I think my clutch is begging to slip, but I am not too positive. I noticed it a few weeks ago when I did some spirited driving. I was in first and slammed 2nd and it didnt get that 2nd gear chirp like it usually does, and actually sounded like the tires were breaking loose.

OR it could be my clutch slipping. These is with 58xxx miles on the original clutch. 1 Road race, 2 autoxes, and about 20+ trips down the track. I also noticed that my tires are getting low on treadlife, but not bald. I run them at 40psi (maybe cause loss of traction?).

The thing is though, when going into 3rd or 4th, it doesnt do it. Only from the 1st to 2nd shift. When I do hit second, it doesnt chrip but instead has a bit of a hesitation, that I can hear in the exhaust. But the rpms seem to rev fine and the mph follows.

I searched a bit and tried the "putting it in 3rd from a stop and taking off" method and it did try to stall. Also did about 30mph and put it in 5th and gas it and it did not slip.

Are these early symptoms of my clutch being worn out or am I just being paranoid?

I would post a video from that night I first noticed it slip, but It kinda involves street racing and I dont think thats allowed here.

 

Maybe the jasmanian devil has taken over your r and its now losing traction due to the insane amount of power

Seriously though, if you are breaking the tires loose then your clutch is fine. If you are reving and not moving then its slipping.

 

The loss of traction could be do to such a high tire pressure....

but i think its because the ground is getting colder...cold soft tires plus cold pavement equals traction loss...

Ive been noticing the same thing recently

 

you didnt tell me u had 40 psi in the tires
that definately makes a difference on my opinion.

 

It would do the same on the hot days we had a week ago, It was kinda off and on. But I just took it out for a drive, and it is freezing cold outside and each time the tires broke loose/clutch slipped. (whatever it is)

It 57000 miles normal for a clutch to go out?

 

Clutches can fail at less miles than that, or can last a lot longer. It all depends on how well you treat your clutch. Based on your description here, I'm surprised yours has lasted even this long.

However, your tire pressure is still TOO HIGH. There's nothing to be gained by that. Remember, a higher tire pressure creates a smaller contact patch (the area of the tire in contact with the road), which reduces your traction. That's why drag racers let air OUT of their tires at the dragstrip, to increase the size of the contact patch.

And it's also possible that reduced traction is due to the lower temperatures these days. Any or all of these can cause what you're experiencing.

 

i put them at 40psi for daily driving. less drag on tires = better gas mileage.

 

Overinflation will also result in the tires wearing faster in the center of the tread than towards both edges. But the big reason not to do so is that it gives you less traction, due to the reduced contact patch.

Think of it this way. If a 2640-pound ITR has all its tires inflated to 33 psi, then the total area of its four contact patches is 80 square inches. If all its tires are inflated to 40 psi, then the area of the patches is 66 square inches. So you have reduced the area of the tires in contact with the road by 17.5 percent. No wonder your tires are spinning!

 

max is 44psi, how is that overinflation? I know some people say that stick to the handbook specs of 35ish psi, but that is with the stock tires I have 205-50-15 es100s.

 

lol the floor was wet? were you racing in your kitchen?

 

Why don't you use that method where your car is at a stop, and then put it in gear to see if it rolls.
If it stalls, clutch is bad.
something like that.
I wouldn't worry about a bad clutch until i can actually feel the revs slipping

 

Sounds to me like your tires are breaking loose. The clutch doesn't care what gear your in if it's slipping. One way to find out is to carefully put a pillow or something soft between the front of your car and a wall. Put the car in 1st and then slowly let the clutch out. If it stalls the clutch is fine. If it sits there and idles the clutch needs to be replaced.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nsxtasy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Clutches can fail at less miles than that, or can last a lot longer. It all depends on how well you treat your clutch. Based on your description here, I'm surprised yours has lasted even this long.


</TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly. Based on your mad street racing/drag expeditions, consider yourself lucky. Usually the spring(s) will fail on our disks fairly early regardless of the driving style.

Go ahead a set aside $3-400 for the disk, pp, and bearings.

-Matt

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bLack_aRR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">max is 44psi, how is that overinflation?</TD></TR></TABLE>

40 psi (or 44 psi), measured cold (when the car hasn't just been driven and is not sitting in the sun), are overinflation because they reduce the performance of your car. That's why Honda recommends 35 front, 33 rear. You can adjust up and down by a couple of psi, but it's pretty safe to say that you're going to get less grip at 40 psi.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bLack_aRR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that is with the stock tires I have 205-50-15 es100s.</TD></TR></TABLE>

By all means, if you want to try different inflations, feel free to do so, and see what kind of results you get. In fact, that's just what you are doing - and your tires are spinning. Well, duh! And you're just sitting around arguing instead of trying to realize that that's one of the reasons your tires are spinning. Did you ask your question to argue with what people say, or to find out what you can do differently to improve your performance?

I have ES100 tires on my other Integra, and have found that they get their best performance and most even tire wear using the recommended 35F/33R.

Incidentally, the lack of tread is probably also contributing to your spinning tires.

Getting back to your original question, since the tires are spinning, then the problem is tire-related, not clutch-related. If your clutch is going, it slips, meaning that the engine revs rise and fall faster than the tires, but the tires are still gripping. In your case, the tires are spinning, when they're overinflated and worn, so deal with that first. It's also possible that BOTH are happening - that your tires are spinning AND your clutch is slipping.

Of course, there's an easy way to see if the tires grip better with the proper inflation - use a good tire gauge, and while measuring them when cold (not recently driven), let air out down to the recommended 35F/33R, and see how it does. Similarly, you can replace your tires and see if the new ones still spin, when properly inflated and after they've been broken in for a few hundred miles. Or, you can keep arguing instead...

 

It seems wierd to me that one cannot tell that there tires are spinning???

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by walker111 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It seems wierd to me that one cannot tell that there tires are spinning???</TD></TR></TABLE>

I thought the same exact thing tonight when I had a little spin starting from a red light in the rain. It's pretty obvious what's going on.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by walker111 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It seems wierd to me that one cannot tell that there tires are spinning???</TD></TR></TABLE>

they dont always make noise..moer of a fluttering sound

 

They always make some sort of noise. Sometimes even wheel hop, whick violently shakes the dash. I have never heard any other sound from a car that sounds like the tires spinning.

 

lower your tire pressure to 32 psi and see if your break the tires loose but like the others had said if your in a gear and mash the gas and if it feels like your lost some power your clutch is getting beat.. try lowering the tire pressure to 32.psi

 

well i checked the tire pressures and surprisingly they were about 35psi all the way around (cold weather?)

I checked the tread on the tires up front and the left side has a bit less tread then the right, about 15% vs 25%.

I tried shifting hard into 2nd at 6000rpms and it grabbed real hard and no "slippage". Still no nice chirp. So.. WTF?


EDIT: ill post the video of the "slippage" if its ok with the mods for street racing *****.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bLack_aRR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well i checked the tire pressures and surprisingly they were about 35psi all the way around (cold weather?)</TD></TR></TABLE>

Probably mostly due to cold weather, and maybe partly due to time.

The Tire Rack says that, as a rule of thumb, each 10 degrees F difference in temperature results in a 1 psi difference in tire pressure. So if it's 45 degrees now and it was 75 degrees when you last checked your tires, that alone would account for a 3 psi drop in pressure.

I've also found from experience that even a properly mounted tire, with no problems on the tire or wheel, loses about 1 psi per month.

 

Drop the clutch at 7-7.5 k in 3rd or fourth, and let us know whether the car bogged or the revs shot up (you might have to look at the tach for the latter), if you can't hear the motor over your stereo.

 

u mean launch at 7k in 3rd or 4th?? wow thats gonna be a first lol

 

You could do is at a lower engine speed an still find out whether you clutch is slipping or not.
But frankly, with heavy power-on clutch engagements while using relatively sticky tires, first the clutch will slip a bit (its normal), and shortly thereafted the car will hook up and move off.
Usually there's a bit of wheel hop with stock engine mounts, especially in the wet.

That's all I got.

 

ill do this sometime tonight, and ill post what happens. adios