[Chris Vais]

My 94 coupe now has 96,000 miles on its clutch. The car will continue to be used as daily transport. I had hoped to start doing some DE events by this time, but time and circumstances have not permitted it up to this point and may not for a while yet.



Based on some of the posts I have read on this forum, replacing it before it fails is probably a good idea. So, for the projected use, what is the recommend replacement? Is there a choice between stock set up and something else? Mind you, I have had no problems with the stock set up in the 9 years that this clutch has been in the car.

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[Mark]

Personally I have no intention of replacing my clutch until it goes or is ready to go.

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[flash]

i recommend early change out - this is because i see no reason to change a pressure plate or flywheel, if they are both dead smooth and fully functional - i do not change those as mere course of action



by changing the disk early, you stand to save $1000 - if you wait until it exhibits symptoms, it's already too late, and has mangled one or both of the expensive components - as a result of this policy, i've never had any car go less than 2 clutch disks before i had to either resurface or change a pressure plate or flywheel - makes for very inexpensive clutch jobs



at 94k, who knows though what the condition is of those components, so i can't somment as to the viability of the idea on your car - you'd have to inspect them to know



to date, there is not really a choice, other than stock, for a daily driver

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[968bill]

[quote name='Mark' date='Jul 27 2006, 06:26 PM']Personally I have no intention of replacing my clutch until it goes or is ready to go.

[right][post="24694"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]

You will regret it....a bigger hassle and more expensive too.

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[Mark]

Trust me I know what it costs to replace the whole thing and how long the wait can be for an OEM flywheel, as it has all been replaced in one of my cars recently, it was toast when I bought it. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/sad.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> That being said, I still don't intend to replace the new one or the other car's unless it needs to be. I don't really consider a clutch to be a time/milage replacement item. To a certain extent it depends on how much of your own wrenching you do- how many clutch replacements = replacememnt of the DMF, fork and clutch if you are payiing someone else the labor?



Obviously you guys disagree but there a few people out there well over 100K miles on the original clutch and I intend to see if one of my cars can do that as well. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/smile.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />



If the flywheels, pressure plates and forks become a NLA item all bets are off. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[968bill]

I did mine myself, see



http://www.968forums.com/index.php?showtopic=2462



While I don't agree with performing this maint. as early as flash seems to recommend, I do advocate replacing it well before the rivets start hitting the flywheel at least. Around here no one would touch my flywheel which was my big headache, and I didn't want to spend $700 for a new one.



I highly recommend the measurement procedure for determining the clutch plate thickness, it's very easy to do and takes about 1 min (once you're under the car). This will tell you if your clutch is at 50% life or 10% left. Personally I would do it between 20% and 10% life remaining, but that's just me.

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[flash]

bill - my recommendations to others were designed to take into account the less skilled driver - most people use too much clutch, and wear them out - the actual mileage someone gets will vary quite a bit



i'm changing mine even sooer for reasons of clutch cooling, pedal feel, and decreasing the liklihood of shearing a disk under a hard shift



certainly measuring it is ideal, but many don't even have the ability to get the car in the air



in either case, i think we are on the same page in concept - get it out before the rivets show, and save yourself the extra expense

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[Mark]

Bill I have no argument with that at all. Inspect and if it is ready for replacememtn replace it.

I've never had clutch go in any car I owned and yes I have owned Porsches earlier in my life. The DMF may be the difference in this one but since mine are street driven and I don't do stop light to stop light I expect them to last a long time.

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[flash]

wow - never had a clutch go? how long do you keep your cars? i mean, it's not like i would expect to be doing them every other year or anything, but never? i think that's a record - i wish i was that lucky - i think, with the 40 cars or so that i've owned, and about half of them being manuals, i've probably had to do a clutch in half of those at least once, and i know i did at least 4 clutches in the race car

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[Mark]

15 years 225,000 miles in one of my trucks and several others over 100,000 miles. The last few years I've slowed down on my driving so I only do about 15K a year between 2 vehicles but before it was an easy 60K-80K a year and not all highway.

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[flash]

all i can say is "wow" - that's just amazing - congrats

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