I have about 18k on my clutch.. I have to agree with the consensus that most clutch failures are probably due to the driver and not a defect. I'm certain there will always be a few failures that can be a defect, but from what I've read and seen, the failures are not due to defects.

Even a modified car can have a decent lifespan on their clutch, but it won't last 50k regardless.. Then again 30k or so is a reasonable expectation if you don't abuse the heck out of it. I'll be happy to see 25k.. though due to my level of horsepower, It probably wouldn't last much longer than 20k if the car was launched regularly (which my car is not) I'd much rather spend $800 for a new clutch once a year than $2500 for a tranny or $1800 for a transfer case.. as soon as you beef something up, the next weakest link lets go.. so if you beef up the clutch, tranny, transfer case.. whats next? Axles, Diff's, etc.. Diffs are also expensive as hell, though axles, Ujoints and driveshafts are probably cheaper.

 

My last cars clutch lasted 140,000k miles. My G/F's GTI currently has 30,000 miles on it and We use it to pull a 1500lb boat out of the water and around town. The clutch takes it like a champ. (think about starting on a hill with a 1500lb boat attached to your car) The GTI does it time and time again with no problems. 25,000 miles is not long enough for a clutch to last. I would expect atleast 50,000 with everyday driving. To get that out of the evo, you have to baby it everytime to start going. No slipping it one bit to overcome lack of low end power. Get off the clutch as soon as possible and count to three before your car gets into its powerband. I've driven stick shifts for 8 years now on many different cars. The evos clutch works, but its definatly lacking.

 

I agree.

And hey, I'm perfectly willing to spend $800 every two years.. but not $800 every 6 months.

What's it cost (parts and labor) for the dealer to replace the stock clutch anyway? I thought it was more like $1,100?

But it looks like quite a few people are fine after 20k+ miles, so I know it's at least possible to make it last a year+ for me. The people who burn out early must be doing SOMEthing different that the 20k+ people. Mods, launches, riding the clutch... something.

So cool. That's pretty much the last reservation I have about buying one

Now I just have to convince my wife

 

Laugh all you want. It's not an attitude it's knowing how to drive a high performance car the way it should be driven. Drive it wrong and pay the price. It's not a difficult equation.

 

Mine made it to 12,000 miles with over 300 WHP and quite a few launches. As soon as I did cams and front mount I smoked it instantly

 

$1100?!?!?! Can someone verify this? That sounds just a wee bit too expensive.

Can't really contribute to the clutch wear comments, since I only have 3500 miles on my Evo... but so far I've never had to replace a clutch on any of my cars (records stand at 148K miles on an old Geo Prizm and ~100K on an SHO). Only time will tell how good the Evo's holds up, especially after I drop a Vishnu stage 1 into it next month.

 

Normally, I would agree with you, but in the case of the EVO it's not that simple. I don't want to rehash questions asked and answered (see old 22 page clutch thread, one of many) but just one of a few problems is that the EVO doesn't let you drive the "car the way it should be driven" IMO. A clutch only wears when it slips whether intentional or unintentional. The restrictor in the hydraulics will not allow you to engage the clutch fast enough for performance driving IMO and therefore you have potential for slipping the clutch unintentionally. If you engage the clutch all the way before putting full power to it, without a lot of slipping the clutch should last. But if you are expecting to drag launch and snap shift with any authority, the stock clutch and restrictor will allow for too much clutch slippage and will rapidly wear out.

On most modern automatic tranny cars the electronics will not even allow you to take off at high rpm (launch). That's no fun at all. Same reasoning. It's understandable that Mitsu would include this simple restrictor device to prevent folks from treating it the EVO like a race car and breaking parts, but they may have gone a little too far. Bottom line, I don't think it's the clutches fault, but I don't think it's just the driver either.

 

I seriously think that Mitsu could've put in a better clutch (I still have my stock clutch grabbing strong thank you very much)...honestly, they know that most of us Evo owners would have to be CRAZY to leave the the car completely stock...but then again, maybe Mitsu is looking for petty ways to save the production cost of Evo to lower the MSRP of Evo to compete with STi or something...but yeah I'd say you should invest in new clutch...evo has too much power...and the fact that it's an AWD means that the clutch is going to wear much much sooner than your typical 2wd cars...

 

i find it hard to believe that the stock clutch is bad. its a simple mechanism. not many car companies use severe duty parts on a street car and mitsubishi is no different. i understand some people need severe duty for the street, lets just say they have "great expectations" and not hurt their sensitive feelings by questioning their driving skills. once their wallet is empty they will question their own shifting technique.

 

Personally, if I was in Mitsu's shoes then I'd offer a steel-braided clutch line with the restrictor removed as an option ... and I would tell people that getting it will void the tranny warranty. I don't have a problem per-se with Mitsu putting in a restrictor, I can understand why they did it. However I DO have a problem with not being told about it and not having an option of either having it or not having it. I'd be very curious how the courts would look at this type of non-disclosure and Mitsu not warrantying the clutches due to abuse, when premature clutch wear could very well have been caused by the restrictor.

Having said all that, I will ride out my stock clutch and upgrade to an ACT when it finally gives out. In the meantime I'm going to see if my dealer will remove the restrictor and put in a steel line as well...

l8r)

 

Update:

Had the braided clutch line put in and removed the restrictor ... took an hour or so to get used to the new setup since the clutch engages a little higher up on the pedal now. Initially they had it setup to where it barely disengaged with the clutch pedal all the way to the floorboard, but I was like and they adjusted it and now it's fine

Having driven it now for a couple of hours, I can definitely say that it is much easier to tell exactly when the clutch is starting to grab. Previously it was very easy to drive the car grandma-style, but it was really difficult to get a clean, hard launch - now I can launch the car fast, slow, medium ... any way I want. Definitely a big improvement.

As a side-note ... with the initial messed up clutch pedal adjustment noted above, I also noticed that I could barely get the car into gear. I'd say that for any Evo owners that are experiencing this ... adjust your clutch pedal to where your clutch engages a little bit higher (maybe an inch or two of pedal travel).

l8r)

 

I have over 40K on the stock clutch. No Problems! I drive it like a rally car not a drag car. Pretty simple to me!

 

I have 37000 miles on the stock clutch and I am getting ready to install thw twin disk.

 

15,400 miles here on 328 WHP / 312 WTQ and not a problem.

 

30000+ with the stock clutch still grabbing strong. And I drive it like a rally car and a drag car .