I have an 04 with approx 40K mi. At 50mph or so, when I apply the brakes, the rotors will shudder, like they are warped. I know I'll have to have them turned, but has anyone heard of an design issue with the RX8 brakes?

Thanks
BobS.

 

If they are warped, which it sounds like they are, turning/resurfacing them won't work. They need replaced. The only issue with the 8's brakes have been that the pads squeal.

 

OK, what should it cost to have the brakes fixed?

 

If the shuddering is due to deposits, you can probably get them turned, but first you have to ascertain the cause.

 

It is almost impossible to warp cast iron rotors. What you are referring to is uneven pad buildup, which is easily and cheaply solved by getting the rotors resurfaced.

 

$15 per front rotor. Whatever you decide your time is worth to jack up the car and pull the front brake assembly to the side to get the rotors off.

 

No, you have to replace the rotors. 150 each or more depending what you want.

http://www.mazdatrix.com/8brakes1.htm

 

Why are you saying he has to replace the rotors?

Edit:
StopTech's white paper on :warped" rotors.
http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp...rakedisk.shtml

 

Because the rotors are thin nowadays. It's not like in the good O'l days where there was plenty of stock material to shave down.

 

Take your rotors to a brake shop. They can tell you in short order if the rotors can be resurfaced . Most likely it is one or both of the front rotors. Even a very small amount of out of true will cause your problem . Does your brake pedal ride up and down when you are slowing down with only light pressure on the pedal?

 

Most rotors accept 2mm or so of wear. Minimum thickness is marked on them. As long as the finished thickness is reasonably over that minimum thickness, they can be turned. It doesn't make much sense if you're having a shop do the entire job to have them turned to a thickness that's much under 50 percent of the allowable wear. I'd replace them at that point, unless I was doing the r&r and just having them cut.

Mazda charges a lot for parts. You should be able to get perfectly serviceable rotors from the aftermarket for a lot less than $150 each.

I work on automotive chassis for a living, and have never experienced a judder situation that didn't start out as a pad problem.

In addition to the link above, try this one.

 

I had mine cut at a shop, they said there was plenty of meat to work with.

 

Thanks everyone for your generous comments and info. I have more than enough to go on to get 'em fixed. I'll start with a brake shop first.

BobS.

 

if you end up needing new rotors. Check out www.rotorpros.com . I was referd to them and just replaced my fronts with there drilled and slotted rotors. So far so good, they were very nice quality and 120shipped for the pair!!!!!

 

are the wheels/tires balanced? that might be your first step into fixing this siutation

 

If that was the problem you would have judder at a lot more times than just on the brakes.

 

I recently replaced the tires with Dunlop Direzza's. I had the higher end ones when I bought the car in 04, and I got almost 40K miles out of them so I really liked them. Paid around 170 ea (about 4 months ago). The tire shop did the alignment/balancing, and the brake problem has been there long before I replaced the tires.

 

The same thing is happening to me too.........front rotor shudders whenever I apply brakes at 60 to 70 mph... it doesn't happen at normal braking..... it only happens whenever I press on the brakes really hard to stop the car at 60 mph or so.
I'm thinking it might be happening because when I replaced my front brake pads a few months ago I might have tightened the bolts too tight. it's just my thought though. I didn't really use torque wrench or anything then....probably my biggest mistake. That might have caused the brake pads to wear unevenlly or warped the rotors.....

 

Or possibly because you didn't bed the brakes. I would bet it's that.

 

Mine shudder as well and will have them looked at very soon. FWIW 2004 with 35k.

 

I have and '04 with 87k miles. Mine were toast at about 50k and shook the car pretty badly under breaking from highway speeds. The old ones have since found a new life as boat anchors. Replaced my rotors and pads last year with DBA slotted rotors and Hawk pads. Great stuff

 

Dba --> $$$

 

mine was shuttering like that to. Its the rotors, change them out and it goes away

 

I did. After I replaced the pads I followed the hawks' brake bedding procedure and I bedded them properly. So I don't think that's the case.

 

so I have a question to everyone who has done any brake work.....

Did you guys use torque wrench to properly tighten the bolts and nuts when you did the brakes? If you didn't, have you experienced any changes in braking? ..