Sorry to post what appears to be such a stupid question but just this morning a fellow 6 speeder realized that he has to replace his clutch after just 500 of his own miles(CPO car). The dealer insinuated that maybe he does not know how to drive a P-car manual.
That being said, I have driven manuals most of my life and want to make sure I don't "drive" wrong.
I don't ride the clutch on hills, I use the parking brake if necessary.
I usually slide it out of, say third gear when coming to a stop not even using my clutch, and if the light turns green I can usually slide it into second without the clutch with just a touch of gas.
At stop signs I keep it in second until the car just about comes to a stop and give it gas, never pressing in the clutch. Could be considered a rolling stop but it's close.
Other than that I have come to realize that the clutch is very "short" so I only need to press, change gear and almost just let it go instantly.
I don't keep my foot on the clutch when driving either.
Any pointers to driving this car differently than any other MT I have ever owned? Anything I am doing wrong based on the above?
Thanks
Caesar

 

There's no excuse for dealer which will explain bad clutch after 500 miles. Even if you will abuse it for 500 miles I don't think it should go bad

 

You can burn a clutch out in 500 miles, but you'd have to put some effort in. Trust me

It all depends on driving style. My daily driver had a clutch go 150K. I don't really ride my clutch at all, I have a pretty good idea of the bite point and now how much gas to apply. The only thing that still catches me off sometimes is launching in Sport mode.

I don't down-shift, I neutral drop when seeing the revs drop to 800-1000. With 997's the car has a good amount of torque, so you shouldn't have an issue with stalling, just over-revving.

Oh, another thing is to match engine revs, either when downshifting on the highway, slowing down, etc. Even changing up through the gears I recommend you release the clutch when you know it's in range (usually 800-1000K drop)

Should have no issues going over 100K on a clutch. But it is a Porsche, 0-60 runs are fun too!

 

i was taught to always use the clutch when shifting in/out of gears.. to avoid grinding the teeth of each gear.

- i don't leave it in gear when waiting at a red-light

- i use my brake to stop/slow down, rather than downshifting and using the engine (unless i am at a track, where i would try to heel-toe to rev match at a turn)

- when slowing down, yet to keep it about 4k rpm in case i need to accelerate, i double clutch to an appropriate gear

please comment if i am doing something wrong. Thx.

 

+1 Perfect addition to my comments.

 

that's 500 miles on a CPO car.

It already had whatever mileage from a previous owner. So we do not know the actual mileage on the car.

When the car is CPOed, they do not inspect the clutch visually. Most likely, the tech only drives it around for any signs of problem.

also, mileage doesn't tell the whole story.. a car with 50k miles in the city will wear out the clutch faster than a car with 100k highway miles.

 

The synchros in these transmissions for upshifting work quite well. As far as downshifting, rev matching helps, but if not racing, just brake until the RPM's drop too low, take it out of gear, etc...

The clutch should only be used to change gears. The longer this process takes (more gear slip), the quicker it will wear..., but not 500 miles.

If any dumbass dealer told me I don't know how to drive, I'd just point out that he works at a dealership, and because of that - he is instantly garbage.

 

Well, if you're going in and out of gears with no clutch then you will most likely trash the syncros before burning a clutch. A clutch is cheap compared to that bill.

 

I don't downshift to scrub speed unless I am getting aggresive on a turn. Rarely if ever at a stop light. If you put your hand on the shifter and you are in third gear as you slow down to about 10-15 MPH the shifter just slides out of gear and will slide right into second with a touch on the gas. I am not forcibly pulling out of gear it just slides out.
I also never let it sit in gear at a light. Holding the clutch down while waiting at a light seems a bit useless but maybe that's just me. I keep an eye on the opposing traffic lights and when they turn red I slide it in gear as green should come on for me in a second or two.
I did mention that his car was CPO and he only put 500 miles of his own on it.

 

I don't think anybody was hinting that you should keep your clutch depressed at a light. If you want it in neutral, use the clutch to take it out of gear, release the clutch, and keep your foot on the brake.

When the light turns green, depress clutch, push in 1st, release clutch. This should not take but a second (more or less). The clutch should only be used to take out of gear, and put in gear. Nothing else. If you move slowly (slip the clutch), this makes the clutch wear faster, but too quickly in the wrong RPM, and you can shock the synchros.

 

IMO just some BS excuse dealer made up to avoid warranty that. Plus I don't think it is a very smart way to accuse your customer for not knowing how to drive a stick, they'd have already lost one customer permanently.

 

I think in another post this car was stated to have 30K miles now...
My CPO paperwork just say , clutch operates ok, shifts ok (something to that effect) Can t believe they can t check the clutch thickness through an access area without making it a big deal.

 

These are all good comments. However the critical question is... in the last 500 miles, did you smell the clutch as it was burning away prematurely? This is likely a queue as to whether you are in tune with your driving & your vehicle. That all said, 500 miles wear... could be a function of faulty installation by the dealership... or a failure with the disk manufacture. I'd do a 2nd check on the clutch with another party to check to see if there isn't something the dealer hasn't told you. Is this your first manual transmission... there's no freaken way you could scrub a good 997 clutch in 500 miles if you weren't trying to do it (unless you were learning how to drive manual with this car and doing a lot of uphill terrain... and trying to do launch starts). Just a few thoughts.

 

While I would trust that Porsche CPO would NEVER do this... there are tricks to make 'nearly finished clutches' have enough bite to get them off the sales floor. I remember some thread a long time ago where an unscrupulous dealership (not Porsche) had put sawdust in the transmission.

 

Most of the clutch failures I've seen are due to a defective pressure plate where the stamped material fails/tears. I had this happen on my own car.