I know there's a lot of back and forth about the sturdiness of the stock clutch with a tune/exhaust/mods. One camp saying stock lasts forever, the other saying it's toast immediately. I'm wondering with those of you who have tune/exhaust, how many have "upgraded" the clutch to Sachs 2.5/3, etc and what your feedback after the fact might be. People seem to be happy with the 2.5 kit, for those that went with a beefier clutch did you upgrade flywheel as well?
are you happy you made the switch (if not necessary at the time)? are you experiencing a permanent higher engagement point?
Did any of you do any slave modification (GT2/oem, bbi, evoms, DIY-remove coupler and plug lines, etc)?

 

Here are a few options...

These clutch kits have "nice" pedal engagement!

 

Thanks Kevin. Are the latter 2 the same kit, just posted to separate forums or am I missing something?

 

Bought my car at 13k miles
Exhaust and tune at roughly 15K.
The slave went and I upgraded to GT2, 16-17k
Stock clutch started slipping >3000rpms at 20K

GT2 master/slave conversion, the feeling/connection over stock is so good I'm actually happy this happened because I never would have thought to go out of my way to do this.
Upgraded to sachs 2.5, been driving for a few months now and felt an immediate difference. I have a sneaking suspicion my stock was actually slipping at ~5500rpms right away because it feels like it pulls much harder up top now. There was a recent post about clutch engagement issues after this mod but I haven't noticed, perhaps I need more seat time/experience.

 

Different forum posting to give more feedback. I also have the 997GT3RS 4.0 bolted pressure plate available as a bundled kit.

 

The 764 pressure plate with any number of OEM discs are nice setups. What I run as well. Very, very happy. It's held 700+ wtq for the past 4 years on my E85, stock turbo setup with ease.

 

What discs have you used with the 764?? Double mass or single mass FW? Planning on changing to Protomotive E85 on stock turbos in the coming weeks and guess I need to do the clutch at the same time.

 

I'm sure I will be in the market sometime coming-up as well. Knock on wood, not TOO soon. Not a big fan of the stock feel/engagement but not a total hater either.

The driver's capabilities and usage conditions surely make a HUGE difference on longevity. My car was 100% stock when I bought it, and I have put roughly 10K miles with Stage1 mods (ECU tune) and now maybe 3-5K with Stage2 mods; no slippage or misbehavior thus far. 38K mi on stock clutch at this point. I live in the hills/mountains and seldom am just cruising on the highway. However, I do not track this car.

Previously I had a lightly-tuned B5 S4 (Audi) that went over 100K on its OE clutch. I hammered that car hard as a daily driver for years...

 

Do you find the stock clutch to be more of an on/off switch and less progressive than other clutches? Or is it just mine? I'm not sure what the clutch should actually feel like as I have not driven many other Turbos other than mine. Input is appreciated!

 

I just had a thread on this, it lacks feel because it is hydraulic assist. I am trying to get used to it.

 

The stock clutch is definitely tricky due to the hydraulic assist. I personally found it was tough for intermediate launches—where you're not trying to launch as quickly as humanly possible, but you're also not just creeping off the line either. Definitely did a lot of jerky starts in those circumstances. To me it felt not so much like it was on/off, but that the engagement point varied minutely, so it was difficult to learn it properly. But I could see describing it as more on/off with a narrower engagement range than most clutches too.

The BBI slack conversion solved that problem for me, at the expense of slightly firmer than ideal pedal feel (as opposed tot he much lighter than ideal stock pedal). FWIW if you go with the BBI option rather than the GT2 conversion, even though it uses the stock master cylinder, I highly recommend replacing the master cylinder (with a new stock one) and also swapping the rubber hydraulic line for an (inexpensive) stainless steel one. These conversions require switching the stock pentosin fluid to DOT4, and I'm one of multiple people that have had problems with hoses and seals breaking down as a result—likely due to not replacing the master cylinder, which may trap some old fluid even through a flush. You can then keep your stock master and slave, uncontaminated with DOT4, in case you ever want to go back.

Of course, you can also go the GT2 conversion route, in which case you're changing the master anyway.

 

seems to be a similar situation here, though i'm starting to notice slipping when nailing the throttle. drives fine if in 'speed limit/putzing around town' driver mode. my e39 540 is on it's original with 150k+ granted makes about half the power...

 

Got it, thanks!

 

Thanks for the additional info. I feel betting knowing it is not a "bad" or failing clutch. When the time comes I will certainly be looking for a more progressive/linear clutch. Much appreciated!