Hmm well the interesting thing is that most of the pedal pressure isn't directly supported by the spod welds. The nuts that hold the assembly to the master cylinder take care of that. It looks like the spot welds only see stress if the whole assembly is twisted side to side (pressing the pedal in sideways). To me it seems more likely that the sheet metal tears near the top, then once that part completely fails the spot weld also gets ripped out...

Since it's out anyway, I say you might as well stitch weld the entire thing for piece of mind.

The area marked in this image is what gets most of the stress of the pedal being pushed in.. Picture the way you would tear a piece of paper. The forces exerted on this part are exactly the same..

I will now go get this thing welded.. for peace of mind.

Please post a pic of the welded part.

If you have it out, just reinforce every possible areas.

Yes the problem with the design is that it allows(?!) the bracket to move side to side .... instead of just 1 way. :(

Damn.. shop was closed.. Will have to try this again next week. At least now that I've seen it, it looks like it could survive a little longer

Yay, the sound got worse today...

Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_74EbdtQnQ

Wow that sounds lovely, I would tell you to WD40 it but it isn't your bedroom door

wtf ? But it sound like ur clutch cut switch might be giving up. not the bracket itself.

I am trying to explain it to my dealership last time to replace it, but either he is a moron, or he was playing dumb. they just replaced the broken bracket. ahh I was like fuck that and left.

Forgot to reply to you, a month something late tho :)

Well, not every one can drive like that ! Some people might just panic and who knows what will happen next ~~~~ :)

It's not the switch.. While I was down there messing with the bracket I took the opportunity to jumper the dumb "press the clutch to start the car" switch.. Less times I gotta use the pedal, and less of a hassle.. Funny how European cars never had that "feature" :spank:

I'd be inclined to say that most "normal" drivers would panic in that situation. If you've never rev matched before there's no way you figure it out on the spot.. Maybe the real problem isn't the car but how easily they give out licenses in the States.. Hmm.. :rant:

So I get in the car this morning and the pedal feels perfect at no noise.. :banghead: Could it be a lubrication issue inside the MC?

Short trips, the pedal is perfect.. Longer trips, it starts to squeak.. This is driving me crazy. It is sounding more like a lack of lubrication now though..

I looked in the FSM and the only part of the MC that needs to be lubricated is the end of the piston that faces the push rod (it looks like there's a seal of some sort there).. The service manual calls for "grease" - does this mean any generic grease? Silicone grease?

that squeak is what mine sounded like before it snapped.

Be ready for a snap is all I'm saying.

Are you having any difficulty getting the car out of gear, or in upshifts from 1st-2nd, or 2nd-3rd? Just prior to mine snapping, I couldn't get the car out of gear....didn't have enough stroke in the clutch pedal..it was like 95% free play.....a long push all the way to the floor board, and still not enough stroke to disengage the clutch....

I am getting ready for it, just looking at other possible causes too... When I had the bracket out it still looked very healthy so..

If there is a rubber seal or boot involved, don't use petroleum-based grease because it tends to stretch some rubber. [And we don't want to stetch any rubbers do we?] Use a dialectric grease or as Mazda says in some of the intructions, "rubber" grease, whatever that is.

Just use whatever Grease that they say is for joints and rubber.

Couple of bux u can get like a huge bottle. Or just get Synthetic Grease. like 6 bux a can should last the life of ur car :)

If not longer!!!

I thought CRH's bracket was close to being finished. Several months later and we're still waiting!

I know exactly what you're talking about. My pedal does the exact same thing. It's sort lf like a crunching, but only when it's warm (longer trips). I've even had problems getting into gear when this happens.

Here's the kicker - mine started making the noises well after I got a replacement bracket assembly from Mazda. I brought it to the dearler and their Mazda techs "could not reproduce." On a semi-related note, my Mazda techs couldn't find their asses with two hands and a map.

Let us know if the grease works.

+1...

Hmm I'm not the only one eh..

The grease didn't stop the crunching, but it did make the pedal significantly easier to push down.. If nothing else, this will reduce the stress put on the bracket and hopefully make it last a tad longer...

Just found this - https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tech-garage-22/misserable-grinding-issues-help-please-139624/

It appears all of us have the ACT clutch/fly combo.

That's a bit different.. His synchros are grinding, but that could be any number of things including

- worn synchros (not likely since it's all gears)
- air in clutch line
- failing clutch (release bearing aka throw out bearing)
- improperly adjusted clutch pedal
- (and of course, the ever popular) failing bracket

From his wording, I thought it was a similar problem. Maybe not.

so can i ask you guys who have had this problem, do you guys all have the ACT clutch?

also, did any of you who took your cars to the dealerships have the aftermarket clutch in? Cuz if you did, i would think that is the reason why they would automatically deny working on our cars. :/

I HATE MAZDA SERVICE!!

The clutch pedal bracket has failed on many cars with stock clutches, but a stronger pressure plate like the one in my ACT clutch would put more pressure on the bracket and weak weld.

I had my ACT clutch and fly installed by my dealer about a month or two before my pedal crapped out. After I got that fixed (under warranty), I developed a crunching clutch pedal. My 8 has been in storage since.

hey peter....thought you wanted to have things pulled from your car and put back to stock...never heard back from you though.

I have the ACT flywheel and HD clutch.

hey scott, the reason why i wanted to pull all the things out is because of the problems i've been having. i wanted to take them off, take the car to dealership and hopefully get whatever the problem may be fixed and then take it back to you guys and get everything back on.

my car is practically half way to stock and i hate it. it is too quite and too slow :/ ahhaha

well....just let speed and I know....we need some money for our project Miata....:)

no more 200 whp! ;)
Good luck with everything Peter, hopefully ou can get it all fixed

Time to start counting out the pennies. So what's the damage going to be CRH?

Apparently, the answer is "no".. Not sure how that works :lol:

will do:) i will let you guys know pretty soon. i just have to check my schedule since im so busy with school :/

HAHAHHAHA yea man! :( goodbye my 200 whp. hahaha and thanks man. hopefully when i get everything fixed, i'll get 210 ;)

i wish...........

What happened to this? Just had this happen to my 04 rx8

CRH will be making a *new* Clutch bracket to combat this issue.

According to CRH, It should be out anytime soon.

I am praying that my clutch will hold out until the meet in April when CRH said he might have a couple of brackets finished...

So after a long run around with my local mazda dealership, they're going to cover the cost of the parts, and I'll be paying for the labor to replace my pedal assembly.

I made the mistake of letting em know I had an aftermarket clutch (ACT Pro lite). They then blamed it on that and said I'd have to pay for the replacement, while advising it was likely to happen again under my aftermarket clutch. After pressing the matter, the indicated they'd replace it free of charge if I would switch back to factory specs with the clutch...

In response, being the smartass that I am, I said "So what you're telling me is you're willing to own up to the pedal assembly breaking as long as I pay you more money to install a new clutch..."

I asked to speak to the service manager, and I have to say, that's their one strength. After a very friendly and intelligent conversation, he offered to cover the cost for the parts.

Long story short... getting it replaced and I really want to have this bracket also to prevent a further occurrence.

Its kind of stupid, these bracket breaks even with stock PP + Clutch disc. What are they trying to say anyway ?

I have stock clutch in my system and my pedal is light as hell now with the Big Clutch release, so my bracket should be able to hold for quite a long time. but when CRH finally release his version of the bracket, I still gonna get it, I just cant trust Mazda's weak ass design that breaks even with stock setup.

We all laugh at Civic guys, but seriously speaking when it comes to parts quality, Honda kicked our ass hands down, their Clutch bracket wont break like ours even with clutches thats like 200% over stock.

Grrr ... I told u stop being cheap and u should always use Some super fast service that delivers in the morning like UPS next day REd or something so u can get it @ 8am.

IF u got ur part by 8am now u should installed it already ! Jeeze ! :lol: :lol:

u know we all waiting for ur bracket .... GrrrrrrRRRRrrr .....

Indeed... Keeping all immaginable extremities crossed...

LOL !

oh come on, think of it this way :

The earlier u can test ur products, the earlier u can sell it to us, the earlier u can sell them to us, the earlier u gonna get profit :)

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Is a Win-Win Situation u know LOL

I ran a business b4 I totally understand what you mean.

Just messing with ya :P

I am going to get something from you soon .... saving cash right now ... :)

lol lol lol !!!!

U try to be like Pinkberry or something? They're offering American Express cards now ... I was like, huh? they sell fuxking Frozen Yogurt and they're offering their Brand of AMEX card .... what the hell ? lol

Well, it is Corporate card but I can get it no problem :)

Maybe I should change my American Express gold to that ... ahh forget about this, is getting off topic :)

The clutch peadal assembly just went out on my car too. Filed my NHTSA report hopefully will get $ back when Mazda finally recalls it. The cars powertrain is 100% stock with 72000 miles on it. I have heard That stupid noise for a long time and even oiled the clutch pedal because of the noise it made while it was still under warranty. now I just spent $350.00 to fix it.

updates on your pedal assembly chalres??

The clutch pedal itself cost 100 something. but its a pain to replace it (gotta cawl down and stuff .. its a pain for me cuz Im overweight lol)

They should really do something about this cuz I think the Clutch pedal should be the same as brake and gas pedal, which should be indestructible.

MT - UNUSUAL NOISE WHEN CLUTCH PEDAL IS DEPRESSED. Found this Service bulletin # 05-011/06 Last Issued: 10/26/2006

Some vehicles may exhibit a squeaking noise when the clutch pedal is depressed. This noise may be the clutch
cut switch.
Customers having this concern should have their vehicle repaired using the following repair procedure.