How much beating can a clutch take? Seriously.

[amdhunter]

I am getting aggravated at my total lack of knowledge when it comes to driving my car. When I drive, I am always taking off from a stop by either letting off the clutch slowly and letting it roll, and then gassing, or never exceeding 1500-2000rpms and slipping the clutch.

Now, I guess this is fine, but I want to know what would happen if I took off at faster RPMs? Will my clutch magically melt away instantly?

In other words, how much beating (and for how long) can a clutch take? I sometimes want to take off a little more strongly (say 2500rpms) to smooth out my 1st gear shift. I won't hold it there for longer than a second or so.

In other words, how long would the clutch take to wear if I took off like this a few times a day? How long should the clutch (plate?) last? Is it something that would instantly wear out if I accidentally slipped in at 8000rpms? Would one day of vigorous (but not deadly) driving kill it? One week?

I hate not knowing, and it's sort of scary. I know I am being annoying with all my stick questions, but I really don't know who else to ask.

 

[ayabe]

AS a general rule for regular starts you should be using as little throttle as possible to minimize wear.

Yes slipping at 2500rpm will cause more wear, how much is anyone's guess.

You won't instantly burn out the clutch, but since you don't need that much throttle, why cause unnecessary wear and tear on the car, ya know?

I can't recommend an 8K clutch dump under any circumstances.

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: ayabe
AS a general rule for regular starts you should be using as little throttle as possible to minimize wear.

Yes slipping at 2500rpm will cause more wear, how much is anyone's guess.

You won't instantly burn out the clutch, but since you don't need that much throttle, why cause unnecessary wear and tear on the car, ya know?

I can't recommend an 8K clutch dump under any circumstances.

I guess, but the car takes off so much better if I let it get a little more gas. Sometimes I take off and it feels like I am just giving it enough not to stall. Isn't that wearing it out more than just revving it up a bit?

Is the clutch like a big brake pad or something? Will it burn out from 1 day of spirited driving?

 

[iamwiz82]

You are letting off the clutch too early if it feels like dying and you are launching at 1500RPM

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
You are letting off the clutch too early if it feels like dying and you are launching at 1500RPM

Yep, you can feel the car when you do it properly. It will be a smooth take off.

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: ayabe
AS a general rule for regular starts you should be using as little throttle as possible to minimize wear.

Yes slipping at 2500rpm will cause more wear, how much is anyone's guess.

You won't instantly burn out the clutch, but since you don't need that much throttle, why cause unnecessary wear and tear on the car, ya know?

I can't recommend an 8K clutch dump under any circumstances.

I guess, but the car takes off so much better if I let it get a little more gas. Sometimes I take off and it feels like I am just giving it enough not to stall. Isn't that wearing it out more than just revving it up a bit?

Is the clutch like a big brake pad or something? Will it burn out from 1 day of spirited driving?

Most cars have organic discs OEM so yeah it's somewhat like a brake pad.

Giving it just enough not to stall is the easiest on the components.

You would be very hard pressed to burn out the clutch in one day unless you were intentionally trying to break the car.

I think you have an SI, right? Well I used to have an Integra GSR(similar motor and power curves) and I could get a smooth start with less than 1500rpm and my clutch lasted over 120,000 miles.

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
You are letting off the clutch too early if it feels like dying and you are launching at 1500RPM

Nah, that's once in a blue for me lately. Most of my take offs are smooth. It's just that sometimes I want to take off a bit harder, and I am scared that I am gonna kill the car if I do.

I am just wondering how fragile a clutch really is... Is it something made to take an occasional beating or not?

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: ayabe

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: ayabe
AS a general rule for regular starts you should be using as little throttle as possible to minimize wear.

Yes slipping at 2500rpm will cause more wear, how much is anyone's guess.

You won't instantly burn out the clutch, but since you don't need that much throttle, why cause unnecessary wear and tear on the car, ya know?

I can't recommend an 8K clutch dump under any circumstances.

I guess, but the car takes off so much better if I let it get a little more gas. Sometimes I take off and it feels like I am just giving it enough not to stall. Isn't that wearing it out more than just revving it up a bit?

Is the clutch like a big brake pad or something? Will it burn out from 1 day of spirited driving?

Most cars have organic discs OEM so yeah it's somewhat like a brake pad.

Giving it just enough not to stall is the easiest on the components.

You would be very hard pressed to burn out the clutch in one day unless you were intentionally trying to break the car.

I think you have an SI, right? Well I used to have an Integra GSR(similar motor and power curves) and I could get a smooth start with less than 1500rpm and my clutch lasted over 120,000 miles.

2007 Jetta GLi. My last car was an 06 Civic LX Automatic. I am definitely not trying to break anything lol.

 

[jtvang125]

I've done plenty of 3k and even a few 4k clutch dumps in my integra back then. Nothing bad happened but I'm sure clutch life takes a nose dive everytime I do it.

 

[canadageek]

clutches are pretty tough and hold up to abuse fairly well. average life is around 120 000 km, so even if you cut it in half, thats still 60 000 left.

I wouldn't be too worried about it.

 

[Arkaign]

On my Preludes (3g and 5g), I went through a lot more CV axles than anything else. Both my clutches lasted over 150k miles. This was with lots of launches @ 3000-7000rpm.

 

[dpert1]

FWIW, I was in my miata last month with 110k on the clutch. My tranny locked up at a stoplight (slipped into reverse as i shifted into neutral), so when i put it into 1st gear, nothing could move. I was unaware this had happened and in a rush to get out of the intersection i dumped the clutch and jammed the gas, car didnt move but clutch was slipping for a good 3-4 seconds at over 3k rpm's while i figured out what was going on. Fixed the tranny and the clutch is working like it was before the incident.

 

[Eli]

A lot.

A well taken care of clutch can last over 200,000 miles.

A clutch that is beaten on mercilessly should last at least 60,000 miles, I'd say.

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: Eli
A lot.

A well taken care of clutch can last over 200,000 miles.

A clutch that is beaten on mercilessly should last at least 60,000 miles, I'd say.

I think it takes a lot less than 60k miles to burn out a clutch if you're foolish

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton

Originally posted by: Eli
A lot.

A well taken care of clutch can last over 200,000 miles.

A clutch that is beaten on mercilessly should last at least 60,000 miles, I'd say.

I think it takes a lot less than 60k miles to burn out a clutch if you're foolish

I think design and quality has a lot to deal with it as well, I beat the pure $@%& out of my 3g Prelude's clutch, and it lasted the life of the car, AFAIK.

 

[Jahee]

The way i think of it... Dumping the clutch at redline could take say a few hundred miles off the clutch, if that.. So will cause the same amount of wear as a few hundred miles of normal driving if you see what i mean.

Not sure if i'm right but it kind of makes sense when you think about it. I'm sure there are other factors involved also.

Clutches can take alot more of a beating than you think, just don't go mad everyday you'll be fine!

 

[OUCaptain]

You'll smell it if you slip it too much. Smells like hot brakes. I drive my jeep like a bat out of hell most of the time. I usually launch at around 3500 if I'm in a hurry but I do quickly enough to avoid too much clipping. That being said, I got 90K miles out of my first clutch.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

My friend was driving to vegas at 60 mph in first gear. Lets just say he never made it there with that car.

 

[overst33r]

Originally posted by: AznAnarchy99
My friend was driving to vegas at 60 mph in first gear. Lets just say he never made it there with that car.

What car?

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: Eli
A lot.

A well taken care of clutch can last over 200,000 miles.

A clutch that is beaten on mercilessly should last at least 60,000 miles, I'd say.

That's what I was thinking. I still have people telling me daily that I am gonna kill my clutch. Not because they have seen me driving, but simply because I am a new stick driver.

They have me so paranoid that I'll kill the clutch somehow, that I am doing a LOT of grandma driving. Whenever I do spirited driving, I back off and start to think about my driving, and then usually back off.

I just wanna get this damned monkey off my back...lol

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: OUCaptain
You'll smell it if you slip it too much. Smells like hot brakes. I drive my jeep like a bat out of hell most of the time. I usually launch at around 3500 if I'm in a hurry but I do quickly enough to avoid too much clipping. That being said, I got 90K miles out of my first clutch.

I have smelled the clutch one time, and that was while backing up a really steep hill, to get out of a parking space. lol. I only had the car two weeks (and driving stick two weeks) and was going nuts trying to take it out.

I have never smelled the clutch since.

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: AznAnarchy99
My friend was driving to vegas at 60 mph in first gear. Lets just say he never made it there with that car.

lol, did the car overheat? Did the gear break down? Or was he slipping it back and forth in 1st?

 

[imported_Truenofan]

usually a new driver does kill a clutch sooner than an experienced standard driver. i know the previous owner of my car really worked the clutch pretty hard on my car. when i went to replace the clutch/pressureplate/pilot bearing/release bearing, when i had removed the pressure plate, the clutch itself was stuck to the pressure plate, and when i finally removed that, four of the friction surfaces fell off of the clutch itself. as well as the non-existent pilot bearing that was in 4-5 different pieces.

the clutch probably had 30-45k miles on it. now that I've got pretty much new stuff under there. and its torqued down, it bites harder, and feels a lot better when engaging in all gears.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Is the clutch like a big brake pad or something? Will it burn out from 1 day of spirited driving?

Not even close. Clutches are more robust than most people realize. Taking off at a slightly higher RPM, as long as you're smooth and aren't riding the clutch for too long, is well within the operational parameters of the vehicle.

As for spirited driving, IMHO that does *less* wear than stop-and-go. When you're driving spiritedly, you pretty much never come to a complete stop, and you're blipping the throttle on every downshift. Clutch wear will be so small as to be insignificant.

A video would be helpful to be sure, but I doubt that what you describe would be bad for the clutch. The mistake that most newbies make is letting out the clutch too slowly when revving high, and too quickly when revving low. The former leads to burnt clutch, the latter leads to a stall. What you want to do is VERY quickly let out the clutch right to the friction point, and then slow down a little and smoothly let it out all the way. Most newbies start letting it out slow well before it's engaging, and then panic when the engine is revving up and the car's not moving, and then they let it out too quickly for the last section and jerk the car forward. This is the opposite of what you should do.
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[warmodder]

I destroyed the clutch in my audi. I was going up a hill in heavy traffic and everything went to hell-- I barely managed to make it to a side street. Our mechanic said he'd never seen a clutch plate so badly destroyed before (it split in 3). I guess it was a combination of beginner driving skills/defective parts.

I will say though, that if it does go bad, it's a fairly large expense. fyi