mywrx03

I have had a new WRX for 9 months now and noticed just before Easter that when I put my foot down on the acclerator that there was a strange lull before the car picked up. I took it into our new local dealer. tehy said it seemed like the clutch was wearing but that it would be ok to drive. The next day I had to be picked up by assistance near Swindon and returned home. That was the Weds ater Easter. It took the garage over 3 weeks to come back to me saying that it was my fault that the clutch had gone and that I must have been hammering the car. I had done just 10,000 miles. The dealer commented that the subaru 4WD cars are notorious for wearing clutches. The total bill £1200. No use of car while mine was off the road. Six days to get a replacement clutch with the promise of more clutches if I continue to drive as I do. Strange thing is I have never burnt out a clutch in any of my cars. I am now worried about driving the car as the thought of a new clutch on top of servicing makes me think that the car is too expensive to run. Any thoughts...........

Keigo

£1200 for a clutch replacement! That's mental. Scoobyclinic supply and fit for £300 ro so on classic, so can't be far off for a new age. If you can, cancel your delaer arrangement, and speak to Adam at Scoobyclinic. He'll sort you right out. Of course, there is the warranty issue, but if you don't tell Subaru, they won't know

HTH

highlander68k

Are you saying the car didn't pick up speed or the engine didn't rev?

£1200 - bloody hell!!! Was the replacement a standard clutch? Did they replace the thrust bearing? Did they skim/replace the flywheel? I think Subaru (and I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong )have this down as a 3 hour job to replace the clutch, so you can roughly guess how long it should take to total up the labour charges.

As for abusing the clutch, it seems that excessive standing starts (5k revs etc) can, and will, shorten the life of it. Although I spent a year and a half (and 30,000 miles) abusing mine with no problems whatsoever, and only bothered replacing it when I had to change the engine

scotishscooby

I can think of MUCH better things to spend £1200 on than a clutch!!! I got mines done my STI V2 just in Feb there. Got a direct replacement (nothing fancy) 3 piece Bek n Borg kit for just over £100 (that was including p&p)!! My mate did it for me in less that 4 hours with out the use of a ramp!!!!
Dealers will screw you for as much as they can. Shop about mate.

As for the clutch, its bloody good!!! No problems with it and would recomend Bek n Borg to any one looking for a direct standard replacement.

911

I would seriously take this issue to Subaru UK directly. £1200 is absurd, the delay unbelievable and unless you drive it with the pedal half way down slipping it like mad that clutch is faulty.
I think the latest WRX's have the 240mm diameter clutch so even more remote chance of it being your 'driving'.
Did they give you/show you the failed parts? If not, they should have sent those to Subaru for examination under warranty.
Ask all about it, and tell them you will follow this up with Subaru UK.
What a disgrace. I abused my 1996 Stiv3 in full-on competition on its original clutch using grippy slick tyres for 2 years and I changed it only because I changed the transmission for racing.
You have been done.
911

BlueBoy

Yeah that's pure madness that mate, I paid £1500 for a fitted twin-plate cusco one on my Evo and I was hoping mad about that, but it was rated up to 550bhp and I had plans

I've done just over 20K in my SpecC now and while I'm not heavy footed, I'm not known for dawdling around and it's running about 320bhp. My clutch is still fine (a little judder every known again when I don't give it enough revs) but no signs of going yet - thankfully!

Ring around a few other Scooby garages and get a price from them if you've already bought this or can't refuse it now for any reason - then unleash on the garage you've bought it from and tell them you either want a refund of some of the cash (or if you've not paid fully yet) don't give them anymore.

mywrx03

Just signed back on to find your messages- that was pretty fast work. the labour on its own was £400. I was told that a day and a half to remove the clutch and flywheel and then half a day to put everything back together. Subaru have agreed - according to the dealer to pay the £780 parts bill. They also said that subaru are very relucxtant to pick up warranty on clutches due to the fact that it could be driver caused. I am not a mad driver! Yes I am usually the first away at lights and junctions but no more so than in my GTI golf. I am now driving like a geriatric to try to save on the clutch wear. I think that as some suggestions have pointed out that I write to subaru and send them a copy of the bill. Not only was my car off the road for nearly a month but I was not offered a replacment car to keep me going which I think is standard with subaru assistance but I was promised the car back day after day towards the end with a constant complain that parts had not been delivered. I think I may try another dealer on this one. Unfortunately the dealer would not do the work till I committed to paying the bill. I then had to give a secure method of payment or leave the car with them till a cheque had cleared. This has sort of soured my owning of what I feel is my dream car.

911

Two days to do the job!
Remember this is an Authorised dealer. There will be a set rate/time £ for this job. With a correct ramp, factory training, and the right assistance this job is over and done in far less than a day. I have done the job twice, the second time took me 10 hours, on my garage floor on axle stands with two trolley jacks on my own.
Good that Subaru pay the 780 leaving 400 of labour.
At £40/hr it is 10 hours, not 2 days.
Drive it like you want too, everyone else does.
911

gluestick

can you name and shame the garage? i believe book time for a clutch on a turbo is close to the 5 hour mark, although they can be done in under 3 !