As some may have read, my new clutch went south after about 500 miles of easy driving. The symptom was similar to what I would expect if my master leaked all the fluid out - during my 25 mile drive to work every disengagement took more effort and was closer and closer to the floor. I finally pulled the trans on Saturday and found out what the problem was. One of the tabs on the throwout bearing housing had broken off and the other has a crack. 500 freaking miles! The clutch was an XTR or XTD Stage 2. If anyone wants to post the pics I took I'd be happy to email them (side by side with the replacement which is way beefier). The pressure plate fingers had grooves worn in them too.

And for those that might say I should have known better I'll point out that the clutch came with the car (in the trunk) and if it had lasted 10K miles like I've read they do I would have been OK with it. And usually they start to slip - not break like this one did.