disposable cars

[Dave L]

I have a Protege 5 I have had for 5 years now. It has 181,000Km on it and although it has been a very reliable car I am starting to feel that it was designed to live 5 years.

I started to do a brake job on it and just cant belive my frustration, it appears as though rust holds the car together.

First step is to remove the wheels, no big deal Ive done it a million times for Autox on the BMW, Porsche and VW that I have owned. Not so easy on the Mazda. I have to beat the hell out of the back of the rim with a rubber mallat to get the wheel off because its frozen on. I should add that I just changed over to the summer rims less than a month ago and applied antisieze to the hub.

Now onto the actual work. The caliper looks like something you would find sitting in a junk yard for 20 years. The bolts; rusted too. The edge of the rotor; yup rusted. After some work the caliper comes off. now onto the rotor.

Instructions say pull rotor off, a quick search on google reveals "Don’t be afraid to really beat the snot out of it. I used a 25 LB Sledge Hammer with a 4 foot handle when I worked at the dealership. Most of the time they came off in pieces!
Have fun, wear safety glasses, do it outside."

Im not a hardcore DIYer but I have done the odd job on my 2 old e30's and 2 944's and this all seems rediculous on a 5 year old car.

here is the pile of rust after beating the snot out of it.



Project must continue tomorrow as the parts desk gave me 4 bolt Mazda rotors and not 5 bolt rotors I need for my Protege5

[KNS]

Do they salt the roads up there?? That's nasty

[SIIbEL]

if this is the first brake job, think again. the P5 is an appliance.
i had a '95 caravan that the rotors disintegrated after 2 upstate ny winters. The dealership mechanics weren't surprised. My '95 honda lasted 80 k before the first rotor replacement. My
pcar gets about 10 k with no complaints.

[Tobra]

On my integra I had about 130,000 miles when I replaced the rotors, but it was highway driven for the first half of its life. WOuld not have replaced them then, but I but some really aggressive pads that chewed up the rotors after having been turned at first brake job at 100,000 miles

[Dave L]

salt on the roads - yes sir!

first brake job, No, but at 180,000km still the original rotors. The rear rotors were changed when one of the rear calipers siezed...Due to rust.

Appliance car - yes. The car was purchased to be cheap; cheap to buy, insure, fill with gas and it has been but its still frustrating to see poor quality.

Its funny because I took the axel shafts out of my 944 earlier in the week. I am sure they have been on the car for 20 years but all that was required was some degreaser and a brush to remove the gunk in the bolt holes. No hammers needed.

[Aerkuld]

I think we get spoiled working on 20+ year old Porsches. The majority of cars are just not engineered as well. Even so, 5 years old? That really sucks!

[stomachmonkey]

When I encounter a stubborn wheel I just back the lug nuts off a turn and drive it around the block.

A lot less work.

[Porsche_monkey]

I ahd to flame cut the rotors off my Expedition. 100,000 km and they were basically welded on from salt.

[Moneyguy1]

I lived for many years in the "rust belt" I NEVER had the undercarriage of any car I owned look that bad. Of course, the car(s)
got put up on jackstands twice a year, wheels removed, loose rust wire brushed and a coat of "extend" followed by rustoleum. Imagine a ten year old car that you could still remove the calipers from with standard box wrenches. No matter the make of car, it is eternal vigilance. Any car can be made to last that long with a bit of effort.

[Dave L]

MoneyGuy1 can you tell me more about extend. I looked it up in google but, uhh, I think you are talking about something other than "male enhancement" products.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

We're becoming more and more like China every day. . .

[Moneyguy1]

Extend (and I am not a chemist) evidently turns Fe2O3 to Fe3O4, or black rust. It is water soluable, so it has to be finish coated with something else, like a good enamel. I used a lot of it on cars I towed out of barns back in the 80s to preserve the bodywork. Very rarely did I have a body panel rust through if it was wire brushed, cleaned, "Extended" and then sealed with (inside only) Rustoleum. Outside body work I sealed with the Extend, then standard automotive primer, and automotive finishes.

[slow&rusty]

Dave L - You are being pretty ridiculous. Sorry to say. Barrie has absolutely terrible weather, terrible roads, heavily salted roads, long winters and further to that Mazda does a great job of bolting together their cars.

I have seen 5year old Cadillac STS in Barrie rusting, and figure a STS is 4times the cost of your Mazda.

I drive a 20year old Mazda with 320,000km on it (still original alternator, starter, engine and tranny) and it feels as tight as any new car. I have changed suspension bushings and the regular maintenance items but the interior and exterior trim are perfect - not even a dash crack.

If you want disposable cars think any GM J-Body or Chrysler Neon

Sadly Ontario's winter's have no mercy...when was the last time you saw say a Datsun Z from the 1970s in Barrie?

Yasin

[89911]

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
I lived for many years in the "rust belt" I NEVER had the undercarriage of any car I owned look that bad. Of course, the car(s)
got put up on jackstands twice a year, wheels removed, loose rust wire brushed and a coat of "extend" followed by rustoleum. Imagine a ten year old car that you could still remove the calipers from with standard box wrenches. No matter the make of car, it is eternal vigilance. Any car can be made to last that long with a bit of effort.

Do you really think that the majority of those living in the "rust belt" are going to do this?? Maybe the task of doing this for 10 years expedited your move to AZ.

[Dave L]

Originally posted by slow&rusty


Sadly Ontario's winter's have no mercy...when was the last time you saw say a Datsun Z from the 1970s in Barrie?

Yasin

I see fewer Protege 5's without rust on the rear wheel wells and around the emblem on the back than I do Z's

Dont get me wrong I like Mazda's, My wife got a Mazda 3 a few months ago. I just find it appalling that a car that is well taken care of and undercoated would show rust after 5 years. Rust belt or not thats BS.

[Moneyguy1]

In part I did move to AZ to get away from nine months of winter and three months of lousy sledding. I would think that folks like the posters here, involved as they are with their cars would get out and get under at least once a year for a thorough inspection of the undercarriage. To do otherwise is courting disaster. One should read the "ancient" auto repair manuals from the teens and twenties to see what owning a car entailed in the early days. Talk about constant vigilance. I had regular (read domestic) cars last 150+ kmiles in upstate New York and still salable simply because they were not lace. The one weekend in the Summer and the $25 worth of paint paid for itself many times over.

[cashflyer]

Originally posted by Dave L
MoneyGuy1 can you tell me more about extend.

Available in liquid or aerosol at many DIY home stores (Ace, HD, B&Q, Lowes, etc)
http://www.loctiteproducts.com/products/detail.asp?catid=13&subid=47&plid=168