ELEVENS

Nope. It's because your tires are spinning.

sakimano

sorry, but a lot of this is sounding like fear mongering. I haven't heard anyone go on about how 'weak' the B7 RS4 clutch/pressureplate/flywheel setup is like this. Just you. In fact, on quattroworld, most guys swear by the stock clutch, and they're road course guys mostly who 'beat on' their cars.

I watched a friend do an RS4 clutch replacement on his own (other than dropping it where he had a few hands) at a meet in a few hrs. Everyone else was focused on other work, but trust me, it's nowhere near as bad as you're making it out...and the clutch is nowhere near as weak as you're making it out to be. My B7 S4, which I drove for 60,000 miles, 30,000 of which were modified miles making about 290-300 whp and 280-300 wtq, benefitted from some of the B7 RS4 clutch improvements (vs. the B6 S4 and the terrible flywheel) and it was excellent. My car was tuned and had full exhaust and made more torque than any stock RS4 I've ever seen dyno'd on earth. My car was faster than any stock RS4 I ever came up against, and it had probably 200+ full bore launches on the stock clutch...75 of which were at the dragstrip. It never slipped once. Not even close.

Clutch was/is fine (new owner still enjoys it).

ELEVENS

Well you definitely got one thing right - the fear part. Regarding the clutch installation procedure, I was going by the Bentley manual. If your friend can do it in a parking lot in a few hours, good for him - he's qualified as a one-man NASCAR pit crew. It would take a couple of hours just to jack the car up high enough, remove the belly pan, drop the entire exhaust w/downpipes, bleed the clutch, remove the drive shaft, etc. etc. Yet alone tilt the motor with some sort of engine hoist, separate the tranny with some sort of tranny hoist (or can your friend balance a tranny on his left hand?), disassemble the clutch, replace the clutch, and do an entire reassembly, all on his back, "on your own" as you say, which means constantly going back and forth to the tool box. The Audi flat rate for a clutch job (in a perfect working environment) says differently. Sorry, I'm not buying it. There are enough forum posters who have reported a failed clutch with standing start launches to make me "a fear monger", if that's what you want to name-call me. So be it, my opinion hasn't changed - I'm going to give my clutch some extra "room" in the abuse department.

sakimano

Hey, that's what makes forums interesting. Everyone has an opinion. I didn't label you a fear mongerer as if that should define who you are...uite the opposite, you're a valued information sharer. I just don't agree with the information you're sharing in this case and it's a bit dramatic if it were up to me to judge it (and it was, as it was my post, so I did). As I said, I've heard nothing but good things about the B7 RS4 clutch.

As for people who have destroyed their stocker the examples I've seen were either due to:

a) extreme abuse (launching at 7000 rpm for example)
b) bad driving habits (slipping on every gear change and riding it WOT while slipping)
c) old age - 60k+ miles

As for that clutch change, it wasn't in a parking lot. The RS4 was on a lift fortunately for him. There were 10 witnesses if you're having trouble believing it. Maybe you just need to have more faith in other people's information and abilities? The clutch was changed by justincredible, and when lifting the transmission in and out of the car, jason from JHM as well as two other forum members helped out. Justin did 90% of the work, while the rest just helped with the 'need hands' stuff. It was literally a few hours, start to finish. About 2 full metal jackets.

When it was done, we took the car out to test the clutch and it murdered a stage III B5 S4. Have a look. It's not a regular clutch that was put in the car. It was a race clutch that needs no break in. Car was awesome.

http://audirevolution.net/videos/88/...iii-b5-s4-with

The B5 S4 was Stage III VAST with meth, ER intercoolers, full exhaust. Passenger/cargo weight was equal between the two cars. Also, when I raced that B5 S4 in my 12.9 @ 107.8 MPH B7 S4, he absolutely boatraced me. He put 4+ car lengths on me in a pull from 50-120. Wasn't even remotely close...so you can see how serious that RS4 is.

ELEVENS

No problem saki.

BADRS4

I couldn't open that video...I wanted to see it to..it just said buffering...0%....but I could open the other ones on that site..

spagolli94

I wish. I would think it was an issue with my car, however the other two that I test drove also did it. I've read about it online too. Hit 1st to 2nd hard and it just slams you in the seat and goes. But if you hit 2nd to 3rd hard, the engine bogs down for a second before the party continues. This only happens when the traction control is on. Never seems to happen when it's off.

JMSIV

I definitely would put this in as the #1 clutch killer. My buddy here with a B7 S4 makes me cringe every time I ride with him. He literally will slow the car with the clutch approaching a light. Not the engine, but slipping the clutch.

And dumping a clutch isn't hard on the friction surface of the clutch, it's hard on all the solids, like gears and driveshafts and stuff. I have heard of many ruined clutches in RS4s, but mostly on road courses (ie those bad driving habits amplified). I think this is lack of experience, not a weak clutch. Not seen any blown trannies.

ELEVENS

Yes I too will agree that poor driving habits are the #1 clutch killer. Keep you foot OFF the pedal unless your shifting and never feather or allow it to slip. It's either full ON or full OFF.

I'll respectfully disagree about hard launches not being hard on the clutch. My nose tells me differently .

Also, there are a (very) few reported tranny failures out there, mainly synchro problems IIRC. One guy had his repaired, then it happened again so they replaced the tranny. That tells me there is/was other factors at play. Maybe only one or two others reported tranny problems on the (2) audi forums were I hang out at (Not AZ!).

ELEVENS

I think you answered your own question if it only happens with traction control on. At the first level of ESP (S button momentarily pressed), only traction control is disabled - not stability and never ABS. My guess why you don't see a bog in the 1-2 shift *might* be one of two things but both are related to the low gearing and the fact that the rpm rises incredibly fast in low gear:

WAG #1) you might have already hit the soft range of the rev limiter so the torque has backed off to were the tires aren't breaking loose. If you're making the 1-2 shift according to the tacho, you'll need to shift around an indicated 7K rpm because the tacho can't keep up with the motor in low gear. For example, an indicated 7000 rpm is really more like 8000+.

WAG #2) the engine hasn't yet recovered from the built-in torque limiter because it's rate of climb is so steep in low gear. In gears 1-3, the torque is limited to around 390 Nm until about 5300rpm by limiting throttle valve angle to around 52%. After 5200rpm, it quickly ramps up to 100%, but maybe not quick enough in low gear? This (now infamous) torque limiter has nothing to do with ESP being on or off.

Again, these are Wild **** Guesses so be gentle and cut me a little slack.