My clutch looked exactly the same … but at 135000 km. Amazing that could happen on such a young car.
Just got home and saw the posts.
Here are the pics…
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/11/08/8eduzu6e.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/11/08/aguzytes.jpg
Just came back from the dealer. They did speak to AoC. Coverage denied as no defective parts or anything breaking down were found. Just wear, so I’m out of luck on this one.
Going back to my list of options…
Decisions, decisions!
So let’s run down your options (excluding labour…just parts)
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OEM parts - approximately $2300 + tax quoted…reality though we could find you $400-500 off that
PRO - OEM feel which is nice
CON - if there is a weakness in the setup, it will just happen again in all likelihood -
clutchmasters clutch - approximately $900 for clutch…and you’d still need an OEM flywheel which is around $1200?
PRO - marginally cheaper and supposedly stronger clamping load for the bigger power you plan for the car
CON - retains OEM parts that potentially caused the failure in the first place -
JHM beta clutch/flywheel - not sure on cost
PRO - awesome results with their B5/6/7 S4/RS4 stuff; LW flywheel shaves about 12-13 lbs of rotating mass, at the flywheel (literally lol)
CON - you’d be a guinea pig of sorts as we know very little about this setup…and the labour charges of dealing with something potentially going wrong are pretty penal
Did I miss anything else? Can you fill in the blanks?
If you don’t want to spend to much money and the rivets in the clutch disc didn’t cut up the flywheel, or the pressure plate;
You can get your factory flywheel and pressure plate slightly resurface, which probably isn’t nessasary because they were utilizing factory disc. Then take your factory clutch disc to a shop to get resurfaced with a metallic 6 picked surface. This procedure will more than likely improve your clutch setup 20% over what was originally instaled. I’m almost certain that this will hold up just as well as a clutch masters stage 1, 2, 3 and for setup, they will disagree because they are only concerned with taking hour money.
I’m trying to contribute as much as I can, but can only do so if a topic interest me.
I am not considering option 2 due to a limited sample size of users, the fact they don’t supply a flywheel and also the story that Jimmybones told us yesterday.
Option 1 is nice and easy. I will be able to pick up the car tomorrow evening, but the CON you’ve described is what scares me. Lots of people report slipping with more power in the car, but even with stock cars.
JHM is tempting because of their past results, better performance and more safety with future mods (if everything goes well), but obviously scary to be the first (or second) one and the cost will be more than OEM + I won’t have my car until the next Friday at the earliest.
Installation cost putting everything back together - this will be fixed with the dealership at a flat rate, but yes, labour in case something goes wrong down the road is scary as JHM will cover the parts, but won’t cover the labour.
What I don’t understand is: is my car and my driving the exception to have the clutch fail so early or not enough people are reporting the problem? Never had any problems with clutches with my two previous 6MT cars. Yes, Audi is the most powerful I’ve had, but my driving style didn’t change…
After talking to a few more people I came up with Option 4 which I am going to go with:
Clutchmasters FX300 clutch + OEM flywheel.
110% more holding capacity (advertised) + more civil for daily driving than FX400 for about the price of OEM setup.
Hopefully the best of both worlds cuz it will cost me just over $4,000.
Parts are being shipped to me, car should be ready late Tuesday.
I will report back after I get it back.
Thanks for everyone’s support and advice!
Glad to hear you made a decision. All the best with it.
What a shitty week. Hope it all works out!
Shitty week will turn into shitty two and a half weeks as there is a shipping delay on top of the customs delay and I won’t get my clutch until next Tuesday so the car should be ready next Wednesday - 2 weeks and 2 days after I left it at the dealer.
On a positive note: Dodge Caravan that I’m driving right now is much more spacious than my B8.
0-60 is not the greatest…
lol
is it a dealer loaner car? Or a rental?
Ask them if you can borrow a demo RS5 for a couple of days. Although that may prove more expensive than anything…
No loaner as they are not working on the car, simply keeping it in the shop until I get them the clutch - that was my call over going with OEM and having the car back the next day…
Hope the clutch is worth it.
Van is actually borrowed from my dad. Drove a rental for a few days, then thought that their CRV is not much better than Caravan, so why pay more?
Not having my car is the worst part though.
I saw the post on AZ where tomtom is parting out and selling his car - Jimmybones talked about his situation in this thread. tomtom said he is considering putting in a new clutch instead of his FX400, but hasn’t said why he decided to get rid of the car.
What car is he getting in lieu if the S4?
He told me that he was going to wait a year. The car is past 50K miles so his warranty is long gone besides being modded.
Finally picked up my car last night. Clutchmasters FX300 and new OEM flywheel installed.
First impressions:
- Pedal is much softer now. My car’s OEM setup was too hard which I only realized after I drove another 6MT S4. Now its about the same as I remember others had.
- Engagement point is a little lower.
- Driving experience is very OEM-like. Nothing like FX400 users have described.
So pretty happy so far! The long break in period has begun. CM recommend 500 miles, mechanics I spoke to recommend longer, so I will probably go close to a 1,000.
Other comments:
Give me my tune and short shifter back!!! Its crazy how much different and inferior the stock components feel 
I will wait till after the clutch break in has ended to put those back in.
^^glad to hear everything is working out for you!
One question though, why didn’t you just have the dealer install the short shifter as opposed to the stock one? I figure it would cost the same and they would be best equipped to install it properly no?
Thanks! I’m down quite a bit of money which significantly ate into my future mod budget, but I will be happier if this clutch holds up well.
I don’t think they touched the shifter assembly when doing my clutch. The guy you know will do it properly when the time comes.
And purely psychologically - long throw and vague feel of stock shifter deters me from pushing the car and helps with taking it easy during the break in
Great news! I’m glad to hear you’re taking it easy on the clutch break-in, let us know when you let rip.
Hey guys, I went out of the country for two and a half weeks after my clutch was replaced, so my new clutch is still only about 900 km (550 miles) old and I am still taking it easy but the two issues I’m having are:
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chatter as the clutch engages starting out in first gear or reverse. Not much and not every time, but its there. It does not appear if I give it a bit more gas when accelerating from a stop.
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I’ve been shifting strictly around 3-3,500 RPM during this break in, but the few times that I tried accelerating when in second or third gear and took the car to 4-4,500 rpm, on the next upshift, I felt the clutch pedal being much lighter than usual, almost as if it was falling to the floor.
This only happens when I take the car to slightly higher RPM and does not happen every time. Engine has not been over 5,000 RPM since the new clutch went in.
I went to a dealership for an unrelated issue today and had the tech testdrive my car. That guy was super anti-aftermarket parts and all he said that it was “normal with aftermarket components which are not tested as thoroughly as OEM”.
Those of you who have tried aftermarket clutches on these cars, can you please comment whether these two things are normal and are just a part of a break in process?
Many thanks, as always!
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Chatter is normal. Sometimes people don’t hear it but most of the time there will be chatter.
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I don’t think the clutch is fully broken in yet. Is that 550 miles of highway driving or city driving? I ask because I went 1K miles with my JHM stage four clutch just to be safe since I drove a mix of both. More city than highway but you get the idea. At about six hundred miles I tried reving the engine out in second and it just slipped past 4K rpms so I made myself wait longer.