Ford Probe, Mazda 626 & MX6 FAQ

B) Sourcing Components & Regular Maintenance

Front Rotors

Tools Required
    Wheel removal sockets (19mm or 21mm), breaker bar, 13 & 17mm socket, rubber hammer, 7mm allen-key, pozidrive/philips screwdriver, torque wrench, copper high-temp antiseize grease or similar. Hydraulic jack and U-top (not V-top) safety jack stands. M8 bolt & matching socket. Piece of steel wire strong enough to hold weight of calliper & bracket. C-Clamp and piece of wood. Some calipers may use a 5/8" bolt.

Brake Rotor/Disc Min Thickness
    Replacement thickness of the front brake disc is 22mm (new is 24mm) with runout 0.1mm maximum. Replace rotors across the axle. Thickness is measured by a vernier caliper at several points around the disc and at several distances from the centre of the disc.

Front Brake Rotors

Jack up car & remove wheel(s)
    1. Ensure the handbrake is on firmly, the car is level and in Gear/Park. Jack up front of car & support on jack stands at the proper Jacking & Support Points.

    2. Just before the wheel(s) clear the ground, break free the 5 wheel nuts. With the car safely supported on jack stands, proceed to remove the wheel nuts.

Removing calipers from hub
    3. Rotor removal requires the calipers & their bracket be first removed from the hub, achieve by locating the two 19mm bolts retaining them. On US/Canada cars a 7mm allen key is required. The caliper must be supported by a wire to the strut above before the final bolt is removed, it must not be allowed to hang on the brake line even momentarily.

    4. With the caliper out of the way the rotor is exposed and may be removed by inserting an M8 bolt-thread pre-tapped in the rotor. If the rotors have no such hole, then a rubber hammer is needed on the rear of the rotor to dislodge it.

    5. If the new rotor is thicker than the old (likely) then the pads will no longer fit back. Thus the pads must be removed (see front brake pad procedure) and the piston pushed back in, then the pads refitted.

    Before fitting the new rotor, put copper anti-seize compound on the hub & rotor mating surfaces to ease removal in the future. Do not allow any of the anti-seize compounds to come in to contact with braking surfaces.

Caliper refitting
    6. Caliper refitting is the reverse of removal, taking care not to damage the piston boot when pushing the pads/caliper back around the brake rotor. Caliper bracket mounting bolts should be torqued to 78-102Nm or 58-74lb/ft.

Bleeding brakes
    7. Brakes should now be bled ideally to eliminate any air or moisture which has got into the system, and indeed they should be bled annually anyway. See the Brake Bleeding & Brake Fluid Change section for the procedure.

Finishing off
    8. Refit the wheel putting a small amount of copper antiseize grease on the hub-wheel interface. Retorque wheel lug-nuts in a 1-3-5-2-4 pattern first to 50lb/ft then 80lb/ft to ensure even load and reduce chance of rotor warpage/wheel imbalance.

Torque Figures:
    Caliper Bracket mounting bolts torque: 78-102Nm or 58-74lb/ft.
    Wheel Lug Nut torque: 80lb/ft.


Ford Probe, Mazda 626 & MX6 FAQ

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