700 Miles Blown Clutch

[Bonburner]

So I dropped by my happy dealership - power cerritos - and I had a quick chat with my salesman, apparently some guy with a white FR-S blew out his clutch in 700.
I asked him how and he said he wasn't sure, wondering if anybody around here got any news on this ~

[civicdrivr]

$10 says it was his first manual.

[MRZ415]

Maybe that guy was dropping the clutch at 4-5k where ever he went,
Personally I don't think I'll do that well on the clutch either since the BRZ will be
my first MT, but typically the first clutch should last at least 20-30K before replacement right ? ? ?

I've remember it took my 1 hour or so to get use to the clutch point of my cousins old MR2,
but I figure ridding a clutch a bit for an hour or two can't wear down the clutch that much.... can it ?

[Guff]

He was probably a hooligan.

[civicdrivr]

Originally Posted by MRZ415

Maybe that guy was dropping the clutch at 4-5k where ever he went,
Personally I don't think I'll do that well on the clutch either since the BRZ will be
my first MT, but typically the first clutch should last at least 20-30K before replacement right ? ? ?

I've remember it took my 1 hour or so to get use to the clutch point of my cousins old MR2,
but I figure ridding a clutch a bit for an hour or two can't wear down the clutch that much.... can it ?

Typically clutches last 100k +, on stock power levels. They can be forgiving to new drivers as long as you don't do anything really bone headed.

The original clutch in my CL had plenty of meat left after 103k miles, but I swapped it out for a different setup. My brothers Accord V6 has 120k+ miles, stock clutch and still holding strong. I know another person that had their clutch finally let go around 230k miles.

Obviously if youre making more power and constantly slipping/dumping/otherwise beating the hell out of the clutch, it won't last long.

[RWD-boxer]

Could be a bad clutch

[dem00n]

Could be many things. Can't really point fingers without more details.

[RossGA]

Clutches need 500-1K miles to break in properly.

What this tells me is he didn't break his clutch in, and went right to hard launching.

Best way to break a clutch in...spend a few hundred miles in city traffic driving it from light to light and treating it like an econobox.

After the car has been launched a few hundred times at low RPMs....the clutch is probably seated well....

[Bonburner]

Well I think they said that it was his first manual .. but still 700 way too soon.
It wasn't covered under warrnty so he had to pay it off - so it wasn't a bad clutch or the dealership is screwin the guy over haha

[sho220]

Originally Posted by RossGA

Clutches need 500-1K miles to break in properly.

What this tells me is he didn't break his clutch in, and went right to hard launching.

Best way to break a clutch in...spend a few hundred miles in city traffic driving it from light to light and treating it like an econobox.

After the car has been launched a few hundred times at low RPMs....the clutch is probably seated well....

Agree. He probably "peeled out" from the school parking lot after his bro-friends made fun of his Scion...

[sho220]

Originally Posted by Bonburner

Well I think they said that it was his first manual .. but still 700 way too soon.

I really want to agree with this, but we should never underestimate the power of stoopid...

[Bonburner]

Originally Posted by sho220

I really want to agree with this, but we should never underestimate the power of stoopid...

Hahaha, thanks for the good chuckle .. but it's true, never know the stupidity of people heh

[civicdrivr]

Originally Posted by RossGA

Clutches need 500-1K miles to break in properly.

What this tells me is he didn't break his clutch in, and went right to hard launching.

Best way to break a clutch in...spend a few hundred miles in city traffic driving it from light to light and treating it like an econobox.

After the car has been launched a few hundred times at low RPMs....the clutch is probably seated well....

When I broke in my new clutch in my other car, I drove like a granny for nearly 4k miles just to ensure that it had enough low rpm, low load take-offs. It was painful. But in that specific platform, people that run that clutch burn it out after 20k miles or so. It got so bad that the manufacturer (Clutchmasters) had to change the disc material for that application. Im still running the old material and Im at 57k miles and counting. When I replaced the tranny around 40k miles (damn diff bearings gave out), it didn't look glazed and still had plenty of meat on it.

[ashtray]

Many people don't realize that even resting your foot on the clutch pedal will slightly engage it and cause wear. Could be he just left his foot on it. Or maybe just really bad launch techniques.