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Judder when pulling away.

MarcGTD

New member
Location
United Kingdom
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GTD
Mk7 GTD manual 74k on the clock. Car is new to me. I've noticed a judder when pulling off from standstill as the clutch engages. I don't think that the clutch is slipping it drives perfectly every other way.

I've read of people inserting a dog bone mount insert to help the issue. Any experience or advice please? Thanks!
 

kevinkar

Drag Racing Champion
Location
United States
In other cars I've owned in the past, judder can indicate hot spots on the clutch disk or pressure plate leading to a new clutch but also the flywheel. Not a reason for *slipping* in the normal sense (i.e. a worn clutch overall) but just those little spots are enough to slip just a bit to produce the judder. Changing the clutch helps for a while as it's new but hot spots on the flywheel will rear their ugly head again unless you machine them down sufficiently. Hot spots like that on a flywheel are not simply surface-only and tend to show up after turning down the flywheel anyway so you might have to replace the flywheel anyway.

Stiffening it all up with a dog bone mount insert will help but hot spots don't go away and could continue to cause the issue.
 

MarcGTD

New member
Location
United Kingdom
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GTD
Stiffening it all up with a dog bone mount insert will help but hot spots don't go away and could continue to cause the issue.
I can mask the issue using 1.5k to 2k revs so if a dog bone mount may help further I might be able to live with that for now.
 

Daks

Autocross Champion
Location
Toronto
Car(s)
GTI PP
I can mask the issue using 1.5k to 2k revs so if a dog bone mount may help further I might be able to live with that for now.
What are you revving it to when you are normally taking off? If you're not giving it enough gas, like any other manual, it will stutter.
 

vbrad26

Autocross Champion
Location
St. Petersburg FL
Car(s)
MK8 R
Most of the time but occasionally it's not noticed
I only ask because in the last few months or so I've noticed a bit of a shudder/stutter the first couple of times coming from a dead stop following a cold start. But it is not every time.
So like, leaving my neighborhood in the AM I reverse our of the driveway and putting it into 1st and driving away I notice it, and for the next couple of stop signs while getting out onto the main road.
Then it seems to go away.
I'm a little over 80k on my stock clutch. No mods. This is around 1k rpm, give or take and will stutter until about 2k probably. I never really look.
 

kevinkar

Drag Racing Champion
Location
United States
In my opinion, no one really drives a standard transmission perfectly every time, myself included after 40+ years. Some clutch engagements are spot on and other are too quick, too much gas, too little gas, etc. Sometimes we just get our muscle memory out of whack and that could be happening here. However, I do see some of my cars in the past having "issues" when cold or even hot so it really depends on the situation.

I will say that on a couple of my used cars that had a crappy previous driver, the clutch situation was pretty dire and a clutch change did solve the problem with the exception of the Corvette which had the hot spots on the flywheel I mentioned earlier. It worked great right after I replaced the clutch but the judder came back about 3-4 months later. So there are plenty of factors at play here. Throw in to that mix your own possibly flawed clutch engagement and it's really difficult to diagnose.
 

MarcGTD

New member
Location
United Kingdom
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GTD
ONLY TRY THIS IF YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH AND ABOUT TO SPEND MONEY ON A NEW CLUTCH.

Ok so I've fixed this problem. I found this fix on a forum where someone said it worked for them. It's not something you'd ever consider doing under normal circumstances but as my mechanic felt that the problem was clutch related & my wallet was about to become a lot thinner anyway I thought stuff it I've nothing to lose.

I parked on a slight incline, put the car in it's highest gear (6th for me) rev the engine and ride the clutch so you hold yourself stationary on the incline. Hold for 5-10 seconds.

Yes I smelt clutch burn 🔥😯 and I thought "oh no!" However, car now pulls away sweet as a nut! It's literally transformed, smooth as a baby's bum. I can only think that whatever was on the surface of the clutch causing the judder got burnt/worn off by the heat.

Have I reduced the longevity of my clutch? Maybe but I was on the verge of splashing out anyway. For now, all is well 😊
 
Last edited:

kevinkar

Drag Racing Champion
Location
United States
I would say this might have worked but for the "opposite" reason you state - it was not removing any "impurities" but it was glazing the clutch or flywheel surfaces (the burning smell) and would likely be temporary as that now slowly wears away under normal driving. So it FEELS good now but I'm betting the judder returns after that glazing wears off revealing the bad surfaces, hot spots or whatever down the line.

This is similar to improperly bedding in brake pads where, if you do it wrong, you can get glazing in spots over the rotor surface which then causes judder during braking. It will eventually wear away as the pads "grind" it all down over time but it will be annoying for a while.

Just an opinion and not fact. Guess you'll just have to keep us posted on how it goes and if it reappears.
 

ride106

Ready to race!
Location
NY
This happens to me somewhat regularly, especially on cool dewey mornings when I didn't drive it the day before. I park on the street and there is a pothole that routinely floods and people constantly hit the hole, splashing my car. My pseudoscience answer is that it's a combination of condensation on the flywheel and maybe some forced splash through a breather hole. Or could be a drop of oil seeping through from somewhere, who knows. I hold the brakes at the first stoplight and let the clutch slip gently for 2-3 seconds and that clears it up.
 

Mk7tsi3door

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Nova Scotia
My cars always been like this. I gave up trying to fix it, replaced with smfw new mounts etc. just drives funky at low speeds sometimes I’ve accepted it lol
 
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