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My car is due for a service. I intend to give it a fairly comprehensive one. I am sticking with the Mazda OEM oil filter and am going to use the Halfords fully synthetic oil which they currently have on offer. I also intend to change the following items. I would welcome advice from people regarding some questions... BRAKE PADS - Do the uprated types (e.g. available from Moss) offer much improvement over the standard/OEM ones? Will performance from cold be worse? (I use the car daily for work so don't want to lose stopping power in non press-on driving situations.) - Which offer the best performance per pound: Mazda OEM/Moss uprated/Mintex/other 3rd party? SPARK PLUGS - Are any particular types clearly better than others, without spending silly money? AIR FILTER - Should I go for the Mazda OEM or a 3rd party one such as K&N? (2/00) |
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Brake pads .. 1.8 only had Moss HP Metalmasters at one point .. gives 20-30% more fade resistance but can squeal under light braking at the back. Plugs... only ever buy NGK .. the rest suck! .. can get extend reach but difficult to source. Filter... Moss is washable .. saves next time and might give you a bit. (2/00) |
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I would say definately do go with the K&N filter. Better breathing and for about the little extra you may spend on it, it does have a 1 million mile warranty and you don't have to buy a new one for quite a while. Cleaning it and re-oiling is a fairly simple affair. On to the spark plugs, a lot of my customers prefer the Bosch Platinums or NGK. With the brake pads, I have recently checked into stocking EBC pads because they claim better "grabbing" force and no brake dust (kevlar pads). (2/00) |
| I have the Moss (Metalmaster) pads on my car. They are great. For some reason the rear pads seem to generate a lot more dust than the fronts but that could be because my calipers are on the way out. The only problem I had with them was in very cold weather the pads were very ineffective until they were warmed up. A couple of mild stops (ie pulling up at a junction and not 100-0 !) and they were fine. Did catch me out the first time though! (2/00) |
| See also brake pads |
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SPARK PLUGS I've looked into this in different places - performance hand books, the 'net, etc. None of them managed to convince me to buy anything other the the OEM NGKs AIR FILTER- I have recently bought a K&N filter, I don't think it has improved performance, but it is just slightly more expensive than the OEM one and its reusable - so you'll save money over just 2 services. What age are your plug leads, shocks etc (no, I don't work for Kwik-Fit). I have recently bought some Magnecore leads, again I haven't really noticed much difference, but they have a lifetime guarantee, so again, should save money in the long run. (2/00) |
| Here is a list of what needs doing and when. Available as an Acrobat file and as a Word file. (6/01) |