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Mazda Protegé

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    mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    The brakes on my 2000 ES are original, with 50,150 miles on them.

    Now, I do tend to "engine brake" somewhat (I have a 5-speed), but I guess I should get down and check them. The front ones at least are probably wafer-thin!

    Meade
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    chicagoprochicagopro Member Posts: 1,009
    "Some female drivers...need close supervision."

    Ummm....well, I could say that some MALE drivers need close supervision too, right?

    Especially the ones who have squirrels attacking their pants.

    :):):)

    --Dale
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    boggseboggse Member Posts: 1,048
    http://www.detnews.com/2003/autosinsider/0302/06/b01-78366.htm

    Let's hope this is good news for the Mustang and not bad news for the M6.
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    mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    If the 6 has to be built on an American assembly line, I'm honored that it shares a factory with the acclaimed and historic Mustang.

    Meade
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    gee35coupegee35coupe Member Posts: 3,387
    Now that's what I call taking lemons and making lemonade.
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    vocusvocus Member Posts: 7,777
    I had a 1999 DX Protege, replaced the front pads at 26K miles. I drive mostly highway, but I was hard on the car. I needed the rotors machined at that time as well.

    I think the garage ripped your wife off.
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    mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Well, what ELSE am I supposed to do?

    ;-)

    (But I'd rather the 6 share a plant with the Mustang than, say, the FOCUS!!!!!!!)

    Meade
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    gee35coupegee35coupe Member Posts: 3,387
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    alternatoralternator Member Posts: 629
    Here is an interesting web page that supports the idea that you usually do not need to resurface rotors when pads are replaced:

    http://autosite.com/garage/encyclop/ency14f.asp
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    newcar31newcar31 Member Posts: 3,711
    some nice looking cars. Too bad the Mustang won't be built at the River Rouge anymore. If I ever had to go to Detroit, I always wanted to tour the Rouge factory after owning a Mustang. When I used to drive my 91' around, I'd turn on the classic rock station and it almost seemed like the 60's, even though I was born in the 70's. The car was crude as hell. It sounded like a muscle car, rode like crap, and the brakes always smoked slowing down quickly from speeds over 100. The car needed better brakes. It handled alright when the road was flat, but any kind of bumps upset the live rear axle and turned things into a Rodeo. But it was fun and I beat the crap out of it and it never broke. For the money, two thumbs up.

    My Protege is nowhere near as fast, but it feels much more solid. On bumpy clover leafs, the Mustang's rear end would hop and skip around. The Protege just digs in and bumps in the road don't seem to upset it. The steering on the Protege is 10 times better. The Protege rides better. The interior in the Protege seems luxury compared to the Mustang's burlap seats, vinyl door coverings, and Econoline dashboard (The speedo did go to 140, and so did the car). The Protege is much quieter; the Mustang had 2 chamber mufflers and between 70 and 75 mph in 5th gear the resonance was the loudest. You could feel the exhuast sound in the floor. Obviously the Protege is a better quality car although I don't think it could withstand the kind of mechanical abuse that the Mustang went though. I like some Fords and I like Mazdas. They make cars that are fun to drive.
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    sfratsfrat Member Posts: 208
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    the_big_hthe_big_h Member Posts: 1,583
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    dinu01dinu01 Member Posts: 2,586
    My PRO had no snow on it today. It's actualy sunny and the PRO does appreciate a little sun.

    BTW, Rally Sweden is running today to Sunday!

    http://rally.racing-live.com/en/
    http://www.wrc.com/en_GB/default.htm

    Dinu
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    boggseboggse Member Posts: 1,048
    I'm still waiting for Meade to answer my Tire question. Would anyone else like to comment on how their SP Sport 5000m tires are wearing?
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    bluong1bluong1 Member Posts: 1,927
    It's not evenly wear, and vibration on the steering is becoming stronger. Time for change.
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    newcar31newcar31 Member Posts: 3,711
    considering the car has 25,000 miles on it and the tires are only on half the year.
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    boggseboggse Member Posts: 1,048
    That is what I was afraid of. I think I will be trying another brand/model when it comes time to replace mine.
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    newcar31newcar31 Member Posts: 3,711
    next time I get tires. I already have winter tires, so I want to try out some summer tires. 205/50/16s this time. Preferably something with a decent treadwear rating. Any suggestions?
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    vocusvocus Member Posts: 7,777
    My 01 ES had these tires, and there was hardly any visible wear on them when I traded the car at 19,826 miles. I do 70% highway driving though, if that makes a difference...
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    bluong1bluong1 Member Posts: 1,927
    the wear is mostly at the central tread, and it's rather uneven. However, side treads are OK. (notice: I smoke my tires now and then when starting from the toll pay station).

    Bruno
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    browntroutbrowntrout Member Posts: 24
    For a pure summer performance tires, these are amazing and I highly recommend them. They are priced decently for a high performance tire. Wicked dry grip and no problems in the wet...I didn't have the courage to push the tires to their limit in the wet. Even in the dry, I have never got them to come ulglued in any cornering situation except when I mash the throttle too early when I'm exiting an on ramp.
    I find that these tires run smoother than the Bridgestone RE-92, probably due to the softer sidewalls. I run them around 37 PSI for optimal balance. They are very comfortable on the highway. I did a couple of 4 hour road trips with no complaints. They were quite quiet but they are still pretty new. I think the treadwear rating was around 300. I have 205/55/15's installed on the stock 15 inch mags. The extra width over stock really makes it hard to spin the wheels upon start-up and braking at the limit in noticeably better, the ABS does not kick in as fast as before.
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    boggseboggse Member Posts: 1,048
    I had the T1-S on my 2001 Protege ES for about 3000 miles, so I cannot comment on treadwear, but handling in dry and wet were excellent. I would highly recommend them.
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    newcar31newcar31 Member Posts: 3,711
    I just dropped my car off at the dealership to get the "death rattle" fixed. Thanks to boggse on the Protege Problems board for the link. I hope the "fix" fixes it.

    I got me a rental too. It's a 2002 Protege DX auto. Green lights, no tach, crank windows, the whole works. It rides a little better than my ES, but, Holy Automatic!! I'm glad I have a 5sp.
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    mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    First of all, the tires are on my wife's car. I haven't really (a) had a chance and (b) really cared to look at them yet since she's only got about 14K on the car and we've already rotated them once (time to do it again). It's been one snow after another here in Richmond and I'd be embarrassed to even show you our cars right now. Neither one of them has had a good bath since before Christmas.

    Meade
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    boggseboggse Member Posts: 1,048
    I would take a gander at your wife's tires, if I were you, Meade. Mine started showing wear that soon and it sounds like others on this discussion have as well (except Paul anyway). Just something to keep an eye on.
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    meinradmeinrad Member Posts: 820
    Meade, mine are at 5/32 front, and 6/32 rear as stated on my State Inspection I got yesterday. Mileage was just about 14,850 or so. According to Tire Rack they started with a depth of 10/32 which makes them 50% worn at 6/32.

    I have no idea what all that means, but that's what I got.
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    mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Meade
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    mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Gimme a weekend day that reaches at least the upper 50s and I'll be out there a-scrubbin' an' a-waxin' an' a-buffin' -- and I'll take a look at those tires.

    Gotta get mine rotated, and my oil changed!!! Been 9K on this batch of synthetic -- time to change!!!

    Meade
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    gee35coupegee35coupe Member Posts: 3,387
    Wore out the OEM Bridgestones in 24k. Crappy Crap crap. The MXV4's seem to last a long time. And if they are OEM you don't even notice how loud they are.

    The Michelin X-Ones I put on my Lexus are warranted for 80,000 miles. I hope the car makes it to 200K.
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    vocusvocus Member Posts: 7,777
    I had my first experience with the Pilots that came with my car. I changed the wheels this past weekend, at 31K miles, and the tires still had 3/32 tread left on them, and they're 17s. I was really surprised they lasted that long, but they did.
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    vocusvocus Member Posts: 7,777
    Curious to know how the auto compares to the stick shift, even though they're not the same model. Also, the DX loaner I had a couple months ago "felt" lighter to me than the ES I had. But also, it had been about 8 months since I drove the ES too, so that could have been it.
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    mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    You "changed the wheels"?

    What'd you get?

    Meade
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    vocusvocus Member Posts: 7,777
    I got 15" wheels to replace the 17s, since I didn't feel like replacing tires every 1.5 years or so at ~$150 each. The car doesn't handle that much differently, and I can slightly feel the lighter weight of the 15s vs. the 17s. Is that possible, or am I losing it? :)
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    mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    So you bought new tires too? What kinda wheels?
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    vocusvocus Member Posts: 7,777
    I'll explain it to you at the "other" site.
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    mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    This oughta be good.

    Meade
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    newcar31newcar31 Member Posts: 3,711
    The 2002 DX has the same 2.0L as my ES so the auto vs. manual comparison is apples to apples. IMO, the auto sucks, but I think all automatics suck. It really drains the power. My car isn't the greatest on the freeway, but the automatic really wheezes. This is the first time I've driven an auto Protege and I'm not surprised. I have also driven an auto Mustang 5.0L and I had a manual Mustang 5.0L. The manual tranny car is a different automobile.
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    protege_fanprotege_fan Member Posts: 2,405
    I drove a loaner automatic LX 2.0 once...I thought I was driving a 1.6L...I had to get out and check the badging just to be sure it was the 2.0L. You're so right....the auto vs. manual tranny Pros are very different.
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    newcar31newcar31 Member Posts: 3,711
    and they need to order the part (I knew they would). They also said they found a leaking rear strut. I couldn't tell, but I haven't looked at my rear struts for a while. So now I will have 3 struts with 25,000 miles on them and 1 brand new one. I almost want to tell them to just replace all of them, but that might be a little unreasonable.
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    protege_fanprotege_fan Member Posts: 2,405
    The leaking one is covered under warranty, right? I've noticed mine making a loud groan when I go over large speedbumps. I think it just may be the cold weather, so I'll wait until Spring before I take action. Odd though...I know for certain the groan wasn't present the first winter I had my Pro.
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    newcar31newcar31 Member Posts: 3,711
    Yeah, it's covered under warranty. I did notice a low pitched squeak coming from the back when going over bumps but it didn't seem like a big deal. At least the dealer found the problem without me asking about it. I still don't like the idea of having 3 somewhat worn struts and one brand new one.
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    protege_fanprotege_fan Member Posts: 2,405
    Would new struts cost? I suppose OEM cost...aftermarket could get ridiculous.
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    newcar31newcar31 Member Posts: 3,711
    I know that my Tokicos for my Integra were $80 a piece. OEMs could be more.

    Malt---what do you think about having 3 used struts and one brand new one?
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    bluong1bluong1 Member Posts: 1,927
    what part they have to order?

    Bruno
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    chikoochikoo Member Posts: 3,008
    my '99 ES...i don't remember rear uspension groaning / creaking the first winter.

    But alst 2 winters, whenever the temp fell below 25F, it would groan when it went over the first bump. After that stretch exercise, I would not hear any more groans.

    What is causing this?
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    newcar31newcar31 Member Posts: 3,711
    Not sure. My parent's Camry made the same noise since it was new so I didn't think it was a big deal with my car. I don't know if your noise is the same noise as mine.

    Bruno---They had to order the VTCS thingy. I'm not sure if they have to order the strut also.
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    mazdanymazdany Member Posts: 28
    Have the same problem with my 99 ES. Once the temp drops signficantly below freezing my rear suspension starts to creak also. Usually this is not a problem as the winters in NYC are pretty mild as compared to upstate. I thought my suspension was starting to go. Is this a common problem for Proteges?
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    the_big_hthe_big_h Member Posts: 1,583
    maybe it's time to look into upgrading into MP3 struts/springs setup hmm?

    http://www.mazdastuff.com has them for relatively cheap, check it out!
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    chikoochikoo Member Posts: 3,008
    because my Ford Taurus does not creak and it has 85,000 miles on it.
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    maltbmaltb Member Posts: 3,572
    But concerning replacing one, it's not a big deal if you are at a relatively low mileage. If you were up around 70k, I'd say replace both rears. Aside from that, warranty will only cover the one that is defective, the other one will cost you $58 plus labor.
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