Clutch experience

[SLF360]

Dear all,

anyone already had to get a new clutch here ?

I was just in line with the service dealer in Geneva (Switzerland) Grimm Sud, and they told me they already had to change three of these. Now that is quite a high incidence, given the rather few cars they will see in a lifetime.

Has anyone decided to use a stronger clutch, (like e.g Piko with his 1000hp rocket) and has experience to share??
As this piece is definitely a 'consumption item' sooner or later when driving hard, I thought let's start a thread about it.

Keep it coming !


Stefan

 

[gwbartlett]

Clutch Wear

Stefan-
I've had no problems with my clutch-8,000 miles. I believe that it is a very strong assembly designed to cope with the 500 ft lbs of torque. If your service department mentions the mountain driving in Switzerland being the cause I have driven many hard miles in various Jaguars in Switzerland with much smaller triple plate clutches and have had no problems. My guess is that premature clutch failure is the fault of the driver.
-GWB

 

[Neilda]

Break it to him gently.... :wink

 

[Fubar]

My clutch was super touchy when I first got the car. I was in gear or out of gear; there was no in between. It has gotten much better with a few miles on the car.

I know the owner's of three different Ford dealerships here in Dallas and they haven't replaced any clutches on these cars.

I recommend that you just drop the clutch and start burning up tires... it's a lot more fun.

 

[Bart Carter]

My experience is that the less you slip the clutch, the longer it will last. Never slip the clutch when in motion. When you start, give it enough RPM not to stall and engage the clutch as fast as possible. When it is fully engaged, give it as much throttle as as you can without spinning the wheels. If you get everything perfect, you will accelerate as fast as any other method.

On the E39 series of BMW M5 cars, there were a lot of owners coming in with clutch issues at low milage. Even experienced drivers. The reason was that a high HP car is very hard on a clutch when it is slipped. When using this technique to launch, the clutch problems went away. 35,000 miles on my M5 and not an issue. :biggrin

 

[fjpikul]

Sounds like a lot of people starting off in third gear to take out that many clutches. No one complains about the clutch except the guy who burned it out inadvertantly starting out in third gear.

 

[SLF360]

WRONG ASSUMPTION, BOYZ !

Sounds like a lot of people starting off in third gear to take out that many clutches. No one complains about the clutch except the guy who burned it out inadvertantly starting out in third gear.

Boys,
you are unfortunately wrong about me not knowing how to engage a gear. I even might be offended, but am clearly above this (fjipkul)... :wink


I just thought if someone does an upgrade, or just drives the car regularily hard, trust me, the clutch will go. That's a multiple experience by now. Now, what to do is the issue in such case ?
I'll not go back and just put a regular one in, and again drop down dead somewhere sometime... not being able to call a 1 800 number for any support being outside of US ! :ack :rofl


But for the record, once modded the car impresses all the Italian Ferraristi to pure embarrassment. That's why I want to eliminate this Achilles heel aka clutch weakness. Can't go back to just cruise at 550 bhp..

Claro, amigos ?

 

[SLF360]

HP Performance will deliver a carbo ceramic composite clutch combo, so we will be good to above 1000bhp and subsequent torque...
Most important, it will not be zero slip metal, so the car's driveability will remain. I hate metal clutches, had one in my rallye Subaru and went to ceramic to avoid the bumm engage effect.. the immediate shock upon engaging wears out or kills all components of the drivetrain over time.
If you had a chance at the rallye to try Piko's omba, you know what I am talking about.

any other experiences ?

thanks

Stefan

 

[gwbartlett]

Clutch

A rather strange, condescending response from an unusually friendly and helpfull forum. In stock form I still contend that the original clutches are very robust. Simply look at the cars tested at Nardo or Jeremy Clarkson's very public and obvious abuse of the GT. These didn't result in a clutch failure. Yes, you can drive the GT to its limits on the Autobahn in unrestricted areas but this kind of work is not hard on the clutch. If one increases hp and torque by serious amounts obviously it is not only the clutch that needs to be re-engineered.
-GWB, a friendly forum member

 

[FlorIdaho Chris]

I have ridden with Stefan. His clutch is not shot from third gear starts. He is a wild man. Never saw him start without spinning the wheels. Never saw him round a tight corner without a drift. Frankly I am surprised he has lived as long as he has with his "Italian race car driver style":wink He drives his car (quite well I might add) harder than most of us by a fair margin I would imagine. No surprise to me that he is looking for a clutch. :lol

 

[Neilda]

I hope that nobody has hurt feelings - I'm confident that would have been an unintended consequence from the posts. I think suggesting that premature clutch failure is the fault of the driver could, perhaps, be a harsh thing to suggest - particularly to someone who is probably an extremely good driver.

I don't drive my GT hard enough to know if the clutch might be weak - however compared to the Murcielago and Vanquish, it feels considerably stronger....

 

[fjpikul]

Stefan, my response was concerning the three other clutches you identify as being replaced in CH. I certainly did not mean to imply it was you or your driving technique. From past posts here, the only complaints about the clutch have been from one person who burned it out quickly probably starting out in third gear a lot.

 

[SLF360]

Stefan, my response was concerning the three other clutches you identify as being replaced in CH. I certainly did not mean to imply it was you or your driving technique. From past posts here, the only complaints about the clutch have been from one person who burned it out quickly probably starting out in third gear a lot.

Thanks Fjpikul,

yes I admit, I got quite furious about the suspicion I was not able to clutch the baby properly. But it is strange to see that in tiny Switzerland they had to do this already three times. And, as we know, any perfomance mod basically brings you to the limit of the clutch quickly, so it is a weaker part in the powertrain vs the rest. I just felt that to be remarkable to note. Much harder to kill a Ferrari clutch, so the carbon upgrade I will get now seems to be well invested.

In case someone needs to replace his burnt off clutch for whatever reason, probably good to get in touch with Tony from HP Performance in Jacksonville, to get the carbon replacement. Pricewise makes sense also.

cheers


Stefan

 

[B O N Y]

somewhat related, not an attempt to hijack the thread. I have been told that the GT GUYS can do a clutch R&R in less than an hour... amazing what happens when you really know the car

 

[SLF360]

somewhat related, not an attempt to hijack the thread. I have been told that the GT GUYS can do a clutch R&R in less than an hour... amazing what happens when you really know the car

WOW BONY !

that's fast. I was told it takes more like 6 hours... !?
Any tricks I should know ?

Stefan

 

[B O N Y]

Hello Stefan,
The GT GUYS are two mechanics that worked on the development work horses, they just know the car. The completed all my mods in record time. They just know the car, I have no idea about their short cuts or secrets. MJ will have the GT GUYS at the SEBRING event.
Cheers,
daniel

 

[Green Beret]

Clutch Experience

I have a 2005 Gt and was having a problem of Starting in first as the clutch was rough. The car is one year old this month so I took it to my service rep who had the clutch looked at and said that they need to replace the clutch system as there is a problem. With 2,600 miles I was surprised as this just showed up last week. I don,t slip the clutch, but have driven it in the past in traffic.
The service rep says that they will replace the enitire system!

 

[B O N Y]

Great example of the service that Ford gives... Green, where are you located?
...and thank you for your service to Country
GOD BLESS AMERICA! :usa :usa :usa :usa :usa
Daniel

 

[Green Beret]

Hi bony,
Located in Danville, Ca see profile

 

[B O N Y]

Welcome neighbor!! Have you signed up with Awsum's California Registry
?