[SIZE=7]Guys,

With 53k on my 2003 CLS, I found today that I needed a new clutch, as my old one died. Is 53K too short a life, considering that I'm not a street racer, although I do enjoy blowing by anything with a 300 series BMW or Audi A4 emblem on them. ( I do believe that a clitoris is a prerequisite to owning either of those).

Please let me know as I dont know anyone else who has blown one of these through normal use.

Thanks

 

53K sounds like a short life if it’s treated right.
Honda clutches should be good for an easy 150K or more.
Although you can kill a clutch in 500 miles if you treat it bad.

Good or bad depends on what exactly “blowing by every BMW and Audi I see” really means.

How many years have you been driving and what’s your experience driving clutch before getting the CL?

 

I'm 53.

Two kids in college, one out

Learned on a 69 mustang, 73 Camaro, 79 Rabbit, ...

I know what I'm doing.

As for my kids that use the car that are close to your age(23), that might be where the problem lies

 

If you drive aggresively (ie. hard launches, redline shifts, etc) then 53k is not that short of a life. Thats about what I expect to get out of mine.

 

I think you found the issue. "Son, it's time to buy Dad a clutch."

 

Have you explained to the kids about heel & toeing when downshifting? (I'm assuming you know better.) Dragging the car down on the clutch will wear it out quick. Or riding around with one foot resting on it -- lots of younger drivers who learned on automatics develop this bad habit.

 

Curious.....Did it just go out one day, or could you feel it getting worse?
Becuase some mentioned that these clutches in the CLS are either working or not. No in between.

 

I recently had to have my rear main seal replaced on my car. While the dealer was in there they offered to replace the clutch for the cost of parts only since they were already there. My car had 49,920 miles on it so the warranty covered all of the labor. The tech said my original clutch had only 50%^ wear and would have last another 50K atleast. It is also important to know that i tow a 1200lbs trailer with my CL. You must be doing something wrong. Remember brake pads are cheaper than clutches. It is not neccisary to downshift a CL coming up to a stop, unless you like buying clutches every 50K.

 

The CL is my first car with a clutch, I have 74.5k miles on it and I did a lot of red line shifting early on with the car and have yet to have a problem. I would definately ride with your kids to see how they treat the car. At 23 it is very hard to not have fun in the car, and with the thought that they don't have to pay for it, it makes it easier to justify driving hard.

 

This annoys me to no end when people do this for every stop light, and then they wonder why their TOB is squeaky all the time. I almost never engine brake when coming to a stop, the only time I 'll leave it in gear to slow down is expressway offramps & regular 90* corners that I want to take without really slowing down. Rev matching and being in gear before powering out of the corner makes the transition of power much smoother in these cases, but there is NO need to drop down into 2nd gear when coming to every stop light.

 

Right on!