mrtoro

My car had the helper spring removed by the previous owner. I am not sure how the original clutch feels since this is my first and only 996 so I got nothing else for benchmark.

Cluth pedal is pretty stiff to operate. Also it grabs very low (clutch pedal pressed down) in first gear while taking off. I read that some people even let the cluth pedal all the way out in first BEFORE giving any gas. That operation would result in a stalled car and embarrassed driver in my ride. Is this normal operation or indication of clutch getting low?

My car has 59k miles. Also the only cluth test I am aware of is taking off from a full stop on third gear. This is hard on a clutch and should not be repeated too often I know but it is a test. My car passed this without stalling but giving decent gas while the clutch was depressed.

Thank you

rpm's S2

A declining clutch will engage higher and higher in travel. This happens gradually and so often owners don't notice the subtle change.

From your description the clutch seems good. Is there some reason you are concerned?

mrtoro

nothing other than 60k miles on the car with no record of change prior to my purschse at 54k. And also the fact that within the last week I stalled it twice on reverse.

perryinva

I thought with an hydraulic clutch (which these obviously are) that engagement did not occur higher and higher up as the clutch wore. The only indication is normally slipping under load.

rpm's S2

To a point you are correct. Slippage is a obvious indicator once the wear is severe. The feel is of the clutch engaging higher in travel and you modulate the clutch at the higher travel to avoid that slip.

Barn996

Others have stated that the clutch pedal will get stiffer near the end of its life.

10 GT3

When I was first looking at used 996s many years ago, I drive quite a few cars and there were some that obviously needed clutches. I actually found the engagement point would be closer to the floor and stiffer on the ones that had issues. The real test was putting it in 3rd on the highway and punching it. Two of the cars I drive, the tach would rise and yet the speedo would barely more. Bottom line is the clutches were toast. I also noticed with several of the cars that the original clutch basically let go at ~35k miles. The actual issue for most was not the disc wear, rather that the OEM pressure plates would wear out. Talking to the dealer and Ruf, the consensus was that because they make the pedal so light they used too light a pressure plate and as a result it just doesn't last that long. Please note that Porsche has been addressing this issue over the years and is on the 6th pressure plate revision for these cars.

silotwo

I had the clutch replaced on 2004 C2 because the engagement point was often (but not always) near the floor and to the point where it was nearly impossible to shift. In my case the clutch disc had no discernible wear at 50k miles of use. The pressure plate was the issue.

Question - is the Sachs clutch kit included in the Porsche revision?