i'm going to be installing a new clutch (Competition Stage 3) on my car within the next two weeks. the problem is i'm gonna have to install it at my parents house because i dont have all of the tools for the job at my house. they live about 100 miles away. is it okay for me drive 100 miles on the freeway with a new clutch? i know that most clutch break in periods are 500 miles in the city (stop and go). do you guys suggest that i vary my RPM's frequently during the drive or is it not a big deal?

 

To the best of my knowledge, stop and go traffic is what breaks in your clutch because you're using it. Once you get to top gear on the freeway it won't be getting engaged/disengaged. I would think you could drive home, but just not include that mileage count in your break in. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

500 is right. you want to burn the glaze off of your clutch. i have skimped out on this a few times going 350-400 miles, but i made sure a lot of them were hard traffic. i mean who intentionally goes to and from work during rush hour lol. i sure as hell did. to answer your question, its fine to drive 100 miles on the new clutch. i generally try to stay under 4500 RPM during break in too. Just me, as I know someone will debate my numbers.

 

The way I was told to break in the clutch was to drive it in diffrent ways for 500 miles. That included highway miles, stop and go traffic/city driving. beat on it a little! but not to a crazy extreme.

Also when driving it on the highway dont drive it at a constant speed or RPM and also not for a long time.

Just my 2 cents.

 

okay so I guess it'll be fine for me to drive 100 miles home on the new clutch, but I'll still break it in for another 500-600 miles. I might even go longer than that just to be safe. Lol. I do mostly city driving anyway. Thanks for the input guys.

 

Exactly. Do your drive home on the freeway and then begin your 500 miles or so of stop and go driving. The place that installed my clutch happens to be 75 miles away from where I live and I've done this method several times now. I actually did plan a route once that I drove on city streets for all those 75 miles to get a head start on my break in. That trip home took for ever .

 

good luck on the break in

 

haha i was thinking about trying to find an alternate route that didnt involve the freeway, but it would probably take me over 5 hours to get home and maybe a full tank of gas. lol.