Last night I installed new brake pads on the front end. The rotors were in good shape - no turning was required. One pad on the passengers side had worn unevenly. The thickness of the remainder of the pad was wedge shaped. Odd!

Total cost $22.86 including pads, brake cleaner, anti-spueal compound, and high-temperature brake grease. Total time involved was 90 minutes. Personal satisfaction level - very high.

I have the Haynes manual which I did not use. Instead I found the writeups at Miata Net to be very helpful: http://www.miata.net/garage/

This was definitly the easiest brake job I have ever done.

Tip - If the bolts are too tight, turn the steering wheel so that the bolt is easily accessable and then use a 3/4" pipe to extend the handle of the wrench. The bolt will now break free with almost no effort. With a long enough lever, I think I could move the earth! Isn't physics amazing.

This morning I attempted to improve the performance of the power windows. They move very slowly, and the motor whines. First I tried lubing the tracks with lithium grease. I ended up only working on the passenger side window this morning. It now moves at roughly twice the speed of the driver side window but it still whines. After I got it all put back together, it occurred to me that I should have put some WD-40 in the cable lines. I am guessing that is where the real resistance is at. Perhaps I will try that on the driver side window tomorrow.