littleblack

hi guys,
i'm kinda new to stick shift, i have learned it around 6 years ago but never had a chance to drive a stick down the road until last christmas when i got my lude. i've been practicing and getting the hang of it. (there was even one day that i ran with my friend's bimmer 325Ci sports and beat him twice). now, recently i have a weird feeling of it when i pull the car out of parking lot. whenever i release the clutch a little bit and give it little gas, it's starts to get lazy on me, the rpm goes lower than ever so i had to step more on gas, but the upside of it is that it even feels like an automatic, less harshness when the first gear engages (very very little comparing to my friend's stick mitsubishi galant). when i first test drove this car i was already amazed how easy it was to drive even after 6 years of blank stick experience, the previous owner noted me about the clutch need be replaced in the near future. he also gave me a new set of OE clutch with the car purchase. i'm not sure if lude's shifting suppose to be easier than other performance cars, or it is a symptom that my clutch is getting to its end coz my mechanics told me it is still good after he test drove the car and i haven't had a problem/thought/feeling that the clutch is wearing out.

does anyone have suggestion about this?

thanks!

jsmooney

first off, what year is the car and how many miles on the current clutch?

when my clutch started going out, it go to where it took longer for the clutch to catch in first gear. i could literally drop the clutch at about 1500rpm on a hill and start with no problem, no tirespin. (dont try it) Basically when a clutch starts to go out it wont grip as good and start slipping (not catching). as a clutch wears down it slowly looses grip, but you can tell the difference between not-as-new grippage and the-clutch-is-almost-gone grippage.

my clutch was replaced at about 127,000 miles. 90,000 of that was...well i dont know. i didnt own the car. the rest of that was:

1/3 stop and go traffic in the city
1/3 racing/spirited driving
1/3 interstate

basically if you abuse your clutch a lot it wears out faster - this means racing. dont do like my friend did and sit at redlights on hills and use your clutch to keep you from moving - he wonders why his clutch slips.

someone on here can probably help you more if you post up more than "how it feels"

my clutch used to be stiff until i started abusing it, now it takes nothing to press the pedal down. (jay - ludehawk, was amazed at how easy it was)

95_5speed

When the pedal is all the way out, and it isn't wanting to grab anything.. Have it replaced. When you downshift on the highway to pass somebody, and it revs up in gear.. Have it replaced.

Mines beat, but I am procrastinating because I could squeeze another 5-8,000 miles out of it before I can't drive the car anymore at all. Don't let yourself get to that point if you don't have another car to drive for the down time to have the clutch replaced.

LUDE'Z

I had my clutch/flywheel installed at about 145k. The clutch was slipping so bad that it just wasn't to safe to drive it like that.

__________________

varun

littleblack

oh i cc.....it had 162k miles when i first got it and now it's about 164k.
should i replace the flywheel as well?
the previous owner gave me a set of exedy OE clutch. i don't know if it's any good, i'm not even sure if the one on my car is OE spec. coz the previous owners used to take it to race. i heard race clutch is very difficult to drive on the streets, i'm not sure if there's any sports clutch (not for race) that i can look for, or, i might just use that OE clutch..?

jsmooney

OE clutch is just fine. i have it. as long as the flywheel isnt warped or cracked or otherwise foogled up you can reuse it. i know a lot of people get lightened flywheels and then a lot of people get their originals resurfaced. my original flywheel didnt need resurfaced so i just reused it.

littleblack

what are the symptoms that indicate the flywheel is bad? my 5th gear is a little rough, it grinds a little everytime i put it in, would that be it?