Clutch life?

No, that extrapolates to only about 20,000 miles on that clutch when it needs replacing, and that is pretty low for the twin plate 599 clutch.

 

My 2009 599 had 14K miles on it when I purchased it from Ferrari dealer. Dealer said it needed a clutch and replaced it as part of the sales agreement.

 

It all depends on how the previous owner/s have driven the car. Ferrari doesn't teach people how to drive F1 cars, and the salesmen don't even know how. I have seen clutches that have lasted less than 2000 miles due to owners backing them up long steep driveways. Typical clutch life on a 599 is 20-30k if driven properly.

 

Really? Only 20-30k miles? That seems incredibly low to me. I can see it on the older F1 systems, but the 599 is pretty tough.

 

I just replaced the clutch on my 599 2 weeks ago, original clutch, at 43,345 miles.... No way you should have to replace a clutch with less the 20,000 miles. You have issues that are causing the clutch to wear, that is not normal. My 550 has over 55,000 miles on its original clutch, admittedly, it is time to replace it...

 

It all depends on how the car is driven. If you only did long cross-country trips and knew how to drive an F1 car, you could probably get 100K out of one. Most Ferraris are only driven short distances by people who are unaware of the best way to treat the clutch.

 

What are your driving tips for making the clutch last?

I try to treat it like a manual clutch, so no creeping forward, etc. But I do hill starts, reverse, etc. without really worrying about it.

I really wish they had put a light on the dash which showed when the clutch was slipping.

 

the scanner can also show mileage driven in each gear, time of clutch overheat and other things that can help diagnosis.....Lot of low gear/reverse will shorten expectations as Brian has mentioned, I also suggest the ownership records as a source, lot of dealers?, more clutch wear, they will all have given it the 'big' one at some time

 

Be careful with clutch life readings as it can be reset during any point of time - meaning the clutch may be slightly worn yet reset to show 0%.

 

I wonder how accurate the DS-3 scanner is? Well I am sure it is accurate but I guess my real question is can the clutch plate appear to be say 60% worn on the tester but if you visually look at it could it really be 40% or 20% because of other factors? From what I have heard, and I am not sure if it is entirely true, is that clutch wear is determined from the tester and there is no way to see it with out taking the tranny out. I haven't had the need to check mine yet.

 

I just posted this in another thread so I'm copying and pasting here:

On my 355 F1, the system is saying something like 90ish% worn with 15K miles and the car drives perfect. Discussing my other values with a Pro Tech it seems my "Clutch Position As New" is 13.49 mm and it's supposed to be 17ish mm. That value is used to determine clutch wear so if it's wrong, so will the calculation.

I've been told 355's and early 360's will go over 100% wear (like 110%, etc) but later cars will reset to zero after 100% (I don't have 1st hand experience with this statement however).

But, Pro techs will look at the other values to see if they make sense and not just go off the Clutch wear value. Ask for the full screen shot / print out.

Here is mine that I pulled from my 355 with my SD2

And,

If you care to learn about the system, here are 2 good links:

http://craig-waterman.com/?cat=41
https://aldousvoice.com/2014/08/07/ferrari-f1-clutch-operation/

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I have never seen a f1 system reset to 0 after 100%. Typically once the car senses the PIS is beyond its max threshold the car will start popping into neutral every shift.

The best way to know if you have the correct percentage shown is to know what the new value PIS should be. Then observe current PIS and what the max (or typical value of worn value). Calculate the percentage of worn between current and new value. It will give you a rough idea.

I doubt the clutch wear on tester would show more than actual since clutch wear is based upon the throw out bearing sensor for distance traveled. If could be the other way where there is more wear on clutch than on tester.

One of the biggest factors to clutch wear is the rolling diameter and weight of the wheels. Ferrari spent years developing the car with certain wheels and tires. Increasing the overall diameter will skew the program and results leading to higher clutch wear. For example a 430 F1 with 20" F and 22" rear wheels (with larger rolling diameter tires - forgot the size) wasted a clutch in 4,000 miles.

 

I think this is what might have happened in my car. When I bought it there were 22 inch wheels on it which have since
been changed back to the challenge 20 inch wheels. I can't remember the percentage wear on my clutch but it seemed excessive for the mileage on the car.

 

zstyle, I don't know your experiences but what makes you think that rolling diameter has such a big effect? I would bet $100 that impact is nondeductible compared to driver skill. MANY people think these are automatics and drive the that way. The 22" tires tell me that is probably true of your previous owner example because no gearhead would put 22" tires on a 430.

 

As long as the relative ratio of tire diameters is kept within 4% or so of OEM, neither the clutch nor the ABS/SC could care less about wheel size and weight. The clutch is getting 4000 lbs of Ferrari moving every start and the weight of wheels and tires is inconsequential compared to that. The increase in unsprung weight will affect ride and handling, but the clutch is unaffected.