it never rains but it pours. I need a new clutch.

[Col]

The way I see it...

VAG wouldn't manufacture and fit DMFs just for someone to go and convert it to single mass. VAG must have made it like that for a reason... and it must have been a positive change for the car.

I have an AWX in my A6.

Paul

The primary reason is to reduce vibration and harshness to provide refinement.

On an old car it isn't worth the bother.

Take my Passat, probably worth about 3k for a 2002 car. Clutch change with a new DMF would be a minimum of £800 which is almost a third of the value of the car.

If you can't get an AWX solid conversion, I'll probably have it welded up and then dynamically balanced...... Now there is a business plan for old VAG / BMW / Ford / Peugeot in fact any diesel cars as they get older, dual to solid conversions b ut using the original flywheel. I reckon if you could turn these round for £50 a go which beats £400+ for a new item !


Look at this youtube link for a very good animation of a dmf in action...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YnaXB8...eature=related

[Clinterous]

I want to the break the 300,000 miles barrier in mine, which will be another 2.5 years. So would want to keep it as smooth as poss to aid the driving refinement. Othe wise I might get fed up and have to get rid before the mileage target.

[paul b]

The primary reason is to reduce vibration and harshness to provide refinement.

On an old car it isn't worth the bother.

Take my Passat, probably worth about 3k for a 2002 car. Clutch change with a new DMF would be a minimum of £800 which is almost a third of the value of the car.

If you can't get an AWX solid conversion, I'll probably have it welded up and then dynamically balanced...... Now there is a business plan for old VAG / BMW / Ford / Peugeot in fact any diesel cars as they get older, dual to solid conversions b ut using the original flywheel. I reckon if you could turn these round for £50 a go which beats £400+ for a new item !


Look at this youtube link for a very good animation of a dmf in action...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YnaXB8...eature=related

Ahh, but you know what they say if you can't afford to maintain your car...

Also, would it not be better, doing the DMF + clutch on your car and then having the piece of mind, you know what has been done to this car in it's past, whereas you could get rid for another £3k car and it could have had all sorts of problems in the past and it may be in need of work. A bit like "better the devil you know"?

Paul

[B8 TDI]

Ahh, but you know what they say if you can't afford to maintain your car...

Also, would it not be better, doing the DMF + clutch on your car and then having the piece of mind, you know what has been done to this car in it's past, whereas you could get rid for another £3k car and it could have had all sorts of problems in the past and it may be in need of work. A bit like "better the devil you know"?

Paul

Even if you could afford the maintenance, spending £1k to repair or maintain a £3k car is just really ....

[Col]

Even if you could afford the maintenance, spending £1k to repair or maintain a £3k car is just really ....

Spot on.

I have probably over valued the car as the bottom has fallen out of 2nd hand values recently. It is probably worth more like £2,000 to £2,500 which would mean the clutch would approach 50% of its value.

[Sam]

Spot on.

I have probably over valued the car as the bottom has fallen out of 2nd hand values recently. It is probably worth more like £2,000 to £2,500 which would mean the clutch would approach 50% of its value.

It's got a nice stereo system though, hey Col

[Col]

It's got a nice stereo system though, hey Col

Yes !

The sound system would cost more than 50% of the car if I had to replace it, which is more than the poxy clutch, so I should by rights shut up !

I suppose it is all about priorities. Mine was a sound system...... which to be honest is a bit silly but it was transferred from my old Golf 4 GT-TDI and when I got it (about 4 years ago), DMF's were the last thing on my mind

[Eshrules]

I have to admit, I wanted a solid for mine (it's pretty much due now, no slippage, thankfully).

After driving my brothers tolly, which has had a single mass fitted, I definitley noticed the judder, which the DMF obviously eliminates, but it wasn't so prominent that it detracted from the driving experience.

If I could source one for the golf, I'd have one fitted without hesitation.

[Clinterous]

Even if you could afford the maintenance, spending £1k to repair or maintain a £3k car is just really ....

Well, there are some individuals who would take that view and as a consequence, probably end up racking a huge debt just to have a newer shinier car.

So I personally would spend the £1k and make do with the car until it dies. What's to say that the new car that someone hypothetically bought for £10k needs a new clutch and DMF after six months - spent £11k when £1k would have been sufficient!

A car should be for life, not just until it takes someones fancy to change it to keep up with the Jones'. Hence why the UK is debt ridden, and economy virtually bankrupt.

Ahem, rant over.

[Col]

Who ever mentioned chopping the car in for a new one in lieu of fitting a DMF. I will eventually end up changing the damned thing, I am not happy about it though.

Personally I maintain my car regardless and am of the school of making do and mending. I have the option of a company car but choose instead to run my old banger of a 2002 Passat and pocket the car allowance.

What disappoints me is the fact that such a part is that expensive and so unreliable at the same time.

There does come a time though where you have to apply the law of dimishing returns on something like a car. A good example would be spending £1,000 on a car worth £3,000 then driving one mile up the road, getting rear ended and written off.

The insurance would only pay out market value and that would be £3,000 if you were lucky! That is £1,000 gone into the ether! Couple that to the fact that the turbo is probably nearing the end of its useful life and that all manner of horrors possibly await on the unit injector front then it maybe time to change.

Hmmm, just talking myself into getting something else here that would be worth keeping and that would be cheap to keep going. My mind springs to an older B5 Passat / A6 with the 110hp AFN engine. They are tough and they fall easily within the realms of keeping economically on the road unlike a PD engined TDI, better on juice to.

Saying all that, I will keep it and will soon have it up on some ramps and will be wrestling the gearox out to change the clutch AND the bloody DMF.