At what mileage did you change your clutch?

[David 84 911]

At what mileage did you change your clutch? Taking average stats...

Thanks

[Mookster]

2003, Cab
Replaced the clutch assy and replaced it with new clutch and light weight flywheel, 40k. No track time of driver events.

According to my mechanic this seems to be the magic number.

[David 84 911]

Heard the same from my mechanic

[jwetering]

The clutch in my 2002 is getting pretty stiff at 88K miles. It even slipped when I tried a hard launch on sticky rubber at autocross.

I *don't* know if this is the original clutch. The car had a new motor at 40K so a good chance the clutch was changed then too.

[David G]

On my '02, the original clutch was replaced at 55k miles. I sold it at 98k and the replacement clutch was still good, but was getting pretty stiff.

[Wayne 962]

A lot of it depends upon driving habits. If you do a lot of highway driving without much shifting, then you can make it last a long time...

-Wayne

[jwetering]

I've had a lot of clutches in my life and it *does* seem to me that this one got stiffer fatser than any of the other ones I've used in my life.

When I got the car a year ago I was impressed how smooth and easy the clutch felt. It's hurting the balls of my feet almost now. I don't consider myself hard on clutches. I'm not easy on them, but I don't abuse them.

I'm 50% mixed hwy city.

Oh well - LWFW here I come.

[Mattcamp]

90k

[David 84 911]

David and Japer is a *stiffer* clutch the sign that it is on its way out?

[David G]

Not always. If the clutch is just gradually getting stiffer from wear, most likely. If the clutch all of the sudden feels stiff I would check the clutch helper spring.

About 25k after the first clutch was replaced, my clutch got stiff. Mechanic recommended replacing the clutch. That didn't sound right to me, so I checked around and found a broken helper spring that was actually binding making the clutch heavier instead of lighter.`

[450knotOffice]

My 2000 996 - which has been driven mostly in LA traffic - has 105,000 miles and still has a decent clutch feel - and it's still on its original clutch.

FWIW, it's been driven hard at Willow Springs raceway at least six times and has a couple of autocross days on top of that too.

[jwetering]

Originally Posted by David 84 911

David and Japer is a *stiffer* clutch the sign that it is on its way out?

The story goes that as the clutch disc wears it gets thinner and the geometry of the fingers actuating the clutch plate changes. You effectively get out of the optimum range of the springy fingers.

I have a hard time believeing that a millimetre of wear changes the geometry that much, but I've heard this stroy a few times now, and there's no doubt that the clutch gets stiffer as it wears, so I guess it's true.

In the back of my mind I'm thinking the geometry of the 996 clutch may not be ideal from new, so only a little wear is enough to make it stiff. My clutch grabs pretty good, but it's stiff (no it wasn't sudden). I'm thinking that only a friction disc change will be necessary to restore my clutch to like new.

I say this because a bunch of us attended a tech night where the clutch, flywheel and IMS bearing were changed on a club member's car. She was complianing of a weak clutch but it looked like new when it was removed.