pbu

I used the SEARCH but was not able to find my answer.

I want know what symptoms I should be aware of before needing to replace more than just a clutch. My indy mechanic says that if I wait too long that the flywheel will also need to be replaced.

FYI, I have original clutch in my 06 c2s with 37xxx miles and clutch feels fine. The clutch does feel heavier than another 997 c2s I drove (this one had a clutch with low miles on it). A Porsche dealer told me I need clutch replacement on my car 6-7xxx miles ago and its still ok. One indy shop says I'm past 50% while another indy estimated 25% remaining.

Comments are appreciated. Thx

Skibum

When you are going uphill at about 40 mph, and shift to 4th or 5th, does the engine rev higher than normal on hard acceleration (and you seem to go nowhere)?

Slippage is the main factor in flywheel damage.

JW911

I am not aware of any method that would allow an accurate estimate of how much clutch lining is remaining. That would be pure guesswork. Perhaps they are using your miles to estimate. But the amount of wear on your clutch is much more dependent on how you use the clutch and the type of driving (Highway, city, stop and go traffic) you do than the amount of miles. If your clutch does not slip (as Skibum described) then you don't need a new clutch. When it does slip, then you do need a new clutch. Get a new one right away and you should avoid flywheel damage. And if you have to drive for a few days with some slipping before you can take care of it, just go easy and when you feel some slip just let up on the gas and it should catch and be fine.

simsgw

Well described.

G

aussie jimmy

usable info.

Datura

I replaced the clutch on my '06 Carrera S at around 53K. It went through several HS Porsche DE's, some open road racing, and typical spirited driving. I never intentionally abused the clutch. But there were lots of open highway miles too. Unless you do lots of stop and go or are abusive on the clutch IMO you should have plenty of miles left. I could tell when mine was needing attention. An honest service tech should be helpful as well.

Edgy01

There are many 911 drivers who, to this day, still don't know how to properly drive a manual transmission car. They wind up with premature wear of the clutch. These things should last at least 100,000 miles. If you're pressing on the 'go' pedal and the clutch pedal is not all the way released you are shortening your clutch life.

IslandS52

This is my thinking. I cant fathom all the posts i read of cars getting new clutches at 20k, 30k miles. My 06 clutch feels strong at 66k and my E39 M5, a notorious clutch killer, has 73k, both original clutches.

aproo

I changed mine when it felt heavy and more effort was needed to get it going. I am having the OEM Dual Mass clutch and it now feels so much better and shifting is easier as well. You will need to drop the engine though and suggest you do other maintenance work at the same time. Good luck..!

pbu

Thanks for feedback looks like I'm in the clear until I see some clutch wear signs

utkinpol

my clutch does not slip yet, but when i spoke to my mechanic he told me in more than 80% of cases flywheel also needs to be replaced when you replace clutch, so, be ready for that. it is an additional $1+.

pbu

Interesting, I heard similar from my mechanic about flywheel replacement. 80% does seem high to me though.

Did he offer any insight how to avoid flywheel replacement? My indy mechanic said to not replace clutch too late or else flywheel gets damaged. All this subjective language gets be a confused. I'm going to keep my clutch until I get some signs, as others indicated my clutch might last for years to come.

Quadcammer

I'm going to ask you to clarify because your statement as written doesn't make much sense.

For example:

To leave a stop light without any use of the "go" pedal, you are going to have to slip the clutch much more than if you give it a bit of gas and release the clutch pedal more quickly.

obviously if you sit there at 2500rpm and slowly slowly slip the clutch like a rookie you are going to wear the clutch disk out more quickly.

My method, which has served me very well for hundreds of thousands of miles is simple:

About a thousand revs, quickly release clutch.

utkinpol

my car got 54k miles on it and he says on such high milage cars abrasive layer on a flywheel simply gets worn off. only way to see its condition is when you open it up and check it visually.

Edgy01

At a stop sign, I rev up the engine slightly and by 4 mph, have the clutch fully disengaged. THEN, and only then do I accelerate with the accelerator pedal. These people who drop the clutch are simply adding to their maintenance costs by that action.

it's almost like ballet, with your feet. You give the engine just enough gas to keep it from stalling out, while simultaneously letting out the clutch. Then, with the clutch pedal out you can start to hammer it.

What will burn up a clutch is giving it a lot of gas (engine speeding up) while the transmission and the wheels are still going slow. The intersection of those two different speeds has to be sorted out by the clutch, and it will wear when you do that, by essentially slipping it.

When I was a kid, buying my first Porsche, I was going through clutches a lot--I had no idea what was going on inside there. I went to the repair shop and watched to see the interaction between the flywheel of the engine and the clutch plate, the throwout bearing, and the pressure plate and finally, the light bulb came on. Everyone here needs to have that eureka moment to understand what is going on inside there. From then on I have easily gotten 100,000 out of my Porsche clutches.

When you let out a clutch you have to determine for the condition how quickly you have to do it, and it is related to the relative speeds of the two masses--the flywheel, and the transmission gear/spline. That's the reason why when downshifting you blip the throttle a bit to bring up the engine speed in anticipation of knowing in a lower gear the transmission side of the equation will be running higher than the engine.

If you can always match the transmission speed to the engine speed you will have no clutch wear, whatsoever. Since that is nearly impossible, you attempt to bring them as close as your skills will allow.

From a dead stop, you just ease out a little throttle (gas) just enough to keep the engine from dying when suddenly the transmission is engaged. You would be amazed out slowly you need to be going in first gear before you can have the clutch pedal fully disengaged. (I have checked and for me it is routinely about 4mph).

I hope this helps. When something is so second-nature for me (and I'm sure for others) it's often difficult to explain in words. For a 911 in particular, things are a bit different because you get virtually no slippage from the tires. All that rear weight over the tires will take tire slippage out of the equation. You have to be much more gentile with a 911.