HI All, I drove my first 550 today. I really enjoyed it but was surprised at how heavy the clutch was for such a modern car. Is this normal or could the hydraulics be on their way out? I had to put my weight into it to depress the clutch. Thanks for any responses! Regards,
It is indeed heavy. But the 550 is a car for strong men. I lubricated the throw-out bearing shaft on the clutch and it was slightly better. You can access it through a hole in the clutch housing under the car. Should be done every year. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app
Interesting. In traffic it was horrid. It felt about as heavy as my 911 Turbo felt before realizing the clutch accumulator on the slave cylinder was bad.
The clutch is not power assisted. It is hydraulic. But If you have a leak, it would not work. Can’t be many things wrong. But the lubrication can only dry out because of the heat. The engine oil will not lubricate the clutch and the hydraulic oil is only to push it out to disengage the clutch.
Mine was heavy when I bought the car new clutch fixed everything That was 67k miles ago and it's still fine ......
My clutch was not to heavy when I got my 550, very drivable in stop and go traffic. Last month I put in a new clutch (disc and pressure plate) not because the clutch was worn out, but the release bearing was worn and since everything was apart it seemed like a good idea. With the new release bearing, disc and pressure plate, I was surprised how much lighter the clutch felt, almost as light as a Honda.
As the clutch wears on a late 3 pedal V12, the geometry changes and the clutch pedal effort gets higher. A good tech can look at your clutch through the access port and tell you how badly it is worn. Actually done by looking at the throw-out bearing pin.
My 550 clutch is much heavier than the clutch on my C5 Corvette. 20,000 miles on the 550 when I bought it.
I have a lot of clutch experience sometimes replacing them annually in my racecar. I have had 2 550's one with heavy and one with light clutch. Sometimes non-oem parts make for heavy feel. Sometimes it is just the muck that adds to the friction over years of minimal use. While opening everything up and cleaning it out can do wonders to lighten the feel by the time you do all that work you are going to put a new clutch plate in there. And Taz is right, feel also changes as things wear. So often when you put a new clutch in the feel improves greatly. The system is quite simple and it is hard to screw up.
The clutch in a 550 is not heavy at all in fact its quite nice. The car you drove has an issue that needs to be resolved.
Clutch feel on my 550 is very smooth, one of the smoothest take-ups of any car I've ever had (and I've had a lot of different MT high performance cars over some 40+ years). Effort is moderate, not too light, not too heavy. In other words, 550 clutch action overall is about ideal, IMO. That said, as with many things, YMMV.
Timmo- No measurements that I know of. Ask your tech to show you the throw-out bearing pin and guide.
Thanks, I have been my own tech for now and I have found an anwer here : https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/posts/140348579/
I had forgotten all about that thread. Only 11 years ago so my memory must be going. Ferrari Clutch Wear Measurement 456-Early 612 Brian Crall: There are several ventilation holes. On either version what limits clutch life is how far back the TO bearing sleeve or slave cylinder housing can travel rearward before coming to rest on the seal housing flange. Once it gets to the end of its travel the spring pressure starts going down and the clutch's days are numbered. On a stick shift car there is an anti-rotation device with a pin riding in a slotted steel bracket which is easily seen through the bottom vent hole. The location of the pin in that slot gives you a very effective and accurate guide to remaining clutch life. It should be in the middle of the slot when new and will move to the rear as the clutch wears. The F1 is a little more difficult. The guide pins for the TO bearing give you the same visual cue. But to really know remaining life looking at the distance between the rear of the sleeve and its distance to the flange of the seal hosing will tell you. It is a little harder. With a bore scope you can get a really good look.
