Things to check:

1. Alignment
2. Tire balance
3. Tire pressure
4. Brake Pads
5. Rotors
6. Bed in the brakes properly
7. Calipers are working properly ...

And come on! A car isn't a lemon because of brakes, those are wearable items like clutch and tires ... just like riding a clutch at high rpms causes the clutch to wear faster and the flywheel to get hotspots and warp. Riding your Brakes at high speeds does the same thing. If you want to stop quickly just stop, try not to ride the brakes at higher speeds ... you'll glaze your pads and warp your rotors ...

 

this would be your problem...

 

it may sound funny, but it's TRUE!
lemon? get the fudge outta here, it's just the way he uses the brakes.
my pass side front also had a ring on it, it was actually a ridge that was sticking out about 1-2mm and it was black in color. this was at 6000 or so. my mitsu service manager said "this is not right, we'll get this fixed for u". all 4 front pads were replaced, both front rotors resurfaced all under warranty and i got a free rental car for the day (too bad it was my most hated car! the pt cruiser lol, the engine on it is actually not as bad as i expected, but it's a boat on wheels in the corners). after they done all that, i rebedded my rotors and it drove fine for a while, till shaking at high speed and slight braking developed. i knew exactly why it was happening so i just rebeded again and it went away. this will happen once in a while, no biggie, easy fix with several hard braking applications. works EVERY time for me.

 

FWIW, and I know you might not like my answer over this .. but the EVO seems to have a breaking loose point at 70 to 80mph that may be acceunated by slight deposits on the rotors at those paticular speeds. This shows up as a wobble in the wheel and ever so slightly on the foot pedal when the brakes are applied lightly at those speeds. After two years of driving the EVO (and loving every minute of it) and putting on some Project Mu pads, the issue is still there. Not as much as with the stock pads, but still there. I'm beginning to believe there are more factors than just brake deposits (otherwise known as warpage). For instance, braking rate, road surface, temperature, driver feel / attention, etc.

I think its a design issue in the EVO. You put that many high performance, rotating parts together, and some humming is going to come from somewhere.

I've had sportbikes do the same type of thing at that 'one' speed, on that 'one' road, using that 'one' brake pad etc. Was anything out of spec.? nope. Was anything I was doing wrong? nope. The type of warpage I'd probably be worried about is when you're hard braking you can significantly feel the vibration there all the way down to like 20mph.

Cheers,

jcnel.

 

mathgeek, I had the exact same problem as you did with my Evo. (You may have read some of my replies in some of the threads you searched.)

To summarize my situation, I am also very meticulous about caring for my car, ie: checking tire pressures, alignment, etc. At the time, the car was my daily driver and I only drove it to work and back home, never raced, never abused, but I still got that annoying shake everytime I exited a freeway. I got so fed up with taking my car in to the dealership (It was in 4 times before 15,000 miles) that I went ahead and replaced the front rotors and brake pads with aftermarket ones on my own dime. I did this at around 17,000 miles. I now have 59,000 on my Evo and I am still on the same brake pads and rotors that I put on the car over 40,000 miles ago and it's still as smooth as the day I put them on.

If your time is worth a few hundred bucks, you might want to look into some aftermarket rotors and possibly some different brake pads.

Best of luck, and let us know what you do.

 

you know, it may pay dividends to brake a little more aggressively. i had the exact-same problem with my s4 because i use my car mainly for commuting to and from work on the highway with not much stop-go. plus, i've driven stick for 28 years and tend to engine-brake a lot of the time which exacerbates the problem of not using the brakes. i started to use the brakes more and haven't had this problem since.

 

That a 2005 Evo, the car is to new to have brakes and rotors replace. Only 60 year olds ride their brakes on their oldsmobile or buicks LOL. If it happens 3 times its a lemon by law. Another problem could also be that the car sat at the dealership for a long time before it was sold. I had that problem with my Infiniti M45. It sat at the dealership for over a year without been moved, so the rotors and brakes had to be replaced at 2000 miles. Just my .02 cents

 

Thank you very much. I have a feeling that this will be necessary. I'll let the dealer do their thing one more time. If the problem occurs again, I will take your advice. Would you care to tell me specifically which aftermarket pads you got?

 

I don't ride my brakes out of habit. I just happened to notice it when I brake gently on the freeway (if someone changes lanes in front of me suddenly, for example).

 

Read what he said, then read what I said..........I think your problem is the result of not braking often enough and "hard" enough.....and babying your car. Replacing the pads and rotors won't cure the problem permanently if the route-cause is your driving habits.
Try to use your brakes a little more aggressively for the next month. Even if you drive mainly on the highway, leave your braking point 'til later as you approach the off-ramp and then brake aggressively (within reason, obviously). Believe me, this will cure the problem unless your rotors are warped or your pads are "chunked".

 

Sounds good. I only did a few really hard brakings thinking that that would do it. I'll give it a month. I'll need some dramamine, though. Stopping hard in this car makes me feel like I'm on a roller coaster.

 

i don't see how you people say it's a brake problem when many have "fixed" this symptom and many don't have it at all....

you have a point in that certain parts put together are gonna yield certain quirks... the stock rotors and pads come from one of the best brake manufacturers in the world.

they're made to do one thing, one VERY specific thing... that's brake hard, without locking the wheels, last decently long and begin to fade and glaze when too much is demanded of them, but to do the latter in a very predictable manner.

when you put all that together that means you're dealing with a very touchy compound that needs you to do her like an animal every once in a while.

 

the whole idea behind this car IS to make it feel like u'r on a rollercoaster
i love to fly into the deceleration lane and get hard on the brakes as i heel-toe 5-4-3-2 and take the ramp. most of the time it's just slight brake application and using engine to slow down instead, just like MTMS4, so after a month or so i get the shaking, then i fix it with hard stops again, and the cycle goes on.

 

I believe many have had this problem. Initially, I started noticing it at about 12k miles and thought that I have somehow warped the rotors. I was also thinking, I baby the brakes, so how could I have warped it. Then I realized that, that was the problem, I babied the brakes. After that, I made sure I would "use" my brakes one in awhile and I no longer have this problem.

 

If the pads/rotors are not broken in properly when new that could cause warping and driving style plays a big factor. Being into the brakes a little bit all the time while driving will warp even the stoutest rotors fast and melt pads even faster. If you're still having issues as you say and are sure your driving isn't the culprit, a wheel balance at a high end wheel shop (not the national chain store) is probably what you need.

Tom