Pappy

Howdy,

Is anyone else experiencing pulsating brakes?

Mine started doing this after the front brakes started squeeling. The squeeling has sort of gone away but the pulsating is getting worse and is annoying. It's more noticable when stopping from higher speeds.

Will be visiting my local Mazda dealer in a few weeks to get this sorted out but would appreciate some advice before visiting the dealer.

Cheers,

Pappy.

sco

Describe "pulsating"... does the brake pedal behave in a funny fashion, does it seem like ABS is kicking in unnecessarily or something else?

RXE16T

Is your car lowered or does it have aftermarket wheels?

Pappy

Hi,

The car is standard - no mods and done about 11,000km.

The pulsating feels like the brakes are grabbing then letting go grabbing - letting go continuously until the car comes to a stop. It's not the typical ABS sensation.

There's a thread on the Tech Garage forum which describes this exact issue and seems to be somehow related to the brake rotors being a problem. (https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tech-garage-22/pulsating-brakes-42453/)

Cheers,

Pappy

AMG

warped rotors.

Pappy

I assume these would be covered by warranty?

AMG

only if you can prove that they were not subject to wear and tear and radical thermal cycling. I'd give it a go anyway, ordinary use should see the rotors lasting a good 80-100k.

RXE16T

They should be covered under warranty if it is a design flaw from Mazda.

The dealership may try and make some money by saying that it's due to customer abuse since rotors shouldn't be warped after only 11000kms.

If this is the case, get out of there and get a second opinion at another dealer.

EZZY

depends......, im sure the rotors are classified as "wear and tear" parts, so it might not be covered under warranty

pls let us know when you have visited MA service centre. Assuming you will be going to rockdale?

e

Gomez

I'd be very surprised if this was covered.....brake wear and tear never is. And this is what we are talking about here. I've been in quite a few Fords and Holdens where this has occurred after short distances like 11K. I remember a ride in a mates VT Commodore wagon where his rotors were warped so bad the shift lever jumped gears under hard braking!

All the best Pappy, you never know, we are talking about a $60000 car....the dealer may cover it as good will.

Regards, Gomez.

Pappy

I hope they're covered!

I'll let you know how it goes - will give John Newell a try - if no luck, then onto Rockdale.

rx-8club.co.uk

I had my rotor's recently skimmed, and new pads installed - as after the track day the rears warped.

www.cityperformancecentre.com done it all for me, was around $500 total for the Mazda pads, disc machining, fluid, labour - bloody top job!

RXP33D

My dad's jeep grand cherokee had a brake problem. The whole brake kit had to be changed every 40-50000 kms under warranty. I think it was a build failure on quite a number of them.

RXP33D

I've noticed, possibly after some spirited driving, the brakes tend to wobble the front end due to perhaps leaving it in neutral and just braking. Downgearing seemed to be more stable on the front.

Is it bad to leave in neutral and break. I think peers have taught me to be tight n save abit of clutch and reduce engine stress. Hope it ain't costly.

Gomez

I'm exactly the opposite.....I hardly ever brake. Slowing down in the city I use my brakes for the last 10ft, the rest is done with engine braking. The bi-product of doing this is I tend to leave more space in front of me as I slow down, and I read the traffic up ahead constantly. Makes for a smoother commute too....

Gomez.

Choppy

I hope my brake pads are under warranty I have been using them to stop :D :D


I dont think the problem is a design fault its how you use the car.

Regards
Phillip

sco

Leaving in neutral and braking is bad... you should always drive in such a way that you can accelerate out of a bad situation. Leaving the car in gear while braking enables this.

Agree with Gomez on using engine compression to brake (and the RX-8 has plenty). My other car is on its original brake pads, discs after >100,000 km's due to the use of engine braking. It is also still on its original clutch with no signs of age despite the use of engine compression.

RXE16T

On a somewhat related tangent to brakes, has anyone experienced a compression lockup in the 8 with the DSC completely off?

RRS

Actual warped discs are massively uncommon these days- especially on something with brakes the size of the RX-8 ( unless you've been using it for trackdays and not allowing sufficient time to cool before you park it)-- for Eg. My rally car runs tiny tiny solid discs (230 mm), with competition pads (DS3000's- same compound as a fair few ARC teams use) . It gets hammered much harder than any track day to the point that the disc's get blued after 1 or 2 events-I've destroyed pads, and boiled fluid but I've never warped a disc.

You'll probably find in the vast majority of cases that you have an uneven build up of resin and crap from the pads on the discs.. this gives you the warped feel.

Skimming will fix it, but most likely so would some time with some wet and dry sandpaper ( fine grade!)

At service in an ARC rally you'll see some poor bugger going round with a piece of wet and dry sandpaper, cleaning the resin off the discs on the cars of all the big teams for this reason.

I never knew this until Steve from DBA posted some helpful info on www.performanceforums.com

Cheers

Rowds

lexic

Had 'warped' discs on my Ford XR8 and this was fixed under warantee. Had done a fair bit of heavy braking but hey when you gotta stop, ya gotta stop!! Has a lot to do with how 'soft' they make the discs.

Pappy

Howdy,

Just had my RX8 serviced today and along with that asked to have the brakes checked. As it turns out, both my front brake disc rotors were warped.

The dealer contacted me and confirmed that the rotors are generally not covered under warranty, but that he would discuss this with MA in light of my low kms (12,200km at time of service).

Anyway - after a few hours the dealer confirmed that MA would replace the warped discs under warranty - replacement parts were installed this afternoon and my RX8 is now back to smooth braking.

At least this confirms MA is keen on looking after their customers.

Pappy.

Gomez

Hey man.....good win.

RXE16T

At least that has restored some of my faith in Mazda Australia.

rpm_pwr

Congratulations, but I hope you realize that really, disc warpage is your own fault.

labrat

That's my style too, Gomez. Brakes are for people who drive automatics. I remember the guy who took us round the circuit at the pre-delivery drive day said his aim was to teach people to drive such that the whole driving experience was smooth and seamless (which is kind of easy with such a great gearbox as the RX-8). I have a sort of Personal Best judgement on how I believe I handle my daily commute to and from work, and it has nothing to do with "spirited driving". I don't want to get all metaphysical about it, but the RX-8 is so beautifully responsive, it's possible that you can nearly reach a state where you and the car almost become one. Automotive nirvana is the aim.