Ford Focus Mk2 clutch replacement

By the time it should need replacing, labour rates may have doubles or trebled, so any estimate now will be meaningless :-)

Chris (With a Mk1 Focus on 92K, that's never needed anything significant replaced.)

True - but I doubt yours spent 6 months being driven by learners... ;)

at present it is about 500 quid for the whole job

Don't things get expensive these days...? A year or two ago our local Peugeot main dealer charged £250 for a new clutch. It was actually cheaper than a local independent garage.

Thanks for the info though.

David

Well, no, but if it's not showing any signs of slipping now and you treat it right it should be fine.

I don't believe a clutch is a service item; I've been driving a mixture of old bangers, new cars and pretty much everything in between for 44 years. I've never replaced a clutch in any of my vehicles, although I've done plenty for others!

Chris

Incidentally, we've needed replacement clutches on both our previous cars (C reg Polo which died at 106k, S reg 306 which is just about going at nearly 127k, we got the car at 56k in 2001).

Might our history of clutch replacements suggest that our driving style is heavy on the clutch? Something I'm aware that I do is when changing down gears I tend get a bit of a jolt when bringing the clutch up - slowing me down. I suspect this is not ideal for long clutch life.

Also, when changing up gears, I think I tend to slip the clutch a little

- either that or again, I'm heavy on the clutch, bringing it up quickly. It's hard to actually think what you do with a clutch without actually analysing it whilst you're doing it. Incidentally, both our previous cars have had very heavy clutch pedals. The Focus seems very soft pedal.

What is the 'correct' (ie. best) way of avoiding clutch wear?

Thanks

Matching the revs correctly before you release the clutch pedal and starting from rest with care. Wear only takes place when there is relative motion between the flywheel and the clutch plate. None occurs when the clutch is fully engaged in a given gear. Watch the revcounter. On upchanges let the revs drop to the level at which they'll be when the new gear engages and on downchanges let the clutch out very gently or better still blip the throttle to match revs. Make sure in all cases the clutch is fully engaged before reapplying any throttle. With practice you can avoid almost all clutch wear in normal driving.

The two most important things to avoid are touching the pedal when not necessary (for example by using it as a footrest!) and holding the vehicle stationary on a slope using the clutch.

I see drivers every day in traffic for long periods of time just rocking the car backwards and forwards on the clutch. It makes me cringe! As soon as you come to a stop, handbrake on, out of gear, and foot away from the pedal.

Modern cars will creep in first gear at really low speeds with the clutch completely released; it adds to wear if you keep pulling away, then stopping in traffic queues.

Chris.