T350 clutch no more

[topher]

Sunny day on Saturday, roads good and dry. Took the car for spin. Brilliant drive, but quarter mile from home clutch pedal became scratchy, difficult to select any gear, managed to hobble home. Quick call to Racing Green and they quickly diagnosed mechanical problem with clutch. Car went off on low loader same day.
Today,Shock horror, £1200.00 for new clutch inc labour.
Anyone had a similar thing go wrong with their three year old T350? Am interested to hear.

[cqueen]

Have you been letting your missus drive it?

>> Edited by cqueen on Monday 19th December 23:57

[luca brazzi]

Only good for 20k miles.

LB

[alans]

Chris
How many miles? My cerb went at approx 20K.

Alan

[Mustang Baz]

luca brazzi said:

Only good for 20k miles. LB

This does seem the general view - although mine needed changing at 11k.

[guymarks]

My dealer suggests 22k is the usual life expectancy. Just had the whole clutch kit replaced on mine after 25k.

[alloypearltam]

£1,200 for a clutch? Is that for real!!!!

[m12_nathan]

cqueen said:

Have you been letting your missus drive it?

Why would that make the clutch break?

[sacha]

alloypearltam said:

£1,200 for a clutch? Is that for real!!!!

Try a lambo, 3 to 4 k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pretty cheap for a performance car, even a Subaru STI will set you back nearly 1k for a dealer fitted clutch.

[m12_nathan]

Both those cars have 4wd making fitting a clutch far more tricky that a front engined rwd car. Clutch on an M3 is about £700 fitted, £1200 is taking the mikey unless that was with a flywheel too?

[alloypearltam]

if that is a serious cost, our Tamora will be gone before 20K. I would expect to pay that sort of money for a Ferrari, but not a TVR.

[basil brush]

alloypearltam said:

if that is a serious cost, our Tamora will be gone before 20K. I would expect to pay that sort of money for a Ferrari, but not a TVR.

It's pretty much the same AP Racing unit as a 355. The clutch unit is about £450, new slave is around £200, then 7 hours labour to fit.

[rfisher]

Depends how you drive.

They always said that Chimaera clutches are only good for around 20k miles but mine was fine when I sold it at 60k miles.

[martinp]

basil brush said:

It's pretty much the same AP Racing unit as a 355. The clutch unit is about £450, new slave is around £200, then 7 hours labour to fit.

At least the labour time has improved then since the last time I needed a new clutch on a TVR - when my 420SEAC needed one, I my was quoted 22 hours labour (the engine needs to come out to change it)! Did it myself in the end and took a fraction over 20 hours to do it.

Has anyone got more than 20k from the clutch on a Speed 6 engined TVR?

>> Edited by martinp on Thursday 22 December 12:19

[TSS]

martinp said:

Has anyone got more than 20k from the clutch on a Speed 6 engined TVR?

Yes. I sold my Tuscan with 33K miles on the clock and its original clutch. It was used daily for commuting so did a lot of town driving in stop-start traffic, but I never had any clutch problems at all.

[hobo]

Mine went at 22k, although it was a fault & not worn, so should have do more.

Cost of mine £ 1,233.

[basil brush]

hobo said:

Mine went at 22k, although it was a fault & not worn, so should have do more. Cost of mine £ 1,233.

The plates don't have time to wear out as the pressure plate release fingers snap off first.

[Trip01]

Mine went at 7 months and 9k miles. It was the fingers. The clutch is not included in the warrantee. £2k to fix including tow to the nearest TVR dealer (I was in france). I wasnt happy.

steve

[Steve_T]

rfisher said:

Depends how you drive. They always said that Chimaera clutches are only good for around 20k miles but mine was fine when I sold it at 60k miles.

Appologies for gate-crashing. My chim' clutch went after 61k miles in the end, so I agree that mechanical sympathy is part of the issue, however it's not the only one.

When I picked up my Cerb, the release bearing was squealing like a good 'un after only two weeks. The squeal got steadily worse and when the car was looked at less than two months after sale, I needed an entirely new clutch. Turned out that the bell housing was held by only two lose bolts, the remaining three having gone AWOL. The matter is still under debate with the dealer in question, although it looks like an amicable resolution is unlikely. For those who managed 20k on a clutch, count yourselves lucky.

Steve.

[billynomates]

Steve_T said:

rfisher said: Depends how you drive. They always said that Chimaera clutches are only good for around 20k miles but mine was fine when I sold it at 60k miles. Appologies for gate-crashing. My chim' clutch went after 61k miles in the end, so I agree that mechanical sympathy is part of the issue, however it's not the only one. When I picked up my Cerb, the release bearing was squealing like a good 'un after only two weeks. The squeal got steadily worse and when the car was looked at less than two months after sale, I needed an entirely new clutch. Turned out that the bell housing was held by only two lose bolts, the remaining three having gone AWOL. The matter is still under debate with the dealer in question, although it looks like an amicable resolution is unlikely. For those who managed 20k on a clutch, count yourselves lucky. Steve.

Thanks for the and no wonder you are pi$$ed off..Now who was the guilty party again?

I've forgotten already