spblueb7

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/106025/p1010471.jpg"></center><p>Today I was at the dealer and they told me that I would have to replace my clutch around 20,000 to 30,000 miles. Is this how long they should last, and has anyone had a problem with their clutch yet?

newyorker2

I had Mazda with 220,000 miles and original clutch.

ZaGerman

And that was the car I learned how to drive stick on. Unless you have no idea of what you are doing at all and you are burning the hell out of the clutch everytime you drive, your clutch should last waaaaaaay longer than 20-30k miles.

R32Mathieu

this just goes back to the fact that many people at the dealerships don't know anything

pdholtz

I've driven manual cars for 35 years and never replaced a clutch (including 65K on current B5 A4). I believe the biggest predictors of long clutch life are 1) no drop-the-clutch starts, and 2) matching revs when shifting, both up and down.

The dealer rep must be a drag racer. For anyone else, 20-30K miles on a clutch is ridiculous.

BluDemon

141K on my chipped and modded B5 S4 still on original OEM clutch

CRATOS

They can't just tell you that based on a certain mileage, you need to have your clutch replaced. That's stupid.

audiphile76

Can you please explain in more detail what you mean by "matching revs when shifting, both up and down."

I wonder what the matching revs for each gear is!

BluDemon

so the clutch isn't slipping that much to engage. If you redline for all shifts the clutch disc wears away trying to latch on to make you go... if you go easy with the clutch where it doesn't slip, the material worn down is very minimal. More slippage more heat more material removed.

If you drop your clutch often enough the material is bound to fracture sooner or later stopping you dead in your tracks along with a large repair bill.

audiphile76

How can one determine when the clutch doesnt slip?

"If you drop your clutch often enough the material is bound to fracture sooner"-- Does this mean that the less rarer one uses the clutch, longer its life is?(that is anyway the case, aint it?)