i had an oppurtunity to drive another RX-8 tonight (which was turbo, BTW :D ), something that I don't think I've ever done. What I noticed was that the clutch was feather light in comparison to my own. about equal mileage on both his car and mine, but his was so much smoother and lighter that I botched my shifts for a couple minutes until I felt it out. we swapped and he drove my car and verified that it was considerably heavier and that the engagment wasn't nearly as smooth.

the thing is though, as far as I can tell..the pedal pressure has been the same since I bought it. i guess is it was a gradual increase in pressure I'd never know, but this a pretty considerable difference. also, it takes a very steady left foot to shift my car without the clutch bouncing off the flywheel, and always has. this problem was non-existent in the other 8 and I don't have the problem when I drive other manuals, even high powered ones.

i've yet to experience any slipping, but do clutches get heavier as they wear? or has there been a problem with my clutch since I bought the car?

to those of you with OEM clutch issues, what symptoms were you having?

 

I am wondering if the clutch lever fulcrum fell out of the centering cup. It's a longshot and highly unlikely, but I cannot think of anything else at this time. I am assuming that there is no pedal bind under the dash(?).

CRH

 

no, there's no binding or sticking of any sort as i depress the pedal. it's very consistent pressure to put the pedal down, just alot of it.

 

When my wife and I were first together she had a Ford Escort. It had the heaviest clutch I'd ever seen. A real monster. I've got sturdy legs and it was an effort even for me. I kept telling her something had to be wrong but she said it had always been that way. A year or so later she had to get a new clutch. It turned out that somehow she'd ended up with the clutch from some Ford TRUCK!. The new one felt like a normal car. I laugh when I remember arguing about the thing.

"You really have to do something about this clutch"
"It's ALWAYS been like that"
"Well, then it's ALWAYS been ****ed up. Take it in"
"It's FINE! I like it that way"
"My leg is cramping"!
"Maybe you should walk home to stretch it out". :D

Too funny. The driver's seat frame was cracked from the repeated force of applying the clutch!

 

I'll compete with you on the heaviest clutch. My Mustang has at least a 5 ton clutch. I'll drive it for a while then get in the 8 and I find myself slamming the clutch to the floor the first time. After about a week of owning my Mustang my leg was soooo sore!

 

FWIW my seat creaks on cold mornings when i press the clutch lol

 

Mine is not that hard to push in as yours sounds. Under normal use, how long can we expect the OEM clutch to last? My flywheel goes on Monday, so I'll look at the clutch then. One thing that my master mechanic said is that there is a new part for the OEM clutch, but I can't remember what it was. I'll report back on Monday with any news I find out.

 

I would be interested in what that new part is. I have shattered one clutch already so I would like to know if anything new will be done about that.