I've now had one rear caliper (2001 ES w/o ABS) sieze before 40k miles and the other side go through two sets of pads before 50k. It seemed that the siezed side had not been properly lubed at the factory. (Mazda said, "sorry, wear item") Has anyone else seen this problem?

Also, the other side is burning through pads at a scary pace. My wife promises that she's not forgetting to take off the E-brake and I know neither of us drive around with our foot resting on the brake pedal (unless left foot braking on snow and ice ;-). Anything else that could cause this? Are the stock pads incredibly soft?
Do the pistons ever gets "sticky" and keep pressure on the pads?

Thanks,
Jim

 

On a '91 Escort GT, I have had situations where the emergency brake cable will stick. However, you should be able to notice this. Your rear pads should easily outlast your front pads. Something is wrong... wish I could answer it for you. I'm sure someone can.

 

I would wait for the cold weather to go away before worrying too much, although I don't know if your area is cold or not.

The caliper sliding problem should go away when it gets warm. If not you can go back to the dealer you did the 16K mile service and get them relubed since if you did the service, they were improperly lubed up then.

The brake pads shouldn't wear that quickly, since they are highly metallic and durable. And the rears should outlast the front, unless if you always have a lot of cargo in the trunk in which the EBD on the Pro will designate more stopping power to the rear making the rear wear out faster.

I don't know for certain if the a nonABS Pro has EBD though.

 

EBD uses the ABS sensors to work. Therefore, a non-ABS Protege doesn't have EBD.

 

I thought Electronic Brakce force Distribution was only on ABS equipped cars, and that won't just take effect if more weight is in the back. The "salesman" I talked to (yes I know, this could be completely false) said that it was kind of a primitive simple brake traction control that will slightly send more brake force to the rear rotors if the ABS senses slip in the front during hard braking. I don't have ABS and my rear pads are fine despite having a lot of **** in the trunk and constantly hauling people around in the back seats..

 

sorry forgot to read this one, This is what I thougt...

 

oddly enough, I now have my second go-round with the guide pin freezing up on my wife's 02 Protege 5. The care has 99K+ miles, but still, this mechanical issue shouldn't exist in m opinion. Last time, I broke the guide pin, then had to remove the caliper and send it to a machine shop to be drilled out, and replaced the guide pin. The car was jacked up for a week in my garage. This morning, I heard that awful metal on metal grinding in the same location (dirver's rear). I am in the process of ordering new calipers for the rear before I even tear it apart this time...