Looking at a 99 tomorrow. Clutch and 30k questions

I am going with my brother to look at a 99 tomorrow AM. The car has 34k miles. the PO bought it two or three years ago as a CPO car with 17k miles. He recently replaced the clutch. This is the second of two 99s my brother called about with a replaced clutch. The first has 50k and it was replaced with the cracked flywheel. Is a clutch at this low a mileage "normal" or "unusual"? Also, the 30K has not yet been done. What does it include, and roughly how much from a dealer? The seller agreed that this is a bargaining point. TIA

All comes down to driving style and clutch riding habits. Clutch can last 5K or 50K. It just depends. Some here will tell you they have 100K on theirs. It's all over the place though.

I believe this has something to do Porsche Service Reps being good sales people and the owners wanting to the best things for their cars. Many owners have more money than mechanical savy and will pay what it takes for maintenence. It's not in the Dealers best interest to let customers get very close to the maximum useful life out of any expenable item. With all the RMS issues, real and preceived, most owners can easily bite on a new clutch kit if the motor or trans has been removed. A big money maker for the dealer and fears of an oily or worn clutch diminished. The clutch was replaced in my 996 during a new motor install due to a slipped sleeve. I had already purchased the kit so I went ahead with the install. The tech gave me my old parts and I measured the wear on the original compared to the new which was much less than 50%. The PP surface was hardly worn, not scored or cracked but sligntly discolored which is perfectly normal. The original had 45k miles and most likely would have gone to 100k without a problem. A guy with a Honda Civic will bitch to no end if having to replace a clutch at 35k miles whereas the Porsche owner will thank the tech for looking out for him. Just my $.02 from what I have observed.

At ~51k I had my rms replaced and the clutch still had ~50% of material left. I'm still running it. As Dell suggested, it will be all over the place depending on driving habits.

so are you guys replacing clutches because of the RMS? The seller said he replaced the clutch. If he said it was because of the RMS i would feel a little more comfortable since my assumption is if he replaced it at around 30k it is because he or the first owner beat the snot out of it. Which used car would you rather buy, the clutch because of the RMS or because it was worn at 30k?

If you get high mikeage out of any other clutch, the Porsche will be no different. It is all driver dependent, If you burn them out prematurely in other cars, you will do the same in the Porsche.

I wouldnt worry at all about a car that had the clutch replaced at 30k. From what I've experianced that is about the median milage range for clutch life. Especially if it was replaced during a rear main seal repair. A lot of owners will opt to replace it at that time due to the overlap in labor.... you might as well think about replacing it during a warranty RMS since Porsche would be paying for the work.

100k here original clutch.

An early clutch replacement doesn't mean the rest of the car was beat to hell. Some people just can't drive a stick well.

tom, any luck in danbury? there is an '01 c2 w/19k miles in newsday listed for $40k which you may want to call. good luck in your search! regards, vinny

If you have a new clultch installed, then you would have better control over it, knowing that from now on you will take good care of it. To me these cars have a lot of power and torque and if not careful with the clutch, it's easy to burn them, that's my opinion... For sure it's better to get a car with new clutch as part of a RMS maintenance (preventive) rather than a burnt clutch due to driver's skill or abuse of the car. Good luck with your search.

Just in case you might misunderstand what it happening. Owners will replace the clutch when a RMS replacement is done because RMS replacement requires taking the transmission out of the car. So you save labor on not having to go back in to replace the clutch when it fails. RMS does not cause a clutch failure.

Interesting in that most people wait until the clutch fails to replace the RMS .

I bought my car with 50k and had the clutch changed with the RMS a few days later. For reasons which still escape me, the dealer did the clutch without even asking, and somehow charged it to the CPO warranty! Anyway, it was apparently fairly beat-up despite only 50k, but I think it depends a lot on the user. Maybe some European owners can chime in with how long their clutches last, as I think most owners there will already be familiar with driving a stick before moving up to the Pcar, so they might get more clutch life.

75k miles and 40 some odd track days all on the original clutch. zing!

Bet someone could smoke a clutch in a day if they wanted.......I would just be glad it was replaced......hope that it was done along with the RMS......

How about 5 minutes! The 1st Boxster I had, a 2000 with 18k miles. I went to jump up out of the car and hit the gearshift with my foot. Some little $10 piece of plastic broke and the gear-shifter stuck in 4th gear. My Porsche mechanic was only a few miles away, so instead of calling a tow truck, i decided i could get it there in 4th gear. NOT SMART! After about a mile, I stopped at a red light. When I went to go again, the car started smoking. Really BAD smell. I decided I better pull over and call that tow truck. Long story short, $10 piece of plastic and $1000 for a new clutch.