time for a new clutch...or something else?
 

My clutch has been acting up recently and i think it my be time to replace it, but i'm just not 100% sure thats the problem. I have a SPEC stage 3 carbon clutch, installed at 10k miles(stock disc failed, spun the splines), Now i have about 55k miles. (45k miles on a race clutch, not too bad) It makes a squealing noise during cold takeoffs, but that goes away after driving a little. The main concern is that when i rev it high up, the clutch seems to loose any pedal response. If i try to shift at high RPMs, lately it wont let me grab the next gear, caused me to have to back off a race with a porsche carrera 5 which i had. Also, if i'm just rolling, and i push in the clutch and then rev it to about 5k rpms, the pedal gets much more soild and almost feels useless, i have to release it and then about 10-20 seconds later its ok again. It doesnt seem to slip and i havent smelled anything from it. I was thinking if it could possibly me a hydraulic issue. The car is a 2001, supposedly with the good systems. Oh and i havent had a clutch pedal return spring in the car since 21k miles, after breaking 3 i gave up on them, lol, maybe that did something, maybe not. If i cant figure it out, i may just replace everything and go from there. but as of now, i'm leaning towards the idea that its a pressure plate issue, and the squealing is the throwout bearing only. i'll try to keep the car on the road with the current clutch as long as i can it only needs to make it until next summer hopefully, then a spec stage 4 or 5 will be going in. and if i do have to replace it before then, i'll only put a stock one in. oh well...thats my situation...