DSG Clutches

[WILLS]

Anyone know if the clutches ever have to be replaced in a DSG transmission? i've never known or heard of it but surely they will wear out like a normal clutch, but maybe last twice as long with there been 2  any ideas?

[Sam]

They will wear out as you have pointed out, its still a clutch.

[Agreeable Slick]

Nick, second hand DSG boxes are easy to come by and a £6.9k repair bill is just fantasy unless you go with VW. Concerns over the longevity of the DSG are less than that of a manual, sure if it does go wrong it will cost more to fix, but if you have a stock car and keep it maintained then they have proven to be capable of over 250,000 miles without a need for even a new clutchpack. I doubt you can say that about manuals. We can argue until we are blue in the face, but the facts are that DSG's are quickly becoming the norm for performance cars and the market share is climbing for daily drivers too. The support will grow for them and as it does, part prices will fall and the likes of exchange boxes etc will become more readily available. I have more than double the torque reccommended by VW going through my DSG and it has only just started to show signs of slippage, so even cars that are modified to a lesser extent will still have a gearbox that can take the abuse without giving up the ghost - point a remap at a manual and the clutch simply begs for mercy after a few K miles.

Each have their weaknesses and strengths and it is a personal decision for the owner as to what they ultimately settle with.

[MAW73]

^ Great post

[mac7]

It's not so much that there are two clutches, but each clutch has 4 friction discs so there's more contact surface area to transmit the torque. Thanks to the electronic control of clutch engagement and hill hold (so there is minimal clutch slip) they don't get as hard a life as a manual clutch does. From what I've seen of them they should easily last the lifetime of the car, as Hurdy's post suggests.

[The Doc]

Anyone know if the clutches ever have to be replaced in a DSG transmission? i've never known or heard of it but surely they will wear out like a normal clutch, but maybe last twice as long with there been 2  any ideas?

I've. Had at least 10 vehicles with DSG 'boxes and I've only had one give me grief with was a slight rattle in neutral that was there from new, the rattle was mentioned by me on the first service and they replaced the 'box.

FYI I thought it was a belt tensioner by the sound of it.

Slick nice post, I've seen plenty with increased BHP that have been problem free.

[MAW73]

Would it be fair to say a car with a DSG box is more suited for re-mapping than a manual....??

[Agreeable Slick]

I would say that is a safe assumption as the plates are all electronically controlled, so the contact points are better managed than on a manual box, as a manual box is more designed to allow for crap human control. (let's be honest we have all hit a gear - or not when we have been driving with a bit of spirit)

As hurdy pointed out though, there is always going to be a limit to the tolerance it will carry before beginning to fail, like all things.

[DDRFan]

if you can outlast this guy, i think you're not doin bad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ6atGhmVU8