Replace Clutch or Time to Upgrade?
 

Hello Everyone,

So a little backstory. I have a bone stock 2013 BRZ that I love and bought new, now with about 69.5K miles on it. I purchased the Subaru Gold Plus extended warranty that lasts until 70K, and never had to use it until now. I was just informed by my local Subaru dealer (Ladin Subaru in Thousand Oaks, CA) the clutch is gone and needs to be completely replaced. But that's not the worst of it -- the extended warranty doesn't cover it because it's a part that can "wear out". I'm looking at $1,700 out of pocket parts and labor.

So what would your advice be?

Let the dealer replace the clutch with OEM parts for $1,700 and appeal to Subaru to see if they can reimburse anything under warranty due to following all recommended maintenance at this dealership?

Forget dealing with the dealership and install upgraded parts? I am possibly looking into forced induction down the road when it's no longer my daily driver.

Any other options I'm missing?

Thanks!

If you wore the stock clutch out in 63K then an upgrade is probably a good idea (this is NOT a slam, clutches should last longer than that) especially if you plan to go FI.
You may also want to check and see if it is indeed the clutch or the throw out bearing that is gone. The TOB is a known issue with these cars.

Hello, Antialias and welcome to the forum ...... :clap:

If you have to "open it up", I would suggest that you upgrade the clutch if you track the car a lot and/or you are going FI.

If not, the OEM clutch should be just fine.


humfrz

Holy shit! You joined up in '13 and this is your first post?

Stock clutch holds up to some extra torque just fine. Consider the fact that the clutch was specified to give before reaching the torque capacity of the transmission.

I recommend a stock clutch. Lots of people who "upgrade" end up with driveability issues; chatter, noise, other failures...

My advice would be to get the work done at an independent shop, you'll save $500-600 on the price.

That seems early for a clutch to wear out...or am I crazy? (no personal offence intended. I am not trying to diss your driving style.)

I just had my throw-out bearing replaced and they offered to do the clutch while they were in there; I asked how much was left, and they said 50-60%. I'm at 86,xxxkm, which is about 53,750 miles. By that logic, if I drive the same, my clutch should last me to 160k kilometres. So I passed on that, with the plan to upgrade to aftermarket once I'm out of warranty.

Anyways, I was quoted $471 (Canadian) for the parts for an OEM clutch kit. I don't think aftermarket goes for too much more, so it depends if you want to retain the same "stock" clutch feel or go a bit beefier for your future FI plans.

That seems early for a clutch to wear out...or am I crazy? (no personal offence intended. I am not trying to diss your driving style.)

I just had my throw-out bearing replaced and they offered to do the clutch while they were in there; I asked how much was left, and they said 50-60%. I'm at 86,xxxkm, which is about 53,750 miles. By that logic, if I drive the same, my clutch should last me to 160k kilometres. So I passed on that, with the plan to upgrade to aftermarket once I'm out of warranty.

Anyways, I was quoted $471 (Canadian) for the parts for an OEM clutch kit. I don't think aftermarket goes for too much more, so it depends if you want to retain the same "stock" clutch feel or go a bit beefier for your future FI plans.

Thanks for all the opinions and advice! Here's the update:

I thought the advice of sticking with OEM parts to keep the original feel made the most sense for me. I let the dealership do the work. Ladin has aways done good job every time I've brought in my car. I didn't want to risk going with an unknown third party. Plus Ladin gave me a loaner car for free for the 5 days while this was being resolved. As for the cost, I called Subaru and explained my situation (now with information from the dealership that the flywheel ceased as well as the clutch being gone). They said they would look into it, consult with the dealership, and call me back. A few days later they left a message saying the clutch was a wearable part, and thus not covered under the extended warranty. I called Subaru back and politely explained this was precisely the reason I purchased the extended warranty to protect myself from a situation like this. I also mentioned when I consulted the forums the consensus was that 68K was way early for a clutch to go. The Subaru representative countered with a clutch can go after 10K. I explained I understand that, but know how to drive a manual transmission (this is my 3rd, my Corvette C5, for example, went 120K with zero clutch problems), I have taken care of my car, performed all the expected maintenance, and have never tracked my BRZ. He still did not seem to budge, and said the clutch is like your car's brakes and will wear out, but he could offer me a coupon for a free oil change. I wasn't interested in the coupon, but that gave me an idea for a counter argument. I was still on my original brake rotors and pads after 70K. That must give some indication of my driving style. He thought about it for a second, and said he would call me back. Subaru did get back to me a few hours later, and offered to pay the dealer $500 toward the repair. Okay, not exactly what I was hoping for, but I decided to take it.

Total damage: $1200 parts and labor for a new clutch and flywheel.

Honestly getting anything warranty wise on a clutch sounds like a blessing unless something like the fork or tob causing it to fail.

Also were you the first and only one to drive the car? Im sure half the cars get raped by test drives and people on the lot. Just saying they could have glazed it or set it up to wear faster.

My Toyota wouldn't cover my TOB under warranty. I hate dealing with dealer. The only thing they covered under warranty was my leaky taillight. My dipping idle and hard start and passenger window auto up down was never taken care of when I first told them about it. They couldn't duplicate the problem so I just kinda went F it and never took it back and just drive it like that.