So confused (Merged)
A few people you hear problems from have completely stock cars and generally low miles; this is almost always due to equipment failure (i.e. bad temp sensors, leaking filter housing, etc) Not much you can do there, no such thing as 100% QC in the real world (that's why they give us warranties, lol).
The other minority of people with issues almost always had recently been tuned by someone who has no experience with DCT-type transmissions. That is an issue with the tune, usually due to the clutches opening up in an act of self-preservation. The stock tune allows for relatively low levels of Torque; most the time the torque tables simply need to be increased (i.e. 20% for 20% more torque).
In reality, the clutches themselves can handle far more torque than MOST people have (not counting 400+, that's a new ball game). It really comes down to the tune, same as the engine. Some choose to upgrade the clutches as a band-aid for the tune, but IMHO it's a waste of money. I think I've tried about a dozen different SST-tweaking renditions so far (hats off to B&R), and I could feel different shift characteristics in each one (usually it's a matter of getting the rev-matching to line up properly with the increased clutch pressure). But even these are just band-aids until the TCU itself can be dis-assembled.
The other minority of people with issues almost always had recently been tuned by someone who has no experience with DCT-type transmissions. That is an issue with the tune, usually due to the clutches opening up in an act of self-preservation. The stock tune allows for relatively low levels of Torque; most the time the torque tables simply need to be increased (i.e. 20% for 20% more torque).
In reality, the clutches themselves can handle far more torque than MOST people have (not counting 400+, that's a new ball game). It really comes down to the tune, same as the engine. Some choose to upgrade the clutches as a band-aid for the tune, but IMHO it's a waste of money. I think I've tried about a dozen different SST-tweaking renditions so far (hats off to B&R), and I could feel different shift characteristics in each one (usually it's a matter of getting the rev-matching to line up properly with the increased clutch pressure). But even these are just band-aids until the TCU itself can be dis-assembled.
The car is daily driven and sees somewhat regular weekend track duty (mostly drag strip, but some autoX as well). Over 30k miles and still going strong; the tuning is ABSOLUTELY the key, followed closely by regular routine maintenance.
