Ok, to make a long story short, I took my car to the track last night and had some major issues...

On my first pass I launched at like 1800-2000RPMs and my car jumped forward while revving to like 6500. I hadn't made it very far when I realized that my clutch was slipping really bad. I shifted into 2nd hoping that the clutch would catch and I would take off. Nope, the clutch just slipped as my engine was near redline and I was barely moving. I let off the gas for a second and pushed the clutch in hoping that bringing down the revs would cause the clutch to finally catch. This did nothing, as the car revved back up and I was now doing like 40MPH. The rest of the run basically went like this as I trapped 21.3 @ 61... I was sooo humiliated that my car decided to take a ****...

WTF Is Wrong With My Car? HELP PLEASE?!?

The 2nd pass was significantly better but nowhere near what I expected. I babied my car off the line until I shifted in 2nd where I slammed the gas down and shifted hard the rest of the run. The only redeeming thing about the whole run was that I completely smoked a LT1 V8 Trans Am and pulled a shitty 14.6 @ 102. My 60' was like a 2.8 or something terrible too...

Overall I am completely unimpressed! Isn't a SS/SC supposed to run better than that stock! I was really thinking I could pull low 14s and considering the mods and money I have in my car I was really shooting for a 13.8 or soo... I really wish I would have contemplated buying this car when I did... I have a much better job now than I did when I bought the car last December and could have gotten a MUCH better car... Like a G35/G37, BMW 1 Series, 350Z, etc, you know a realll car...

Soo anyways enough bitching, I need to figure out whats wrong with my car... Now most people are going to say "damn this guy can't drive a stick" and I disagree as I have driven a stick for 6 year and as a daily driver for the past 2 and a half years. I don't beat on the car all the time, I drive it moderately most of the time. I always shift a little higher at about 3000-4000RPMs when cruising soo the clutch doesn't slip too much. I also downshift when braking (which I hear helps the clutch from getting glazed on these cars.) However, if I attempt to launch the car hard it slips like crazy when in 1st gear (sometimes). The Cobalt is ridiculous to launch! And I have 50% boost reduction in 1st gear, Ingalls ETD, Poly Trans Mounts, etc... WTF?

Do I have too much power for my stock clutch to handle? (people on here have >450 WHP on stock clutches!) Now I must say, I was sitting in stop and go traffic on the way into the track. Is it possible my clutch got all glazed up?

Is my Ingalls ETD adjusted too tight? Is this a suspension or traction problem? I don't get any wheel hop but my car just always seems to spin tire and / or slip clutch when pulling out hard.

Is everyone just gonna say I can't drive worth ****? Is the Cobalt reallllly this ridiculously hard to drive properly?

Do I seriously have to spend $1500 or soo to buy a new clutch and get it installed just to goto the track and get 1 good run in?

I don't get it... I can pound the car sooo hard from a roll while downshifting and it runs great, but the minute I try and go fast from a dig, the car just dies... If anyone could provide some help, info, comments, etc I would really appreciate it... I am about ready to light this thing on fire! I already knew the Cobalt SS/SC wasn't THAT fast but I didn't know you had to spend $5000 to break into the 13's... A Cobalt SS/SC there last night with ONLY a ZZP Header/DP and Megan catback ran pretty consistent 14.3's, WTF? My mods are in my sig, and my full mods are in my VBGarage.

</rant> Help! Thanks!

 

practice driving. you said your self you clutch was slipping, and you kept teh car floored, then WHILE it was still slipping you shifted to 2nd. no good.

yea, this car is hard to drive. but there's nothing wrong with your car.

 

It is no secret that the clutches in the Cobalt SS/SC are not the greatest. Even people running stock have had problems with slipping - GM themselves recommend upgrading the clutch when going to stage 2 or higher as the stock clutch is not designed to handle the added torque (this is straight out of the build book).

Your second pass is fast enough to get you into the 13s, if you could get your 60' times down.

 

here's a couple tips:

1) when the clutch starts slipping, let off the gas till it catches. otherwise you will burn up your clutch
2) after you let off the gas, and it catches, leave it in the same gear because even though the rpm's show 6500 rpms or whatever, you were still going fairly slow. when you shift to 2nd at that low of a speed you're going to put the engine way out of it's efficiency range, and even if it did catch it would have seriously slowed you down
3) the cobalt has a very short clutch. you can push the clutch pedal down maybe 2-4 inches and it's totally disengaged. learn where the disengage point is, and don't go much past it. it leaves less room for error. when you're shifting.
4) don't give gas untill you're totally off the clutch. when racing it takes some practice but you can shift very quickly. this goes along with #3. many people push the clutch pedal all the way down, shift, and floor the car before the clutch is anywhere near it's engage point. this gets the clutch burning to hell, and it doesn't have the holding power to catch at that point.

 

after driving to the track, let the car cool for at least 1 hour before making a run, clutch temps are too hot after driving, and other than that, just learn the secrets of driving the track, and of how to properly slip the clutch in first gear to keep from spinning, and u should do ok

 

It's you, not the car. I don't mean that in a negative way, just trying to shed some light on it.

Well it's two things. Not driving the car ideally and PRP. I think every single one of the Pittsburgh people have had the same issues there.

Wes (WSFrazier) had I believe more mods that you at the time and pulled a 20-something at 55 mph or something like that. If there are some Pittsburgh people there next time who have done quite a few passes there in an LSJ, see if you can take a ride with them and/or see what they can do with your car if you're comfortable with that.

 

driver error

 

could be an inconsistency in the clutch. might sound strange, but yesterday i took off from a light rather quick, kinda slipped the clutch bad, and it slipped bad going into 2nd and 3rd gear (shifting at 6500 or so). Came to the next light, took off kinda slow in 1st, brought it up to 6000 and popped it into 2nd and squealed the hell out of the tires. these clutches glaze so easily...

 

quit crying lol.
got practice driving the car man. **** I went 13.85@103.54 with stock pulley, injectors, intense trans mounts, and an exhaust.

 

Thanks guys, wow it really seems like I need a driver mod big time... I just find it a bit odd that I have never had this problem with any other cars... And that this car has such a **** clutch!

Will a better clutch allow better launches and make it so I never have this problem again? I am guessing though with a clutch that holds more I would be looking at potentially breaking some axles...

Soo assuming I'm not gonna drive my car off a cliff because I hate it right now would stage 2 axles and a stage 2+ clutch allow full power launches? Or is it better to just stick with what I have stock because getting more power to the ground will just make more wheelspin anyways? What about the new WOT boxes?

 

it actually has a very good clutch, I'm pushing close to 500hp on the stock clutch and it doesnt' slip.
It's just real tricky to learn how to drive it correctly without slipping it (these clutches don't like heat).
but for me, I've had 23 cars before the cobalt, it wasn't bad to get used to, took about a week or so.
and with FWD on street tires you don't want a full power launch, or your just gonna spin, wheelhop and destroy ****.
Just practice and learn how to drive it correctly.

 

learn to launch it now while you have stock parts. lol...the car is very difficult to drive off of a digg. just practice bro, practicer makes perfect

 

Thanks for the input. I guess I'll just have to mess around on the streets. I really need Driver Mod Stage 5 or something... Any further comments are appreciated. Thanks

BTW, soo is it benficial to drive the car while slipping the clutch as little as possible. I have really tried this and it just makes the ride soooo terrible. Its like an amusment park ride, bucking and shaking... Is this soo? And how do you pull out nicely? If you try and pull out slipping as little as possible then you have to give it alot of gas and you launch not gently pull out. How exactly do you drive this thing through traffic without it getting damaged. I just think the whole thing is ridiculous! If you can't drive the car nicely and slip the clutch smoothly without it getting all glazed up and slipping then that is a major engineering problem from GM! I have never heard of a car that needs to be driven like your race shifting DD on the street in stock form. Also, ummmm the point of a clutch is to slip enough to allow a connection from the engine to the transmission. I.E. the clutch should have more than 2 postions! (engaged and disengaged) My 2 cents...

 

Bump, anyone want to give some pointers on properly driving the SS? From what I hear go easy on the clutch for the least slippage. Upshift quickly and don't get back on the gas till full clutch engagement? Downshift while rev matching? This is for daily driving? What about for racing? How do you execute the 1-2 shift under WOT without slippage?

 

its always better to slip the clutch as little as possible in any manual car, let alone the ss/sc. Its definately you though. I'm driving manual everyday for the past 5 years. i have 2 auto xs and 30 passes at the drag strip, stock car, stock clutch with 50k.

The ss/sc isn't a drag car. Your better off just leaving the line at idle, short shifting to second and then getting on the gas. I think your problem is that when your launching, your giving it gas when the clutch isn't all the way engaged which is causing it to slip, then flooring it causing more slip, then shifting to second and giving it gas again befor ethe clutch engages causing it to slip and at that point the clutch is so hot, its not going to catch for ****.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vz4SbPjTjk

 

Thanks everyone for all of the head's up concerning the SS clutch. I have driven stick for a good amount of time and I must say this car is quite touchy. I am still a little confused however as I feel that when I try and drive the car "correctly" and let the clutch out quickly with the least amount of slip that the car feels really "rough." I feel like the car can't be driven "smoothly" or "nicely" because that would create too much slippage on the clutch. This I don't understand though, as I have never had this problem before with another car. How for example would you take your grandma for a Sunday drive without giving her whiplash? lol. Can someone clear this up for me?

Also, most importantly, after reading stuff on here I have heard that it is possible to restore the clutch to a "like new" condition by driving it "right" and downshifting a lot to break the glaze. Any ideas?

BTW, thanks a lot for sharing the video brandon!

 

Who tells you to downshift a lot? I've never read that before. Maybe i will make a vid of me driving cause the car is very smooth for me and quickly disengaging the clutch. I would think the only way to get glaze off of the clutch would be to remove it and use some sand paper on it.

My car crossed over 49k all stock on those runs, i only posted one, but there are a couple others on youtube. What are the rpms at when you slip the clutch from a start while driving normally? Also, when changing gears, you can let the clutch up when the rpms are spinning at the same speed as the tranny.

for example, when you shift from 1st to second the rpms probably will fall 2k. so when you shift at 5k, wait till the tach is at 3k and let the clutch out.

 

Whenever starting from a dead stop in 1st regular driving I just let the clutch out a little and give it a little gas to transition into gear like you would in any other car. Just off idle. If I try and give it some more gas to "launch" at like 2000 or 2500 rpms or soo, when I release the clutch it just slips like crazy. Normal driving the clutch doesn't slip when taking the transition from a stop really nicely, but when I try and get on it it def does...

Also concerning the clutch, I read on here a couple different places that hard downshifting will rough up the clutch and "break" the glaze...