warriorpluto

iTrader: (2)

Im selling an 01 camaro ss m6. Some fool that had been bothering me for the past two weeks about buying it drove over 300 miles to come smoke my damn clutch. I let him test drive and he shift from first to second really fast without lifting the damn clutch. We get out of the car and i smell the clutch burning. He tells me my clutch was going out😕. Hurry up and shakes my hand and leaves. Ive never ever smelled my clutch as long i as i i owned my car. I see now why people put in their ads no joyriding. Ill be the only one test driving for future buyers from now on. Lesson learned. It still drives good but how much life do i have on my clutch since he smoked it in that gear shift? Ive never really experienced a burned clutch before. It still grabs pretty good. Think i i should replace it? If you see this guy he will burn your **** up

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

I did that to my brother's WS6 ... I was going to do a burnout and succeeded. The problem was that the clutch went up in smoke instead of the tires, lol.

The bad news is that the flywheel undoubtedly has hot spots and I'm sure his clutch disk is glazed. The good news is that it still grabs just fine and has continued to do so for many years after the incident.

The moral of the story: as long as it keeps working fine, don't worry about it. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But if it starts slipping or otherwise misbehaving, then it will demand your attention.

warriorpluto

iTrader: (2)

Great to hear. It'll probably sell before it starts slipping. It still grabs fine for now. I drove it this morning. The clutch smell is gone now.

NC01TA

I would not worry too much if it seems fine now. While the clutch is obviously different in my ' 07 Mustang GT, we smell it 'burning' on occasion when traction is tough on our steep driveway here in the mountains. It's now 12 years old with nearly 60k miles on it and it still works fine. Have we done damage to it or prematurely worn it out over time?? Who knows but we don't worry about it. Sorry this happened to you. I've sold many cars over my lifetime. I've never had someone walk away after I gave them a test drive. I'll drive it fast, I'll take it through the turns. but I'll be driving it unless you really have a good vibe about the person. They can drive it all they want when they own it.

BandDirector Blk98ZM6

iTrader: (21)

I'm sure it's fine for a while too. When I was first learning how to race, I took some advice from a non-4th gen owner to do a burnout in 2nd gear. I got through the water box, but it in second and popped the clutch and before long I had smoke billowing, I thought I'd done a great burn out. After the run, buddies told me that you know, your tires didn't even spin during the burn out...the smoke was your clutch. Car stayed on the cluch for a good while after that event too, so I doubt what happened to you ruined your clutch...unless it was already about done anyway...

warriorpluto

iTrader: (2)

I had the transmission rebuilt and brand new clutch. Not even 500 hundred miles on it yet. I do thank you guys for your experiences because it sure scared me. I didn't want to have to get under the car this time of year. Too cold outside now. I guess i can rest easy now.

warriorpluto

iTrader: (2)

Yes that's what I'll be doing from now on. I'll definitely drive it myself on the test drive

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Just thought I'd provide some perspective from the other side on this one. Many years ago, I bought a '71 Cutlass from a private seller who refused to let me drive the car prior to purchase. He did take me on a decent test ride and, as mentioned above, offered to go on the expressway or anything else that I wanted, but he stated that the last person who looked at the car had nearly crashed it so he wasn't letting anyone else drive it until they had already paid for it. Maybe his story was true, maybe it wasn't. This was nearly 25 years ago so I was much younger and less experienced at the time, I thought this seemed reasonable, and I did end up buying the car after a test ride. BIG mistake. The brakes were totally shot and the steering had slop that just wasn't noticeable as a passenger, I expected much better based on the ride and the fact the car only had 56k miles on it. Had I driven it first, I could have negotiated a fair deal based on these issues, or just walked away. Lesson learned; I'm sure some sellers have legitimate concerns about letting potential buyers drive their car, but sometimes they are just hiding issues in an attempt to get an inflated price. Having said that, I do agree with the idea of not letting folks actually drive the car until you have a tentative deal worked out (maybe even wait for proof of funds or such if the car is very valuable) and you can tell that they are truly serious about buying - assuming that the car drives as nice as you tell them it does. But, like said above, I'd have to have a really good feeling about someone to actually buy their car without ever driving it at all, or the deal would have to be good enough to cover repair costs of issues that would have been obviously revealed had I been able to drive it first.

For the record though, if I was buying a car from NC01TA I'd feel pretty comfortable doing so without a test drive. After all of our interactions on this site over the years, he's one seller I would definitely trust.

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

I always let them drive the car as long as I ride along with them. I usually start out with a test ride, and then let them drive it on the way back.

But there are exceptions. I just sold my son's V6 car to very nice couple, probably in their 50's, looking for a car for their son. They left their expensive SUV with me and I Iet them take it for a spin by themselves. Like someone said above, it depends on the person.