I guess my follow up question would be:
since clearly my wife is hard on clutches, what aftermarket clutch will last her the longest?

 

Get another stock one, since the car is stock. Are you sure it's the clutch though? because that doesn't sound right... If the clutch is that worn down then the car shouldn't even be moving or it should be slipping like mad even with the little boost you're getting. I'de double check the wastegate actuator and the stock boost selnoid. 0.5 bar is around how much the preloaded spring inside the internal wastegate holds. Strange thing is there isn't a CEL popping up at least according to you. I'd look at it anyway.

 

It doesnt really sound like a clutch to me. Slipping into neutral? Are the revs going up fast? Like its frewheeling and not gaining ground or does you boost not come on

 

revs will randomly jump, then go back to normal
boost comes on... but not properly or to the full amount

edit: and I'm really sure there's no CEL going on - I thought that was weird too

 

If the revs are jumping at WOT and then going back down but the car isn't moving as fast as it should then that means your clutch is slipping.

More specifically, the revs are jumping at 3500 to really high then comming back down, all thsi should happen in conjunction with peak torque since peak torque is at 3500 rpms and when it comes back down it should be around 4500 to 5000 cuz that's when torque drops off so the clutch can handle that much amount of torque. While all this is happening the car shouldn't be moving as quick as it was when you first got it.

Also it's not happening becuase the car is "slipping into neutral" it's due to lack of material left on the friction plate of the clutch. It's an AWD car got to take it easy on the clutch, these things wear out crazy quick if you slip it a lot.

 

it's not just at WOT, happens during totally normal driving

 

thats BS its def not the clutch no way. i just dealt with a slipping clutch and the rpms would jump at 3500 rpms to about 5000 rpms without the car moving during that period. with that being said my boost was still reaching 23 psi.

 

Boost will still reach peak, but the car won't move. That means the clutch is slipping which still means it's a clutch problem, as in you need a new one.

 

Please define "normal driving".

 

not driving abnormally? lol jp, if mitsu said its the clutch take it to another mitsu dealer and see what they say

 

sounds like the clutch to me, but HOW HARD IS YOUR WIFE ON CLUTCHES...GEEZ!??!? What does she do to that thing? I would go woth an aftermarket. It will void your warranty, but it doesnt sound to me like mitsu is going to cover your clutch this time anyway.....mitsu warranty on EVOs is essentially wortheless anyway..Everyone knows that. I think it is unlikely your wife will change her driving habits, so I would get a stronger clutch unless ypou wanna deal with this again in 7500 miles.....

 

Mitsu never warrantied the clutches before. Honestly for a stock evo the stock clutch is good enough. Any clutch will wear down and no other clutch is as comfortable as stock especially on the street. You'll just have to get your wife to be less hard on the clutch.

 

if ur boost is not going into vacume and staying at 0 psi check the vacume hose.

 

take it to a reputable independent shop and get a second opinion. If work is not going to be covered under warranty and youre paying for it trust me 9 times out of 10 youre going to get better service and pricing at a reputable independent shop over a dealer.