Clutch vibration to clutch is broke

[White_SS/RS]

Well, clutch went to the floor today at the track, had to pull it up with my foot. The slaves about had it too... makes a high pitch squeal and feels gritty and notchy. Just changed the fluid the day before and it's already significantly blackend.

[EarlyApex]

Sorry to hear that White_SS_RS. Looks like a new clutch upgrade soon. I supposed all of the tracked cars will see that at some point.

[backeddy]

Dang White, yours went before mine! I cannot believe that! I have 6 track days in the next 8 weeks, I will be PISSED if it goes! However, I do flush and fill EACH DAY, so maybe that is helping????

[White_SS/RS]

Originally Posted by EarlyApex

Sorry to hear that White_SS_RS. Looks like a new clutch upgrade soon. I supposed all of the tracked cars will see that at some point.

Originally Posted by backeddy

Dang White, yours went before mine! I cannot believe that! I have 6 track days in the next 8 weeks, I will be PISSED if it goes! However, I do flush and fill EACH DAY, so maybe that is helping????

Ya seems like all the track cars are going to have this issue at some point. I've had about 7 track days on this car and just turned over 9k for miles. Dealership was no help the other day when it was making noise. All they managed to do was scratch the paint, so it seems I'll be fixing this failure on my own. I'll be ahead anyway since GM will just put the same weak ass parts in it again.

[backeddy]

I agree with fixing it on your own, if they (gm) fix it, it will be the same parts as we have (they may pay for aftermarket on the 2nd or 3rd time though) and the biggie: it will take them forever to fix it.....

[White_SS/RS]

Originally Posted by backeddy

I agree with fixing it on your own, if they (gm) fix it, it will be the same parts as we have (they may pay for aftermarket on the 2nd or 3rd time though) and the biggie: it will take them forever to fix it.....

Your spot on with taking forever. They had it two days for the throw out bearing noise and said they couldn't reproduce the sound... Funny (not actually funny) cause it made the noise the second I started it when I picked it up. They wanted to keep it longer but this tech thought the sound was engine pulleys and wasn't about to listen under the car to hear the clutch, so long story short I said no, that they had their chance and botched it. These guys are idiots. Wish I had a good performance friendly dealer in my area.

[backeddy]

me too! I am told there is one 1.5 hours away.....but that is a problem all in itself. I still shake my head about how much better ford was with the gt500......it is really sad, I am almost thinking a gt350 is in my future.

[snarky]

Originally Posted by markgws6

Having a heavy-duty clutch in this car should have been mandatory.

[Ventura 2015 1LE]

Yeah I agree with the clutch issues. I was ok until today. I was running pretty hard in the local canyon roads and then it happened. My clutch felt weak and stayed half way up. Then the ominous smell of the clutch slipping.. I slowed down and pumped the clutch a few times and it came back to life... However it still felt soft.. Between the hard braking and shifting it might have gotten the fluid too hot..

I cruised down the hills on Mulholland drive and Kanan to Hwy 101 with the clutch pressed as much as I could,, It did get better as everything cooled down and back to normal.. After doing a few dead stops and rake offs no slippage was noted.. However I am concerned about how much this clutch will last..

So upgrading to slave cylinder and bleeder sounds like a good investment with a aftermarket upgrade clutch and bearings..

Is that what most are doing to avoid a complete breakdown on the road and/or track?

[CamaroDreams76]

Can you better describe the problems you have? Where exactly does the pedal vibrate and does it vibrate throughout the entire travel?

I may have the same problem but am not exactly sure.

[treplatano]

Have any of you guys done the clutch reservoir mod? I am curious if this might help avoid/delay the issue.

I have 18K miles on my 1LE and during an autoX event last week I overcooked the breaks, probably from not letting the car cool down in between runs. At the end of one of my runs the ABS kicked in real bad, and the car kept sliding, almost ran into a fence, but i pumped the brakes and the car came back to life.

This past weekend I installed the clutch reservoir, got new pads, and flushed the fluid with Motul 600 DOT4. I haven't had any issues with the clutch since that even, but having read this thread now makes me a bit paranoid.

[X25]

Originally Posted by treplatano

Have any of you guys done the clutch reservoir mod? I am curious if this might help avoid/delay the issue.

I have 18K miles on my 1LE and during an autoX event last week I overcooked the breaks, probably from not letting the car cool down in between runs. At the end of one of my runs the ABS kicked in real bad, and the car kept sliding, almost ran into a fence, but i pumped the brakes and the car came back to life.

This past weekend I installed the clutch reservoir, got new pads, and flushed the fluid with Motul 600 DOT4. I haven't had any issues with the clutch since that even, but having read this thread now makes me a bit paranoid.

There are different opinions on this, but I think the small reservoir actually makes it worse since there's little fluid to cycle through. In my opinion, the only real help short of replacing everything is the remote bleeder. Cleaning up the reservoir, no matter how periodic and often, cannot completely clean the fluid by the slave. I bought it, but I am yet to install it. You can install without dropping the clutch and transmission, but it's a bit tricky.

[White_SS/RS]

Originally Posted by CamaroDreams76

Can you better describe the problems you have? Where exactly does the pedal vibrate and does it vibrate throughout the entire travel?

I may have the same problem but am not exactly sure.

The vibration is the bad release bearing on the slave. In my case I feel it most by lightly resting my foot on the clutch pedal, just enough to put slight pressure on the clutch.

At this point the slave and release bearing are so tore up that the pedal travel feels like It has gravel in it

[White_SS/RS]

From what I'm gathering from all the clutch problems guys are having is its the clutch itself. With the weight and power of our cars the OEM clutch doesn't have enough holding power to not be slipping to some degree when used hard. This in turn overheats the assembly, boils the fluid (which is why the pedal goes to the floor) melts the release bearing support and then destroys the release bearing, which requires replacing the entire slave because it's one unit.
Changing the fluid helps-slightly, only because it keeps the boiling point up. The issue of heat is still there. In my case the release bearing and support went before I had the pedal going to the floor but I was changing the fluid regularly.