Hi, I'm buying a 2009 612 with 1800 miles and was curious about the clutch life on these cars. I'll be seeing the car in person for the first time this coming weekend for an inspection and to go through the paperwork, but I was hoping someone could give me some info on these from first hand knowledge. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Grant- In 2008 Ferrari began fitting the 599 dual plate clutch and transaxle case to the OTO. This clutch has proven to be very tough and I have seen no complaints from owners of either car about clutch wear or issues. The older 612s had the same clutch as the 456-575 cars and those tended to wear more quickly. Hard to put a number on life since they are holding up well. Taz Terry Phillips
Thanks, thats reassuring. My last Ferrari was a 1999 F355 F1 that I bought new and that thing went through clutches left and right. I was hoping for a better experience this time.
It's all in how you abuse or not abuse it You should be pretty happy, havent had any clients that were not happy with the 612. Good luck
I'm only 39 but my wife says I drive like an old man. My last car, a Porsche 993 Targa, was rarely pushed hard, except up the onramps getting on the freeway. The 612 is a Ferrari, you can't go wrong.
it is a ferrari..u need not worry about such stuff..only if u r buying s used one get it checked by a dealer b4 putting ur money on it.
The key word is F1 <OK beat me up F1 fans> In over 1,000,000 miles of driving, I have never killed a clutch and never wanted to won an automatic*. I have 60K miles on my F355 and although rebuilding the DMFW thrice, its still on the original clutch disk. This car has 5K track miles on it. (*) although most cars are only availabe with automatic trannies. The only car I have owned are my 2 trucks (both 4Runners) with autos, the rest of them had sticks.
Yeah the clutch should last but if the previous didn't know how to drive who knows how long it will last.
Not a problem for the OTO or 599. Between the latest software and new clutch, clutch wear is really not an issue for these cars. Taz Terry Phillips
I never understand questions like these. The clutch life will depend solely on you, the driver. End of that story. In regular every-day driving, you should be revving to no more than 1200 RPM from a dead stop to get going and you the amount of time spend releasing the clutch should be no more than 2 seconds. Hell, given the torque of the 12, you would probably be able to let the clutch out smoothly and quickly in first gear without touching the throttle as long as you are on flat ground. Once moving, upshifts and downshifts should be done without pause, never slow. You don't need to be speed-racer, but an entire gear change from the time your left foot hits the third pedal to the time it comes off should be no more than 1 second. If you're doing any "slipping" of the clutch at all with the car moving - you don't know how to drive a stick. Downshifts should be accompanied by throttle blipping to match revs to road speed. Clutches wear prematurely due to improper use. The age-old excuse of, "well I have an immensely powerful car that would obviously wear clutches faster" is crap. The only time a clutch is subjected to conditions that will "wear" it are during engagement and disengagement - when little to no power should be going through the drive-train. How much power your car has should have no bearing on clutch life whatsoever. Once the clutch is engaged it is essentially "locked" in place. People who drive sticks daily and know how to drive them should easily get 100K miles out of an original clutch. A good buddy of mine had over 200K miles on an '86 BMW 325 that saw thousands of miles at the track .... still had the original clutch in it when he sold it. My current DD has about 170K miles on the clock ... original clutch and I abuse the hell out of this car. If I'm not mistaken ... Allan Lambo was still running the original clutch in his relatively high-mileage (wasn't it close to 60 or 70K?) Diablo SV and he had a 150-shot installed on that thing IIRC. Don't be any of these guys: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzBH6Io7XWQ[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4BrqN9tymQ[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqeNRH87KyY&NR=1[/ame] The bottom vid is probably more of an accurate "what not to do". Listen to how high this guy is revving as he's pulling his k-turn in the beginning of the clip. Don't do this: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcyklo-bHsc&feature=BF&list=QL&index=1[/ame]
Bill- All very interesting, condescending, and completely irrelevant to Grant's question about his 2009 612, which was not even available with manual shifter and clutch pedal. If we need any tips on how to drive a car with a manual transmission, though, we will know who to ask. I may need some advice since I did not drive my first manual transmission car until 1962. RTFT first, pontificate later. Taz Terry Phillips
Well, may be relevant or not, heres my input: Bill, you do have good points, but on the idea you write above as shift "never slow", I disagree. First never say never. Secxond, nothing wrong with shifting slowly, UP or DOWN. Madderafac, shifting slower (I dont mean to imply shift sooooooo slow), allows the synchro rings/sleeves to mesh slower, hence, less wear, as the lubed surfaces take their time in matching uip the dog teeth. Shifting fast is the worst thing for these transmission surfaces. Now, as for what this means for the clutch, you know, iusually if one focuses on one part, another part suffers. So, yes, if one shifts slowly, one adds to the life of the transmission parts/surfaces, BUT, clutch can suffer IF when releasing it, you dont "blip" to approximate revs, as indeed you did state and warn us about. That is good advice, Bill. Shift slowly/respect the trans, and since this will naturally drop the rpms fast, you will have to blip!! I blip all day. One car, I got 175,000 on it. No need to shift fast. Leave that for track people......
