Second gear balk rings or synchros
always experience the greatest wear, but due to the nature of synchros cannot be made any more robust than any of the other ones.
If you think about it, everytime you climb through the gears, you engage second - not always true for higher gears. And the difference in total shifts - 2nd vs higher gears, can really mount up over time.
And, if you downshift to slow the car to a stop, you always hits second. Downshifting to a stop, especially in normal traffic and speeds is really bad for the car, especially the synchros and drivetrain mounts and is actually an indicator of poor driving skill, and, imho, disrespect for the machinery.
Back in the day, when cars had mechanical (vs hydraulic) drum brakes which were much more subject to overheating and fade, it was absolutely necessary to downshift the tranny and use engine braking to assist the brakes. But with today's modern hydraulic systems and disc brakes on all 4 corners, it is totally unecessary. Still, people think it's cool, so the practice continues.
It costs about $140-$160 to replace the pads, but a grand or more to replace synchros. IMHO, downshifting in regular traffic and normal speeds isn't cool... it's dumb. Now, in an emergency, that's completely different. In such cases, you do everything you can to shed speed as quickly as possible, then, downshifting or even throwing out an anchor if you have one is appropriate.
As others have said, a clutch needed at only 23k mi. is a sure indicator that the car was abused in the past or driven by a totally unskilled driver. Hopefully, for your sake, the dealer will step up. If not, you need to have the tranny broken down and the synchro(s) replaced. I wouldn't recommend taking it to just any garage. The UK has many porsche specialists who will do the job correctly. Do a search for Autofarm, amongst others.
