Well I got a call this morning from the dealer telling me that I need a new clutch. This all started on Tuesday when I started to notice the clutch acting funny. When I would shift the RPM's would take a few seconds to go up after shifting and all of a sudden kick in. This happened a few times before I go to make a turn into my community where I live and downshift into second and when I go to accelerate the RPM's jump up without the car moving. I was like what the hell... so I took it out of gear and tried it again but no luck. No gear would work. Luckily my house was only like a blcok away and I was able to push it home. The dealer wanted $1700 the wholoe job includin a new flywheel. I have only had the Vortech kit for like 800 miles and even so they said it was not warranty. They said even if I didn't have the supercharger it would not be under warranty. Should this have been under warranty since I only have 16,000 miles? I expected this treatment by the dealer after the Vortech install so I was like whatever. Now I need help deciding between either the JWT clutch/flywheel combo or the RPS clutch/flywheel combo. Both are around $1,000 - $1,100 installed at my friends shop. Sorry for the long post I needed to vent a little. Thanks for the advice in advance.

 

Vortech kit? I think you should expect some things like this to happen, i'm pretty sure you don't drive like a granny homes...

Sorry to say this but this does not sound like a warranty issue... i think this is an expected cost of FI imho

 

Im thinking that the dealer looked at your flywheel and clutch and determined
that it was glazed and burnt. it could've been from your driving habits
or from the FI... not sure cause don't know how you drive or race your car
on the weekends.

but id do aftermarket if you have friends that can help you out and plus,
you want a more robust clutch/flywheel for your FI anyway.

 

if you search JWT clutch Flywheel is $769.99 I can't remember from which store tho, direct from Jim Wolf is $9xx tho.

 

I'm doubting the UPS guy is going to install it for him...

 

When you start moving from a dead stop, what RPM do you rev to to engage 1st?
How long do you slip the clutch while starting?

Our cars have some decent low-end torque where you only need to rev it to 1500 rpm to get going. Some car mag said they were burning out their 350z clutch too because they were revving too high and slipping the clutch too much.

 

thats the irony, if your clutch fails and you try to nurse it out of traffic, home or the dealer *of course* it's going to look abused. There are plenty of people losing clutches before 20K, no FI, and paying out the wazooo (no coverage).. I dont really have any advise, just saying. Good luck.

 

I honestly think alot of issues have to be attributed to the driving habits of manual drivers..Where is the left foot during cruising, do you ever smell clutch after driving hard?

I beat the ***** off my stock wrx clutch and it only lasted me about 22k...But I will admit it was my fault, granted they did have a recal on them for a crappy pressure plate and that helped in my clutch's demise, but I did beat the hell out of it.

I doubt many dealers are going to want to warranty a clutch. Its a wear item, and really the only defects is when you get excess chatter in the clutch or things along those lines.

 

I've read in some other posts where people have had their cluth get stuck and they burned out their clutches that way. Is this another one of those?

 

...oops, didn't read the part where he said installed If you didn't have the vortech you could have a good argument about the clutch being under warranty. I think you might be SOL tho since they would already give you a really hard time without being FI about the clutch... that sucks, you probably should upgrade anyways since ur FI...

 

I knew that with the Vortech kit I would need to replace the clutch at my own cost but I wasnt expecting it after only 800 miles. The miles on my car ar mostly highway miles and I dont think the clutch should have gone this early. Oh well I least now I can put a stronger clutch.

 

I just got my g35 coupe back after being told my clutch was gone with 20,000 miles. The dealer says it is a wearable item, not under waranty and it will cost me almost $2,000 to get it fixed! After loudly complaining I got it down to $1,275. Now I have a brand new clutch, throwout bearing ,flywheel and pressure plate. The disk looks ok but the flywheel and pressure plate area obviously overheated. The new clutch chatters, I have a rattle and an exhaust leak.

I have an appointment to get it fixed again and I will be looking for another car. None of the BMW's I had in the past every had this problem.

Even my 350-z I had right before this had a lousy clutch with no take up worth talking about. It felt like a light switch all the time.

 

Sorry for the ignorant post, but I'm quite concerned about the alleged clutch problems on the cars. I've got about 4k on mine now, and I fotunately don't notice any odors. *HOWEVER* this is my first manual daily driver, so I'm afraid I probably slip more than the average driver. That being said, if I have been wearing my clutch an inordinant amount, can I take it to a shop for visual inspection? Before anybody asks "why", I figure if I can spot it early I can start budgeting for a replacement, or try to change my driving style.

 

if you want a shop to look at it, they might as well change it while they are in there.

I don't think that would be a very economical thing to do since to look at the clutch basically involves the same labor required to change it.

 

Its simple...Only have that left foot on the clutch when you are shifting and only when you are shifting. You will quickly find the balance between feathering the clutch a little too much or getting off it too quick.

You want a smooth engagement with no drama and no odors. If you do all that your clutch should last a long time.

As for the issues with chatter after a new clutch, it could be a bad install or you didn't break the clutch in properly. I'm leaning towards a crappy install though....