[ADLER]

I think my clutch is going through the first stage of breaking down, but it could be that I am a shitty driver.
When launching it, the clutch burns and slips. I at first thought it was me, and that I wasn't dropping the clutch fast enough, but sort of slipping it out, usually from around 4k.
The other day though, I was in 6th gear, downshifter into 5th, and got on the gas to pass someone on the interstate....it slipped a little, but no clutch smell,
so, the other day, I decided to almost drop it from 4k at a light.....it slipped pretty bad.
Do I suck, or what?
Car has 26k miles on it.

I am considering purchasing the SBC clutch Jeremy G set up on the group buy.

 

[Marcus Frost]

Is this your first manual car that you've owned (not DRIVEN, but actually owned)? 26k miles is an awfully short lifespan for the stocker (my original clutch started slipping @ 72k), but it is possible if you are slipping it a lot.

-m

 

[ADLER]

nope, I owned had a 95 TSi AWD 5-speed before.
Of course, I went through that clutch around 50k miles I think.
After I put in an upgraded clutch, I had NO problems at all out of it.
Maybe I am just too hard on clutches....
Maybe the guy before me drove it rough, but it only had 17k miles on it when I bought it.

 

[Marcus Frost]

nope, I owned had a 95 TSi AWD 5-speed before.
Of course, I went through that clutch around 50k miles I think.
After I put in an upgraded clutch, I had NO problems at all out of it.
Maybe I am just too hard on clutches....
Maybe the guy before me drove it rough, but it only had 17k miles on it when I bought it.

Powelsound said in his '93 VR4 that he beat the living piss out of his clutch for ~22k miles on top of the 26k it already had when he bought the car.

I don't know, 26k is a VERY short lifespan for a clutch. The only other thing I can imagine is that you might have a hot spot on the disc itself and now the disc is unevenly worn, which will make it slip. The only way to cure that is wear the disc down until it has even wear all around the surface. Try breaking in your clutch the way you'd break in a new one (500 or so miles of heavy stop and go) without any hard launches, shifts, etc and see if that helps.

-m

 

[HellBringer]

You could have severely glazed the clutch. Try driving like a grandma for a few hundred miles and then see if it continues to slip afterwards. More than likely the clutch is toast, though. As Marcus stated, I had really good luck with my stock clutch. However, the previous owner probably never took the car to redline let alone launched it. 26k miles is pretty low, but not unheard of for a stock clutch to shit the bed. You never know how it was treated by the previous owner.

 

[ADLER]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses and ideas.

I did put about 2k miles on the car in the last few weeks, and driving like a grandma, but it was almost all interstate driving. Then it slipped this past weekend, when I tried to launch.

I guess I am hard on clutches.

 

[wraith]

time for a carbon carbon. I just love forced upgrades!

Sam

 

[de_vr4]

lol... no helpful info here, just wanted to say i liked the thread title

 

[klljgl]

I'd say go with JeremyG's group buy! 3 more and we get it for 375.

 

[2N TURBO]

SHXXXT!!! You launching your car is like taming a wild horse! :lol3:

I guess I am hard on clutches.

 

[flyers1470]

Like powelsound said, 26k miles is pretty low but not unheard of for a stock clutch to die.

For compairson, I also have a 97 VR4 (second owner, got it at 39K) and have 65K on my stock clutch. And the last 5K has been with 15G's.

 

[ADLER]

SHXXXT!!! You launching your car is like taming a wild horse! :lol3:

SHXXXXXXXT!!!!!!
I will tame my wild horse!
I went ahead with Jeremy's Group Buy.

 

[Pyro515]

I kinda have a simular problem... I tried launching my car and spun the clutch really bad. I tried again a couple of weeks ago I and spun it again... I just figured I can't launch worth a shit... BTW I have 34,000 miles on mine...

Mike

 

[ADLER]

Yeah, it probably has to do something with our driving, I would think.
However, I drove my roommates vr4 once, and his stock clutch was MUCH stiffer than mine. It was strange the difference there was.

 

[VR-4Maniac]

stock clutch

the stock clutch is very inconsistent....drive the car with an aftermarket clutch and you won't be sorry! The holding power is really impressive with even mildly upgraded clutches, the car just feels faster!