I just found out mine needs replacing at 18,000 miles (2006 S4). I am an experienced Porsche driver, driving my 5th Porsche. Seems like there may be some kind of defect.

 

Is an "S4" a Carrera 4S?

With an S you have a self-adjusting clutch. Did the service center find that the self-adjustment worked correctly. How many years have you been driving 911s?

18,000 miles is not at all normal. Do you let the clutch slip at all? Do you 'drop the clutch' for routine starts? Do you live in San Francisco at the bottom of a steep hill?

dan

 

Dan, those are all good reasons that a clutch will wear quickly, another one to ask is the car used as a daily driver in bumper to bumper traffic. Clutches can be like brakes in the sense of how they wear. The more you use them the more they wear. But the car in 6th gear and drive 200 miles will not wear the clutch out. Do 200 miles in the city and shift 1,2,3,2,3,2,1 etc all day and the clutch will wear out quicker.

BTW the guy with 18000 miles lives in OC.

 

I have owned 13 porsches with manuals over the years and the 997S's clutch by far is the poorest to use as a DD as they are prone to chatter and easy wear. I have found this to be true on both 997S's I've owned. Never had this issue with any of the previous series cars including the 996, 993's or earlier, or any other manual tranny car I've owned for that matter and I've had more than my fair share. My next DD will be a pdk.

 

Sorry I meant 4S. I have been driving Porsches since 1974 (currently my 5th). I do not ride the clutch and have never replaced one. I put over 100,000 miles each on an 82 SC and 88 Carrera. I do drive every day and with some stop and go traffic, but that generally has always been the case for me since I live in SoCal. Hard to explain the failure. The good news is my dealer at Newort Auto Center agreed to split the cost totalling $2,400.