Looked for details on a front brake job on the Mazda6, but what I found was a bit different than what i've seen on other cars.... Let me describe what I found, maybe you've got similar.

'04 Mazda6 3.0L wagon. 45K mi. brakes were past time.

The calipers were attached w/ one 8mm allen head bolt on the top, and a funky looking thing on the bottom. No way to take it off. I took out the 8mm allen bolt off the top, and the calipers rotated around an apparent embedded shaft on the bottom. Strange.

Next remove the frame that straddles the rotor. 16mm bolts, I recall, two. Once that was free, the caliper could rotate more freely, and slide off a shaft that it was rotating off of.

Anyway, ended up more simple than I thought. Follow other "brake job" goodness, like using a C-clamp to push the piston back in the rotor, and use lube on the bolt/shaft that the caliper is attached with. Assemble the pads into the frames (the springs that hold the pads in the frames are a little tight), and then put the little springs back on the "top" that holds the pads away from the rotor.

Overall, a simple task once I got over not finding the allen head for the bottom embedded shaft.

Good luck!

 

Just did this a couple weeks ago on my wife's car...Looks like you did just fine.

 

Sounds about right. Luckily the rear ones are even more easy.

 

Thanks for the step-by-step description...very helpful!

David

 

Just wanted to post a quick thank you for your posting & description of how to get the calipers off. Would probably have never figured it out without your post. Thanks again.