2004 Mazda MAZDA3: rotors or pads wearing out early

Filed Sep 23, 2006 · Brakes · 30,000 miles · CA · crash

Rear brake rotor and pads experiencing excessive wear. Abs system seems to activate prematurely at the rear wheels under heavy braking in dry conditions. Rear brakes will need complete replacement at 32k miles while the fronts look to last 100k. Dealer says wear is normal, independent repair shops say not. This may be evidence of improper brake balance between front and rear which could cause safety issues either due to premature wear and parts failure or under certain braking conditions. Apparent pemature activation of ABS system during sudden braking startled a young driver of this car who released pressure on the brake mistaking ABS pulsation for a brake failure and struck another car as a result.

Filed Sep 20, 2006 · Brakes · 48,700 miles · CA

Rear brake rotors warped, grooved and worn beyond repair at 49,000 miles. I was told that it was my driving "style" by the mazda dealership that probably caused the excessive wear. However, the front brake pads have plenty of life left in them and the rotors are smooth as can be (I even checked the inside). My car has a manual transmission and my wife and I commonly "downshift" to control engine speed. My driving style has given me longer braking system life on cars I drive and have driven. I have always noticed the excessive brake dust on the rear wheels of my car and on others on the road since I bought the car in march 2004, and thought it odd since most braking is done by the front wheels. I have spent many hours cleaning the brake dust from my rear wheels, so I know. Unfortunately, it never clicked in my head that the brake rotors were being carved up. I understand that this is a wear item and not covered by warranty, but is it not common in the industry for the pads to wear out much before the rotors? I think there is cause to research this further. I am disappointed in the two mazda dealerships that have done all my oil filter changes and half of my tire rotations, to have never mentioned any brake wear before. Other than that, so far, this is an exceptional automobile.

Filed Jul 22, 2005 · Fuel system · 27,000 miles · PA

(1) I purchased my 2004 mazda 3s in march of 2004. I have enjoyed it virtually maintenance free (besides routine) for over 1 year. (2) in april of 2005, I turned the key to start the car. It hesitated for over 10 seconds and finally turned over. I was alarmed, and after a few more times of this happening, I called my dealership immediately. (3) it was decided by the service department that it was the fuel pump. I received a new fuel pump (under warranty) and after a week, it started doing it again. I called the dealership again, and my car went back into the shop. They cleaned the battery, and all of the connections, ruling out a possible electric problem. It was okay, then it started doing it again. I had it in for the third time, and the service manager said the fuel pump they used to replace the original must have been of the same poor quality, so fuel pump #3 went in. Well, when I started the car to drive it out of the service lot, it hesitated again! I sat in my car and cried. I went right back into the service dept., and asked them to take care of it.they said since it ran fine, it was only the starting issue, it was okay to drive 700 miles round trip to massachusetts (my previously planned weekend trip) and they'd see me when I returned. Well, it survived the drive, and I had the chance to refill the fuel tank 3 whole times with 2 different types of gas than I normally use. It still hesitiated a lot, but was acting the same. I drove it straight to the shop that wednesday afternoon after I returned to pa, and just received a call today that the technician from japan was looking at it, and decided it needed a new fuel pump. Yes, fuel pump #4! I am beyond fed up with this car, and I am contacting the pa lemon law attorneys to see what they can do despite the fact that my car is over 12 months and 12,000 miles old. (p.s. I am also experiencing the rotor wear problems, but I'm taking care of one problem at a time. Maybe mazda will buy this sucker back!)

Filed Jul 23, 2004 · Brakes · 2,700 miles · VA

There is an excessive amount of brake dust and rotor wear on my rear brakes. The front brakes have almost no dust at all. This started right after the car was purchased, it only has 2700 miles on it now.

Filed Jun 2, 2004 · Body, Brakes · CA

Excessive rear brake disc/pad wear. Driver door rattling.

Filed May 19, 2004 · Transmission · 1,800 miles · KS

Vehicle overview: my 2004 mazda3 s sedan is not equipped with ABS and has 16" inch factory wheels. The car has an automatic transmission. *ak problem description: after aproximately 1800 miles of driving (city/highway), I began to notice slight discolored bands on each of the brake rotor discs at all four wheels. After another 600 miles of driving, I began to notice grooving in the places with the discolored bands. At this point, the groove could be felt by a fingertip. The grooves are visible on the outward side of each rotor. I have not inspected the opposite side of each rotor (the side that would be closest to the vechicle chassis) to verify grooving on either side. Efforts to correct: I have requested that my dealership inspect the brakes, and they have also noted the grooving. However, they claim that there is no fix for this other than re-surfacing each rotor. This will prematurely wear my braking components, so I declined this offer. Also, simply resurfacing the brake rotors does not address the issue of what is causing the grooving in the first place. Outcome: braking power and stability remain unaffected in spite of the grooves. However, the longevity of the brakes is diminished. I am uncertain what the outcome would be with continued grooving. This is a foreshadowing to premature brake component failure.

Filed Apr 26, 2004 · Brakes · 100 miles · GA

1)4 days after buying the car my front brake rotors had 3 large (1m wide more than .5mm deep) grooves and the rear brake rotors were starting to develop the same problem. The pads must have some type of hard metalic pieces in them that gradually destroys the brake rotors. 2)it's only a matter of time before the pads wear the rotors to an unsave limit. So, I returned to my mazda dealer for service. Jim ellis mazda of marietta 3)the service staff there was horrible and in the end did nothing to fix the cause of the grooves. The shaved an unspecified amount of material off my front rotors and insisted that it was within "spec". The vehicle was only 3 weeks old but now my front rotors are almost out of useable rotor width. They did not replace the break pads despite their obvious link to the problem. My back pads and rotors were not changed at all! When my brake system goes out due to their faulty parts there will be human costs and that's why I'm filing this complaint.