[Shiro_SE]

New pads only have about 8mm on them these days. My wife's Stinger with Brembos, that is mostly highway driven, needed new pads at ~60,000km. They weren't worn to the squealers yet, but they were close, and I didn't want to be doing a driveway brake job in the middle of the winter either. I was able to salvage 3 of the 4 rotors by not going to the backing plate of the pads before replacing.

It's likely a combination of cost and weight savings that is driving the thinner pad materials. I bought Bosch pads for her Brembos, and they bedded in quickly to the old rotors. Wear characteristics unknown at this time. Factory pads are not usually geared toward long life, but good pedal feel and braking performance with minimal dust generation.

 

[Shiro_SE]

Can confirm that the brakes actively apply during adaptive cruise operation AND I suspect that it is mostly rear biased to not upset the stability or smoothness of the car. When I adjust my setpoint down significantly (-10kph) and check my rear view at night, I see the brake lights are lit until the vehicle speed is close to the setpoint (+/- 3kph maybe?).

There is a setting in the center display menus for the speed tolerance (0, +5, +10kph IIRC). Try setting it to +10 (might be +7mph in USA?) to minimize the brake applications.

If Adaptive Cruise is disabled (which I always do on long trips), I think the downhill operation reverts to normal cruise control (no deceleration on overspeed).

 

[Shiro_SE]

Then when running you will need to reduce the distance it activates at by pressing down on the cancel button. And it resets to medium when turned off - very unhelpful.

Why turn it off then? I leave mine 9n all the time (a feature that I praise Mazda for). My wife's cars (KIA, Ford before that) required that the cruise system be turned back on everytime you start the car. I hate that. In my BMW, the cruise has NO on/off, it just exists... Push forward on the stalk to set or accelerate, back to reduce or coast. Up or down to Cancel. Simple.

My only gripe with the overall function of the Mazda cruise is an issue with all adaptive cruise systems: the set point jumps by 10s when you hold it. When coming from an older car, it catches you by surprise when your car keeps accelerating to like 150kph when you release the ACC button at the speed you want to set it at.