BMW G80 M3, G82 M4, G87 M2 and MK5 Toyota Supra Clutch Pedal Issues and the Clutch Masters Fix

I think we can all agree that the 2020 and up BMW G80 M3, G82 M4, and now the G87 M2 as well as the MK5 Toyota Supra are for the most part, incredibly well engineered cars. The driving dynamics and technology found in these cars rivals that of options 2-3x the price, if not more in some instances. With some basic modifications the straight 6 twin turbo 3.0L S58 engine found in the BMWs and the single turbo B58 in the Toyota Supra can make for a seriously fun and fast car. Can you guess the one thing that we absolutely love most about these cars though? Well of course the answer to that is the fact that they can still be optioned with a 6-speed manual transmission. 

Although word on the street is that the manual transmission is an option that won’t see its way into any of these cars relatively soon, we are still holding out hope that BWM sees the writing on the wall. The big bold writing that clearly states enthusiasts still want to be able to row through their own gears. Until then we are going to strive to offer the best clutch and flywheel options available on the market today for these cars while we still can! 

With the popularity of our clutch upgrades for these cars over the last couple of years, we have heard chatter from several of our customers that they have been having strange, unexplainable and inconsistent issues with clutch engagement and disengagement as well as just being able to reliably start the car. Through some investigative research on our end and reaching out to BMW specialty shops we have heard several instances now of owners of these cars having the same issues even with factory clutch kits. At this point we were quite confident that the issue wasn’t stemming directly from our clutch kit upgrades. Although due to the nature of our clutch kits being a heavier duty item then the factory clutch, these issues became more pronounced for some. It was incredibly hit or miss still with some having no issues at all, some were experiencing these symptoms for the first time, while others were experiencing the same issues they had been having and were hoping an upgraded aftermarket clutch kit might offer some resolution to their clutch troubles. 

We wanted to get to the bottom of these problems, because nothing was making much sense and we knew that this was an issue plaguing cars in factory spec as well as modified form. So we did what any engineer would do and started working backwards, we knew there had to be a weak link somewhere in the factory setup. Was it the hydraulics equipped from the factory or something else? One of our good customers gave us the opportunity to take the manual pedal assembly out of his brand new Toyota Supra. We know the Supra shares all the same components as the other similar generation BMWs but we couldn’t source this pedal assembly from the factory as we had been trying to for awhile. 

What we found left us flabbergasted to be honest. The entire clutch pedal assembly (that the brake pedal also shares mind you) is entirely made of plastic. Literally everything is made of plastic. The only part that is metal on the entire assembly is the actual brake pedal arm as well as some bushings to make sure you don’t crack the plastic when you tighten the assembly down to the firewall. Don’t get us wrong, we get that plastic has its place in manufacturing, but we’re talking about $60k+ cars here, these aren’t your Civics or Corollas. 

The pedal assembly we had from this Supra had less than 5000 miles and the clutch pedal had about 1 ⁄ 4 '' of play from side to side. The pedal had noticeable, albeit minor, play in all directions on the plastic pin that the clutch pedal pivots on. Instead of the clutch master cylinder being bolted down like in all previous generations (to a metal pedal assembly at that), there are plastic pins that press into the plastic assembly. Upon taking these plastic pins out and measuring them they were clearly distorted and had gone from being round to oval. This meant that there was front to back play in the clutch master cylinder whenever you pushed down on the pedal.

We weren’t completely sure if addressing what was to us some clearly overlooked design issues with this pedal assembly would fix the issues our customers and other owners were running into, but we knew it had to be a point to start from. So we set out to design an upgraded bushing and pin kit for the clutch pedal and clutch master cylinder. Our kit consists of a stainless steel clutch pedal pin that replaces the factory plastic pin as well as stainless steel bushings that get pressed into the clutch pedal arm. Accompanying those pieces we also include some billet aluminum pins that lock the clutch master cylinder into place.

 

The pedal assembly was then reinstalled back into the 2023 Toyota Supra that is currently running our upgraded single disc clutch kit  and lightweight aluminum flywheel. The difference was night and day per the customer's input. He no longer has issues with the car randomly not starting or sporadically not going into first or reverse from a stop. We have also installed this kit in a G80 M3 with our Factory Fit Twin Disc Clutch Kit with a noticeable increase in pedal feel and reliable shifting as well. The G80 owner reported an 80% improvement. At this point we think the last 20% of his troubles are stemming from the clutch master cylinder as he is only having issues starting the car occasionally. The factory clutch master cylinder has a magnet on the piston inside that activates the clutch safety switch. The clutch master cylinder is once again, completely made of plastic and has a very very tiny magnet that is supposed to activate the switch. Previous generation clutch master cylinders have a much larger magnet and starting the car never really seemed to be an issue. He is going to change the clutch master to a previous generation master and we’re hoping that gets his issues resolved 100%.

If your BMW M car or Toyota Supra is suffering from issues that might seem clutch related, more than likely those issues are originating from the pedal assembly. Our clutch pedal bushing and pin kit is an easy to install upgrade that will resolve what we see as a significant design flaw with these cars. Our kits are in stock and ready to ship so you can get your less then ideal pedal situation resolved quickly!