slotted rotors is more significant on the race track, and conversely, I believe that drilled rotors are better for street and highway driving. For most drivers, I recommend drilled rotors over slotted rotors, and this conclusion is supported by the fact that Corvette, Ford GT, Porsche, Mercedes and BMW come with OEM drilled rotors.

I guess drilled aren't too bad, but they still suck in winter with stock calipers!

Also this:

DRILLED: if you look at any serious professional race car today, I would be shocked if you found cross-drilling.
The reason why rotors were drilled in the first place was to relieve the gas that was created when the pad material started to breakdown (burn). Since modern pads don’t gas off any significant amount, this is simply not a concern. What all of those little holes do is create stress risers and a surface that’s unevenly heated and cooled. The result of this is that the rotor becomes very easy to crack and makes a catastrophic failure much more likely. The worst situation is when a crack forms and connects between multiple holes.
SLOTTED:
Slotting serves the same purpose as drilling but doesn’t weaken the rotor as much. Slotting is also advertised to “wipe” the surface of the pad. The real world result of this is that your pads don’t last as long.

BOTH: So actually there is one benefit to cross-drilling and slotting but I didn’t want to mention it since its also insignificant – that benefit is in wet weather. It turns out that drilling and slotting either give a place for water to evacuate like the tread on a tire, or allows steam to gas through kinda like what drilling was intended for. I don’t know what really happens, maybe both. But either way, the initial bite tends to be better in the wet.

 

So cross-drilled would be better for the braking I do at high speeds on the highway (195kph-121mph) IF I get going that fast (takes a while due to HP or traffic) and IF I need to slow down fast BUT it isnt so good in the snow we get here.............. hmmmmmmmmmmm maybe I stick with stock rotors. What about pads, any recommendations? Rotors are $175 a pair for stock style and $72 for pads per axle, thats a total of $319 (2 rotors, 8 pads) at the store here not the dealer.

 

Nice job, Noggin!
Generally speaking I never buy the cheapest and I never buy the most expensive. The cheapest stuff won't make me happy and the most expensive stuff is not worth the extra money.
So with brakes I like to buy Wagner, rotors, pads and hardware. "Wagner" may not be available in your neck of the woods, MazdaTirol.
I suppose the cheapest pads will wear fast and cause early fading, glazing etc.
Ceramic vs. conventional: Ceramic pads will reduce brake dust formation.

Replacing: Clean the sliders and slightly grease them with high temp brake grease. Check the rubber seals on on the sliders. Replace all anti rattle hardware and springs with new ones. When mounting the pads pay attention to the labels: some pads have a coating on the back that helps with noise reduction. If you put silicone grease on top of that coating you may actually damage the coating.

My calipers were so badly corroded I had to use sandpaper wrapped around a dowel to get the crud out of the slider bores so they would move freely again.

If you want to improve the brake feel your best route may be braided brake hoses...And Marder hate those!
If you want to improve the looks, paint the calipers, just like Noggin does.

Keep in mind when it comes to girlfriends they appreciate flowers for her more than fancy brakes for his ride.

Just looking out for you!

 

Ditto!!

That would be VERY nice, I quit cleaning my rims cause I got sick of doing it all the time, rims are now a nice dull brake dust color LOL.

Wagner parts are non-existent here, all I can find is OEM at Mazda (duh) and TRW pads in the stores, I could try the Bosch store down in Hall but I think that would be even more expensive BUT if they dont wear so fast then it would be worth it. Do ceramics eat rotors as fast as traditional pads or slower?

 

TRW is an American company.

I don't know about the wear patterns of ceramic brakes or their cost efficiency. I'd go to websites of Wagner, TRW, Brembo, EBC to find out. I bet you must be careful to match rotors and pads correctly.