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Old 05-10-2013, 05:29 PM   #102
VonMagnum
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 200781
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Ohio
Vehicle:
2015 Forester XT
Venetian Red Pearl

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All I know is that my vibration does go away sometimes (e.g. not present this morning AT ALL on the way to work, but it was there on the way home). It started last fall so I thought maybe it was weather related, but it's been in the mid '70s for some time now here and I see now weather related changes at all.

Frankly, I'm more bummed out about the clutch getting stiffer than anything else. It was just like my '93 Ford Probe GT when I first got the car (i.e. The Probe GT even at 140k miles was very light and also short throw and so it was a pleasure in traffic jams plus it could creep at 2 mph without stalling without slipping the clutch) I could have pushed it in with my pinky. I made a remark to the dealer guy when I test drove it how much lighter it was than my 2004 WRX and he said, just give it a few months and it'll be nice and stiff again. I still don't get this. The springs in the clutch mechanism might get stiffer as they reach their end of travel or something, but he was pretty much right. It got harder to push within a few months just like he said. The only thing I can figure is that when the clutch disc is brand new it pushes the spring mechanism past the point where it's making full contact with the disc or something. Otherwise, I'd expect fairly even pressure until the end of travel point for the springs.

I'm not sure here if the WRX clutch is still getting stiffer over time, though. I'm approaching 20k miles and frankly, I can't remember exactly how stiff my last WRX pedal was by memory relative to it. "Similar" comes to mind. That car I got at 36k miles, though and it felt pretty much the same when I sold it at 80k miles. I know one thing. I launched that car every day at around 4k - 4.5k RPM at some point during the day and I never worried the clutch might prematurely fail. I don't launch my 2011 one at all for sheer paranoia given all the bizarre premature wear '08-'09 clutch problems I read about. Frankly, I don't know whether these people are at fault or there was a defect going around. Many claimed to never burn a clutch up before that one with many other cars for over 100k miles, etc. That gives me pause. OTOH, my clutch still engages at the same point off the floor it did on Day 1, despite the vibration thing, so that tells me at the very least, my clutch disc isn't completely worn out regardless of the vibration cause (The engagement point will start rising off the floor when the spring runs out of adjustment room from what I've read).
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