Ive got an 07 Cobalt SS/SC Stage 2 with 19851 mi on it, 5k of which Ive put on it in the three and a half months ive owned it.

Mods include GMPP Stage 2 kit and SPEC Stage 2+ clutch kit both installed by the dealership (previous owner worked there)

Now after I bought the car and have been driving it for 2 and a half months the clutch starts slipping in first and second and goes down hill from there. I take it to the chevy dealership i bought it from and they laugh at me and tell me to go on my merry way (wear and tear woes) and the same from GM Customer Service. The Chevy mechanics told me that the clutch was damn near gone and I could replace it with the cliche $1800. About 2 weeks ago the clutch seemed to finally go out on me. I was leaving stop and the clutch jolted in 1st and made a raspy rattling sound (best way to describe it is holding up copper wire tips to a spinning fan) and would not engage at all.

I finally get the smart idea to contact the previous seller to see if he had the stock clutch kit and flywheel for sale believing i need to replace them and of course he does have them and says $200 and theyre mine.

Today I call a local mechanic to price labor and after hearing about the problem he suggests that I try starting the car in gear and seeing if it will move like that. During my lunch break I go out and try it, and it worked. No slippage, no grinding untill I backed up and the car seemed to accelerate just fine, BUT I still couldnt shift to the next gear. (Turns out it wasnt too bad because I live on an Air Force base with a speed limit of 25mph. )

The same said mechanic told me to try driving the vehicle and pretty much speed shifting and he feels that if that works then I should be able to drive it (though Im not too sure how good for my car that would be nor do i wanna find out) and hes willing to look at it.

My question is this, WTF is going on with it? Is it something as simple yet expensive as replacing the clutch and flywheel? Or is it something better or worse? Ive seen alot of people have the same problems with their balts but alot of it is quickly (and most of the time reasonably) chalked up to driver error.

This is my third manual vehicle so Im not too new to the game, but I did have to break some old habits (riding the clutch) but theres no way I can believe that every day driving (ie NEVER on track or strip) could tear a $600+ clutch up this quickly. I dont know how badly the previous owner treated this car but considering the money he dumped in it I dont think he meant to have a nice fast daily driver.

Any insight or help would be awesome because Im at a loss.

Bump for new info

Well still scraping together to get the parts from the previous owners. the clutch still is horrible but im able to use the car on base because i dont need to get above 25mph. but its doin new things. it accellerates very slowly because if i gas it and it jumps above 4000 rpms it slips out and wont catch, leaving me sitting in intersections looking mightily embarressed. it makes me feel like it is just the clutch now and has very little or no friction material left, so im hoping that the oem clutch swap should cure my poor balt but i dont know if anyone else has any more insight on to what i should do.

do you think that there could have been more damage done to the set up than my car is letting on to?

 

improper break in will tear a performance clutch apart in no time. without actualy looking at the car i cant make the call weather its clutch or not, but it sure sounds like its just a burnt up clutch.

 

i would have to agree...make sure if you replace it that you put in a new slave and throw out barring...also people on here say u dont need to replace the clutch master cylinder...but i would if had the tranny out of my car 4 times now b.c of not replacing the master...broken shift rod and now secong gear sencro went bad