Mazda 3 Rear Brakes

ajstoner21

ajstoner21

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Hey

I have a 2011 Mazda 3, and I am preparing to do my back brakes. I did my front brakes without any problems. I have a chilton manual for my car.

For the front brakes, I used a C clamp and compressed the piston back into the caliper easy enough without any problems.

The back brakes, the piston needs turned as its pushed back into the caliper. The chilton manual says you can use a special tool (they rent them at autozone), or you can use needle nose pliers, and use the points and place them in indentations on the piston to push on it and turn it.

My question out there to anyone who wants to answer, the chilton manual says to open the bleed valve as i'm compressing and turning the piston back into the caliper. No one else I talk to seemed to have ever had to do that.

It seems opening the bleed valve is an easy way to get air into the system. Is this really really necessary?
 
If the brake system has a check valve (and IIRC Mazdas do) you won't be compressing the piston with much success, with the nipple closed....

Get the right diameter tygon tubing and a good length of it, and snug it over the nipple, to mimimize air suckback as the tubing will be full.....
 
Don't need to open any valves, just get the proper piston retraction tool. It'll sav you tons of time
 
bbchien said:
If the brake system has a check valve (and IIRC Mazdas do) you won't be compressing the piston with much success, with the nipple closed....

Get the right diameter tygon tubing and a good length of it, and snug it over the nipple, to mimimize air suckback as the tubing will be full.....
Click to expand...

You can't put a check valve into a disc brake system line, the brake would never retract. The only thing that retracts it is that square cut seal sucking it back.

OP, no need to open the bleed valve.
 
Don't know about Mazda specifics, but I have never bled a line to do a brake pad change (speaking to disc brake equipped cars). Normally you just need a good sized plumber wrench and some man hands. Don't damage the seals on the pistons in the process, but it doesn't need to be super complicated.
 
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The "special" tool that you need costs like 20 dollars on any hardware store, on eBay search for "rear caliper tool". Any universal tool works perfectly on the Mazda3/Focus/Volvo P1-platform.
 
90% of the time I just use needle nose to turn them back in, no need for a special tool. If they are stubborn, Autozone loans the rear brake tool.

I don't open the bleed valves, although one possible reason might be that Chilton's is concerned about overflowing the reservoir when to push the piston back in. This is especially likely to happen if one of those quick lube places decided to top off your brake fluid. The easy way around this concern is to only work on and finish one wheel at a time. When the caliper is back on the rotor press the pedal a couple of times. That will refill the caliper piston and lower the master cylinder level. Then just work your way around the car.

Even though you don't need to open the brake fluid system to change the brakes, I am still a big believer in changing brake fluid. It will save you a lot of money in the long run. You can pick up a vacuum bleeder very reasonable that makes the job easy and quick.
 
I've had no problems using needle nose pliers on those type of rear calipers. Just mind the not to nip the dust seals.

Also a good time to check the slider pin boots for for cuts/holes and that the pin is lubed and moves freely.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
In any brake system I have worked on, opening up the bleed valve and walking away for a while is an easy way to do a gravity bleed on a caliper.
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Yeah, it's also a great way to break a seized up bleed screw and skin off a couple knuckles lol. If you don't have to touch the bleed valve to bleed the system, don't mess with it. Changing pads should never require bleeding the system.
 
Henning said:
You can't put a check valve into a disc brake system line, the brake would never retract. The only thing that retracts it is that square cut seal sucking it back.

OP, no need to open the bleed valve.
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Yeah, that.

Oh and, get the tool.
 
The attached tool is a cheap tool I currently have. Some say it works well but its obviously not as nice as those 18 piece sets. Considering getting one of those sets.

I was just wondering if that bleed valve really needed to be opened as the chilton manual says.
 

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ajstoner21 said:
I was just wondering if that bleed valve really needed to be opened as the chilton manual says.
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The Mazda 3 really doesn't have the capacity that you need for a family of four and luggage for a cross country trip. You should consider moving up to the Mazda 5 if you want to stay with that brand.























;)
 
I have a 2004 Mazda 3, I have driven it 257k miles so far, I love that car, I have driven it with 5 people across the country, and I suppose it is small but it is great for me. The only things that have been replaced on it are the clutch (at 243k miles), and oil/air filters and plugs/windshield wipers. I know this sounds crazy but I have not replaced the brake pads yet. I have a very light touch on cars!
 
hankrausch said:
I have a 2004 Mazda 3, I have driven it 257k miles so far, I love that car, I have driven it with 5 people across the country, and I suppose it is small but it is great for me. The only things that have been replaced on it are the clutch (at 243k miles), and oil/air filters and plugs/windshield wipers. I know this sounds crazy but I have not replaced the brake pads yet. I have a very light touch on cars!
Click to expand...

Are you the original owner? Never replacing brakes at 250,000+ miles sounds crazy! Ive never heard of wearing out a clutch before the brakes lol.

Mines a 2011, and I have about 77,000 miles on it. I seem to drive a lot...
 
Henning said:
Yeah, it's also a great way to break a seized up bleed screw and skin off a couple knuckles lol.
Click to expand...

If the brake fluid isn't clear, it really ought to be changed. Contaminated brake fluid will compress.

Put a snug fitting drill bit inside the bleeder hole before you start wrenching. Helps keep the bleeder screw from collapsing and breaking off. Has worked so far for me, no guarantees express or implied. Gravity bleed works great. Except in airplanes.

As for skinning knuckles, mechanic's gloves work pretty well.
 
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