bme

Would like to highlight a couple of issues to my fellow Evo 8 owners and perhaps get some feedback....

1) The first issue is the brakes of the Evo. Some people may argue that the Evo's brakes are one of its weakest points. To build on that point - My car has barely 4000 miles and the brakes have already begun to judder. (Good thing its under warranty. Hence, got it replaced). This is caused by warped discs (i.e. the brake discs are uneven - due to a number of reasons from water splashing whilst the brakes are hot to hard braking in the wet). Now, some research I've done tells us although the Evo V onwards employed 4-pot Brembo brakes for the front the Evo still manages to warp discs. The Evo inspires massive amounts of driver confidence when driven hard, so the brakes have to be
fantastic to compliment the car when driven hard.. They just don’t do the job! Under normal driving they more than cope. Read on.......Front discs warping which shows up as judder felt through the steering wheel and/or pedal under braking is the most common thing to happen. Usually the first signs appear under high speed braking i.e. 100mph down through to 70mph. The front disc warping on the Evo V/VI/TME is a well-known problem. Some cars have never warped their discs yet others seem prone to the problem. Warping can happen within a few thousand miles and often reoccurs when the discs are replaced, or skimmed, and in most cases it makes no difference how you treat the brakes
with even careful owners eventually reporting problems. Unfortunately, the only definite way of curing the warping is to fit an aftermarket caliper and disc kit such as the popular AP 6-pot
kit, anything else and warping may possibly reappear. Bad news is that this could cost allot. Apart from the standard running-in procedure of brakes what else can on do to prevent this warping of the brake discs....

2) Issue No. 2 is the gear shift. Some people may argue that the Evo 8's gear shift feels clunky. I presonally think it feels fine - Up untill recently when I was driving one morning. I took the car out for an open road blast and as I shifted into 6 gear it popped right back into Neutral without me doing a single thing. Basically it refused to stay in 6th. This happened for awhile and only after driving the car for a little bit more did the gear stay in 6. What is going on here and do I need to be worried. I understand that the car needs to be warmed up first before a proper blast. How long though. Also, not sure if the same happens in the 5 speed'ers. Please provide any comments are feedback.....

SlowCar

iTrader: (4)

can aftermarket slotted rotors...if there are any fit the stock brembo calipers?

bme

Yup, I reckon AP Racings' got them..expensve though.

BPAuto

iTrader: (10)

Yes, you have several options from Brembo, Endless, Project Mu, etc.

Regarding the 6th gear problem, does it grind or does it just spit the gear out? It sounds like a synchro problem.

Also, which model Evo do you have? V? VI? VII? VIII?

Karash

iTrader: (6)

I dunno...I'm just not ready to buy into the urban legend that the brakes are bad on the Evo. Any braking system will be sub standard if you beat the crap out of it on a constant basis...even in WRC. They probably replace their brakes every race.

The stocker brembo's are awesome. Nuff said.

rocketscience

torque wrench?

trigeek37

the only Evos with 6-speeds are Euro & Japan spec Evo 8s... so, it has to be one of those I suspect....

evoD

iTrader: (4)

just a note: the braking ability(over repeated runs) on this car is equal to that of a gt2. its ability to warp isn't caused by heat exhaustion but by uneven heat transfer(as when a car is stopped with the brakes depressed...causing a hot pad to transfer heat to a specific area of the rotor) as well as the pad itself when hot, transfering material to the rotor when stopped while the pad is hot. not trying to flame you, but expressing my opinion that the brakes on the evo are not inadequate for the car...unless one is in competition...in which case they would be highly inadequate. i DO think however, that there is an issue with the pad transfering material to the rotor when the car is stopped...as the brakes do tend to heat up easily. that issue i don't know what to do about...and if you're on a hill and you need to keep the car still at a stoplight...not much u can do. but there is the case of people pressing on the brake pedal while at a stop hard enough to warp the rotor itself just by the sheer compression force of the caliper. that problem...i see a lot specially at dealerships...where people come in wondering why their brakes are vibrating as they are when they're warped, yet with only a few thousand miles on their car. people have to understand that it doesn't take much brake force to keep a car still...if any sometimes...but if you are holding the brake pedal down at a stop as if you're trying to brake from 100-0...i'm quite sure that it won't take more than a few hundred miles to warp rotors....

JeffWels

as stated above, what everyone thinks are warped rotors, is really pad buildup on the rotor making a vibration when braking. This build up occurs when you use the brakes hard and come to a stop, basically transfering pad to the rotor then it cools. I have avoided even the slightest vibration even with multiple track days under the cars stock brakes by doing 2 or 3 cool down laps, then stopping the car without using the ebrake. Basically just treat them well, and there will be no problems.

evoD

iTrader: (4)

alongside JeffWels....i've done a few track days as well and have put 12k miles on my car in the 4 months i've had it....no sign of warp as of yet.

BushBurninEvo

iTrader: (8)

I tried to keep my brakes as cool as possible. I haven't done any track events or brake hard often i.e. braking from 70 - 0 in traffic. When I do stop at lights i left off my brake and when I do brake hard I drive around a bit before stopping and using the e-brake when I park. my brakes were juddering at 5,500 miles and had to bring it in where they resurfaced it, but they did not replace the pads so it started to judder again at 7,000 miles. I'm trying to avoid the juddering again, my rotors and pads are being replaced on monday...so im wondering what can I do to prevent the problems again.

evoD

iTrader: (4)

ok...one thing first is that whenever you replace rotors, pads MUST be replaced. the pads, like rotors, also get hard spots which can ultimately lead to hot spots on the rotor, causing the warping again. just a note...not sure if it is describing your condition, but it is a possibility. a word of caution as well to the use of handbrakes...along with normal braking when stopped...don't pull you're hand brake too hard or too fast. too fast...eventually u can actually snap the handbrake cable due to excessive stretch. too hard...same thing is happeneing with the rotors hot...you warp the rear rotors. some of you might notice a few track guys sticking things under their tires to keep their cars from rolling away when they're in the pits...they don't want to use the handbrake with the rotors hot.

ReHeat

iTrader: (8)

I remember there was a recall on the JDM 6-speed Evo 8 regarding the shifter, that might be the problem you're having.

JeffWels

what i was trying to say

Ryanmcd3

after some laps I put the car in gear and let it sit and cool down, never pull the e-brake.