ludercris2000

ok, here's the deal. me and my wife were reading everyone's launching advice to see what worked best. On our first one, which was one from 5500 rpms and feather the clutch. i know that doing this will give a little smell from the clutch, but when the clutch was all the way out, it still wasn't grabbing except for a little bit. Felt like we were spinning tires, but of course we weren't b/c that would have been a great smell imo, but anyways... now it's a couple of days later and the smell is still there and it seems like everything besides the smell is ok. I haven't launched it or drove it hard since then and the smell just won't go away. Getting into gear is still easy. Does this mean that my clutch is going bad or what and are the honda clutches crappy or something. I thought I remembered reading something about them not being that great in a car and driver or something and after a couple tough launches, it would lose grip. I still can't figure out why it would make that smell. I looked under the car and I didn't see anything leaking or any smoke or anything and when it happened, the car was warmed up and it was the first and only launch. Someone please help me out.

xviper

5500 rpms and feather .......................... This was your biggest mistake. "Feathering" the clutch at those rpms is NOT a real "launch" in this car. This is enough to excessively heat up the clutch surfaces. The smell you experience is that of a burnt clutch and will take several days of "normal" driving to get rid of.
A "proper" launch can be done hundreds of times and not cause any smell or any damage to the clutch.

You need no help. Time should cure this.

ludercris2000

Well, how would you recommend to launch and what if the same scenario would have happened, but from a clutch drop at the same rpm? I'm just curious. Any feedback would be great.

xviper

I have never given advice on how to do a proper launch. I won't accept the responsibility when the recipient of the information does it wrong and breaks something. I will however, tell you that doing a clutch drop on a NA car at 5500 rpm is generally not sufficient. There are lots of threads on this forum where people have talked about doing a proper launch.
It's not as simple as just selecting an rpm and "dropping" the clutch. There are other things involved.

terahertz

this is how i do it.

1. clutch in gear in
2. floor it
3. drop clutch at 5500-6500 (AP2) maybe around 6500 or 7 since u have an ap1
4. feather GAS if wheelspin is excessive

usually with heated up tires and good surface no feathering is needed. NEVER feather the clutch