docwyte

So, done a lot of searching here and haven't really seen a conclusion. Some people haven't had an issue, others have had their clutches die within a month of getting a tune.

My car seems gently driven by its previous owners, 29k miles on it. I'd like to get a tune but if I need to immediately replace the clutch, I'll stick with the stock programming for now.

Any further information on the chances my low mileage stock clutch can handle a UMW tune?

nbressette

Depends on who tunes it, how far you ask them to push it, what other mods are done (exhaust), and what the health of the current clutch is. My brand new stock clutch held a GIAC tune fine but as soon as Sam worked his magic it started to slip. I was running much larger turbos versus a k16 though.

Keep in mind, most people who post and say "my clutch died the day after I got it tuned" are buying cars with almost double the miles of yours. I vote tune it, and if the clutch starts to slip then count yourself happy that you got 30k miles from a stock 15 year old car.

Dock

Call Kevin at UMW.

Road King

The answer is, it depends. The previous owner of my car put in a new (stock) clutch at 39K miles. Car was bone stock. I bought it at 43K and tuned it at 44K miles, so I'm basically starting with a fresh factory clutch. Now at 55K miles, no issues. Running an aggressive 1 bar 100 octane tune. Car has Kline exhaust and not much else, other than fresh coils/plugs/filters.

T10Chris

My experience, yours may vary- tuned by Sambo @ ByDesign using Cobb.

92 oct tune, it holds fine all the time
94+ blend, it holds fine most of the time, sometimes slips on fast shifts
100 oct, it slips on fast shifts almost every time, sometimes when just doing pulls... obviously didnt use this tune anymore once I discovered this.

2fcknfst

Mine had 70,000kms on it when I got it., I knew the clutch was unhappy as it was engaging on the last 30 - 40% of travel, and then will disengage if I so much as breath on the pedal wrong. I have an X50 with a Cobb stage 1, a little intake work, colder plugs and a full header/exhaust system (coated)...

I know I am on borrowed time.

autobonrun

You specifically mentioned a K16, but I'll offer what I can on my K24.

I bought a TurboS with 24k miles about three years ago; as you say gently driven. Clutch had no problems. I added a UMW tune. Preliminarily no problem but I didn't hit full boost either. When I finally got a chance to fully test it, the clutch slipped. It initially caught me by surprise but I thought I knew what the problem was, so I tried it one more time to make sure what I felt was accurate. Initially you think, 'did that just happen'. It did, so no more 1.1 bar pulls. Drove it back to the house, used the programmer that I bought with the tune to change it back to the factory setting. Kevin's programmer takes about 15 seconds to switch back and forth from stock to his tune. Then I drove the same route without the UMW tune; this time no slippage.

The next day I ordered Kevin's LWF/clutch setup and left the tune off until I could have the new clutch and flywheel installed. Afterwards, no more slippage with the tune. The stock TurboS clutch is now sealed in a plastic container in my garage. I had it inspected; still lots of life on both the clutch and flywheel and no sign of damage from the brief slippage, so I decided to keep it. I learned my lesson with my 911SC; keep all stock parts.

2fcknfst

+1 - keep all stock parts.

Dock

I tossed my stock clutch and flywheel years ago.

2fcknfst

I bought racks specifically, so I could index, track and keep all the parts I take off the car.

As a plus, if I ever total the X50, I can recover some of my loses through the sale of the stock components.

Road King

Interesting. How many miles on the clutch? Sam also did my tune, in fact my first tune from him was pre-Cobb back when he had to connect some strange device to my car to upload the tune.

Every car is different, that's for sure. I certainly wouldn't want to add any more power to my current setup, but when my clutch goes I'll choose a proven solution and address those coolant fittings at the same time.

SamboTT@ByDesign

autobonrun

If you read some of the replies here, it's obvious what you will need to figure out is if your clutch is "tiptop". If it is, you're good to go. If it's not "tiptop", (whatever the heck that means); any extra HP and torque could push you past the point where it slips. It doesn't mean the tune is so "awesome" (LOL), it just means you've gone past the mechanical limit that your clutch, in it's current condition, is capable of handling. So, unless there's some sort of "tip-top" indicator for your clutch on your dash, you should probably plan for the possibility your clutch could slip with a tune.

I drove my TT for some time with no tune and no slip. I added a tune and it slipped. I removed the tune and the slip went away. Take that for what it's worth. Perhaps it would have come back in a few months regardless, perhaps not. I have 150k+ miles on my OEM clutch on my M5, yet others replaced them with 30k miles. Go figure.

You sound conservative and if so, I would plan for the possibility that your clutch could slip with a tune rather than hope it's in tip-top shape and you will have no problem. If you get the tune along with the programmer unit, you can always switch back to factory tune until you upgrade the clutch if you do find it slips. That way you could do part of the upgrade now and finish it later. I don't think you would feel any better if you got slippage attributed to "it's on it's way out anyway". Hell, to my knowledge, any clutch is on it's way out once it's driven off the lot. What you can't tell is how far along that path you are; and you really don't care. What you know is that your car doesn't slip in it's current configuration.

T10Chris

Oh for sure, every car is different and I definitely don't think it is an issue with the tune.. My clutch has some miles on it for sure, at least 30k on the clutch before I swapped it out.

AdamNoone

My car had a Tubi exhaust and GIAC tune by Champion Motorsports since new in 2005. I just replaced the clutch this winter at 63k. I installed Sams tune, turbos and other mods at 60k. The clutch didnt slip until about 62.5k and only did due to the new turbos. Long story short, if your car was/is driven properly, your clutch can last many miles on a tune only.