The blackhole to my paychecks =p

imstillonjava · 07-03-2010, 11:50 AM

It Brakes My Heart (rear brakes ed).....that this car is still not on the road yet. haha.

My brakes were in dire need of an upgrade, so I had AutoRnD set me up with a RacingBrake rear OE bbk, and then journeyed down to local Fullerton to willcall it.

First to go...is the OEM brake dust shield in the rears. They don't clear the RB rotors, and they don't serve any particular function enough for me to modify and keep them. I looked all over the car and in the Mazda factory manual, and there wasn't an indication of how to remove it at all. It looked like a pressed/interference fit of the metal shell. So I tried the "delicate" route of dremeling it out with a metal cutter first. That took way too much time, and there were way too many flying carbon discs as a result...so I busted out the tiny arm muscles, and used a pair of tin snips + some can opener type action to rip those buggers off.

Tried cleaning some dirt off....did it work?

Removed the calipers, cleaned then up - and gave them some fresh black caliper paint.

Also painted the center bolt and hub. All done! Easy pea-sie. If only I knew about the PITA that was yet to come for the fronts.

07-03-2010, 11:50 AM	#11
imstillonjava Rotary Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 108 Rep Power: 18	It Brakes My Heart (rear brakes ed).....that this car is still not on the road yet. haha. My brakes were in dire need of an upgrade, so I had AutoRnD set me up with a RacingBrake rear OE bbk, and then journeyed down to local Fullerton to willcall it. First to go...is the OEM brake dust shield in the rears. They don't clear the RB rotors, and they don't serve any particular function enough for me to modify and keep them. I looked all over the car and in the Mazda factory manual, and there wasn't an indication of how to remove it at all. It looked like a pressed/interference fit of the metal shell. So I tried the "delicate" route of dremeling it out with a metal cutter first. That took way too much time, and there were way too many flying carbon discs as a result...so I busted out the tiny arm muscles, and used a pair of tin snips + some can opener type action to rip those buggers off. Tried cleaning some dirt off....did it work? Removed the calipers, cleaned then up - and gave them some fresh black caliper paint. Also painted the center bolt and hub. All done! Easy pea-sie. If only I knew about the PITA that was yet to come for the fronts.