Clutch finally went

[bogie]

So, all was well until I had to take a detour across London last Saturday, 2 hours later on the way home I noticed the clutch slipping a little, so off the car went today to Bridge Mill

About 73500 miles out of the original clutch, so not too bad, I feel like Ive had value for money out of it

This year will have been the highest in 9 years for maintenance bills, with a 10 year service, wheel bearing, rear discs n pads and clutch will make it £4500 ish. I guess it evens out from those years when I've got away with "just" a £600 service

Now, hopefully, onto another 70K miles of relatively trouble free Aston Martin motoring .....

[DAVIDOXE]

Wow you must have looked after that my V8 was gone at 19k.

[ds2000]

Nice work getting that mileage matey, sounds like she's being looked after

[bogie]

DAVIDOXE said:

Wow you must have looked after that my V8 was gone at 19k.

Sportshift or manual ?

Mines a manual ...it has done a few track and airfield days, 1/4 mile runs, touring holidays, general b road blats etc but also a lot of general motorway commuting too. What it has not done is a lot of city driving. I reckon it had many weeks wear in a few hours in London last week, otherwise it might have last another few thousand miles

[Zod]

bogie said:

Sportshift or manual ?

Mines a manual ...it has done a few track and airfield days, 1/4 mile runs, touring holidays, general b road blats etc but also a lot of general motorway commuting too. What it has not done is a lot of city driving. I reckon it had many weeks wear in a few hours in London last week, otherwise it might have last another few thousand miles

My V12's done 21k miles in four years and I reckon about 8k-9k of that has been in London. London's not that hard on clutches if you drive sensibly.

[Impasse]

At least now you won't get an advisory at each service saying the pedal is high/stiff/slow etc! (I've been getting an encouragement to have a clutch fitted for the past couple of years)
Good effort. Have you gone for a standard replacement or one of the whizzy choices?

[Murph7355]

Impasse said:

...I've been getting an encouragement to have a clutch fitted for the past couple of years...

Tell them you'll have it done if they cover the cost if it's less than 90% worn

[bogie]

Just gone for standard factory parts, its likely I will trade it in next year ...have always fancied a Roadster and keep spotting the odd N420 come up for sale

[kensilver]

That's a great expiry life. Pending clutch replacement was the only thing that stopped me enjoying my Vanquish and V8VR to the full, no matter how hard I tried to not think about it. It's logical to think that one day the clutch will go and just put a few grand aside for its replacement, but for me it was like sitting on a ticking time bomb. I will probably never buy a clutch-model again. Driving my new 2007 DB9 is like having a huge weight off my shoulders. Some people have the capacity for tolerating this uncertainty, but I obviously don't live enough in the real world

[Grant3]

bogie said:

So, all was well until I had to take a detour across London last Saturday, 2 hours later on the way home I noticed the clutch slipping a little, so off the car went today to Bridge Mill

About 73500 miles out of the original clutch, so not too bad, I feel like Ive had value for money out of it
.....

Sorry to hear about the painful bill, but you certainly got your monies worth Mark, have you contacted the Guiness Book of Records yet

[V8V Pete]

Grant3 said:

Sorry to hear about the painful bill, but you certainly got your monies worth Mark, have you contacted the Guiness Book of Records yet

Good total but not a record. I've heard of well over 100,000 miles on one clutch in an early V8V which did a daily motorway commute.

[Neil1300r]

Grant3 said:

bogie said:

So, all was well until I had to take a detour across London last Saturday, 2 hours later on the way home I noticed the clutch slipping a little, so off the car went today to Bridge Mill

About 73500 miles out of the original clutch, so not too bad, I feel like Ive had value for money out of it
.....

Sorry to hear about the painful bill, but you certainly got your monies worth Mark, have you contacted the Guiness Book of Records yet

Was always hoping Mark would make 100k from normal use.

[bogie]

Neil1300r said:

Grant3 said:

bogie said:

So, all was well until I had to take a detour across London last Saturday, 2 hours later on the way home I noticed the clutch slipping a little, so off the car went today to Bridge Mill

About 73500 miles out of the original clutch, so not too bad, I feel like Ive had value for money out of it
.....

Sorry to hear about the painful bill, but you certainly got your monies worth Mark, have you contacted the Guiness Book of Records yet

Was always hoping Mark would make 100k from normal use.

I was hoping for another 5k miles and trade it in ...but never mind, still cheaper over 70K miles than the RS6 Avant I had. Overall the Vantage has been one of the most reliable and trouble free cars Ive owned (touch wood), and the longest Ive kept a car

[huggy1]

Haha, I thought it was just me!

Impasse said:

At least now you won't get an advisory at each service saying the pedal is high/stiff/slow etc! (I've been getting an encouragement to have a clutch fitted for the past couple of years)
Good effort. Have you gone for a standard replacement or one of the whizzy choices?

[SlartiF430]

kensilver said:

That's a great expiry life. Pending clutch replacement was the only thing that stopped me enjoying my Vanquish and V8VR to the full, no matter how hard I tried to not think about it. It's logical to think that one day the clutch will go and just put a few grand aside for its replacement, but for me it was like sitting on a ticking time bomb. I will probably never buy a clutch-model again. Driving my new 2007 DB9 is like having a huge weight off my shoulders. Some people have the capacity for tolerating this uncertainty, but I obviously don't live enough in the real world

Rather a clutch go than a problem develop in an autobox that could render the car worthless. Smoke that in your worriesome pipe and smoke it :-) on a serious note though, should you really own a car like this if you're going to be so worried over clutch replacement. Other things (certainly in aggregate) could cost you more.

[divetheworld]

SlartiF430 said:

Rather a clutch go than a problem develop in an autobox that could render the car worthless. Smoke that in your worriesome pipe and smoke it :-) on a serious note though, should you really own a car like this if you're going to be so worried over clutch replacement. Other things (certainly in aggregate) could cost you more.

And even a "plus" warranty puts box problems away.

[kensilver]

SlartiF430 said:

Rather a clutch go than a problem develop in an autobox that could render the car worthless. Smoke that in your worriesome pipe and smoke it :-) on a serious note though, should you really own a car like this if you're going to be so worried over clutch replacement. Other things (certainly in aggregate) could cost you more.

Hope I never have to experience all the alternative 'other things' to a clutch problem, but the ZF box seems quite reliable according to everyone I talk to. Fingers crossed.

My problem is that I've never owned a car with major issues, so to tempt fate with a Vantage/Ferrari/Lambo etc with an unknown component life is not a happy life for me.

[bogie]

Have done a few miles now on my new clutch, even the current factory parts are a vast improvement over the original from 2006 Much lighter clutch feel, like a "normal" car now, combined with the later gearbox oil that went in a service ago, the gearbox and clutch are really smooth and light to use

Great service as always from Nick, Adam and the lads at Bridge Mill, £2300 fitted for clutch/flywheel

[GingerMunky]

bogie said:

Neil1300r said:

Grant3 said:

bogie said:

So, all was well until I had to take a detour across London last Saturday, 2 hours later on the way home I noticed the clutch slipping a little, so off the car went today to Bridge Mill

About 73500 miles out of the original clutch, so not too bad, I feel like Ive had value for money out of it
.....

Sorry to hear about the painful bill, but you certainly got your monies worth Mark, have you contacted the Guiness Book of Records yet

Was always hoping Mark would make 100k from normal use.

I was hoping for another 5k miles and trade it in ...but never mind, still cheaper over 70K miles than the RS6 Avant I had. Overall the Vantage has been one of the most reliable and trouble free cars Ive owned (touch wood), and the longest Ive kept a car

Almost 5 year and 20000 miles, with no issues (touch wood), pretty solid and impressive reliability. If there wasn't the paint issues and clutch weakness (more prevelant on automatics) there would be little for us all to moan about we would all have to swap to Maserati.