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VERY IMPORTANT CLUTCH " please read before you buy&quot

3K views 29 replies 9 participants last post by  rogerius 
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#1 ·
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#4 ·
Infomercial, ok well im just trying to assure that no else has to go through what i went through, If you dont like what im saying ignore it!

The stage 1 clutch i yanked was marked luk, and the stage 2 was sachs! and both pressure plates were luk with the friction material altered. both were put together by southbend.
 
#10 ·
The Luk clutch is the stock clutch supplier to VW and Audi. In my case it was a horrible clutch. It said "made In Brazil" right on it. Hmmmmm...
No wonder steve was having issues with his clutches. Now Sachs is a much better clutch manufacture. A true German clutch. I installed a standard Sachs clutch disk, cover and release bearing and have been very happy with it for that last 35K miles. :)

Sachs also makes a Sport clutch that fits our cars, but it is sometimes very hard to find. I almost had a Sport Sachs disk for my car, but that fell through. AutoTech sells 1.8T Sachs clutches, but be very careful of what you buy. Make sure it is for a longitudinal engine and not the transverse. If they try to sell you a VR6 clutch assembly and they say it will work in your car, forget it. It won't. The 1.8T Passat clutch is very different than a 1.8T GTi or Jetta clutch.

Also, you'll propably want to either buy a new factory flywheel or one of the lightened aftermarket units. Again, make sure it is for a Passat or Audi A4, nothing else works. :sad:

Good luck!
 
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#12 ·
The OE flywheel can be resurfaced, And as far as the lightend flywheels i have the A.W.E is nice its 18pds. I never had trouble with it, and the spin up is sweet you run through gears so fast and i don't stall out at all. I would not go under 15 pounds but thats just me you need a little inertia.
 
#13 ·
20vvillian said:
Infomercial, ok well im just trying to assure that no else has to go through what i went through, If you dont like what im saying ignore it!

The stage 1 clutch i yanked was marked luk, and the stage 2 was sachs! and both pressure plates were luk with the friction material altered. both were put together by southbend.
20vvillian,
Sorry if it sounded like an insult to your material. I appreciate the knowledge. I didn't know this was happening. I am just cautious since the writer seemed to praise another company. I don't know the source, so I am just questioning if the writer isn't selling something. However once again, I truly appreciate the information since I plan to upgrade to HD clutch.

I am sorry to hear your problems with the 2 previous clutches. And I have heard considerable issues with southbend over at VWVortex in recent months. Some dying in a couple of months. I thought they were resolving this issue, but this article would present evidence why it will never be resolved. Are you taking legal action?

So, I assume buying Sachs straight from the manufacturer is what is needed? Originally this is what I have planned. Please keep us informed on how the new unit feels and does.

Sorry for the sarcasm. 8)
 
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#14 ·
Your right octick i'm sorry about that, It does seem to point to the company. I apologize because it could be seen as self promotion by the clutch company.

Just forget the company and take the advice they give. A lot of aftermarket clutchs are just Physically manipulated clutch from other companies repainted and renamed. That sucks but i learned the hard way, and i dont want any of my bro's to go down that road wasting time and money.
 
#16 ·
Interesting read...I still haven't replaced mine, after all that talk about it last year. If I do I'll just replace it with an OEM and maybe do the AWE flywheel. I wouldn't want anything too light either.

Pete
 
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#18 ·
I purchased a stage 1 clutch and fly wheel, installed it and it was great for about 5 months. It died i called A.W.E they said that it was probably faulty so they gave me a stage 3 for next to nothing. It came straight from southbend clutches. we resurfaced my flywheel, and did the install by the book. 4-5 months later its starts to slip, i can drive normally until engine temp is up and the box get hot then it slips and i have to park it up and let it cool all the way down.

The stage 1 clutch was bright red and beautiful, it came out black and clear as day written right on the clutch luk in big letters. I had it checked an the pressure plate splines were bent to add pressure other than that it was an ordinary OEM pressure plate. i paid over a grand for this setup, honestly i was taken! :mad:

The stage 3 clutch was given to me for $300 buck the o.e.m LUK & SACHS clutchkits are $300.00 hmmm :suspicio: so i threw it in and sure enough 4-5 months of use and it started slipping.

This is the reason I'm telling everyone, when you go aftermarket and they are claiming they are building your clutch, But take a good look at it. Ask them where the components came from. be sure that you are getting what you paid for and that your paying for what you need.

Be very specific, because they love to take your cash.
 
#19 ·
Yeah, the OEM flywheels can be resurfaced, but it takes a special shop to do this. Not just everyone that resurfaces flywheels can do it. I finally found someone here in Denver to do it for me, but then we had another issue. His smallest cutting stone wasn't small enough. He said he could do it, but he would have to order in the right sized stone and that would have taken longer and cost more than I was willing to wait or pay. So in the end, I did the resurface myself! :shock: :???: It wasn't to hard at all and by no means am I suggesting that people go out and try it themselves. I had to set up a special rig to do it and I used a drill press. It wasn't the absolute best way to do this kind of work, but I did it and the clutch works flawlessly. Also, I started out with a very good used flywheel. The one that I was about to remove from the car was surely trashed. So I wanted to have a spare ready to install in it's place.

If I had the money and the time to wait, I would have gone with a lightened single mass flywheel, but I didn't have either.

I bought the used one from RPI Equiped up in Canada. They sold it to me for $135 shipped. A deal for sure! :) The Sachs clutch kit came from www.bimmerparts.com And that wasn't too badly priced either. With all that and few good friends. I did the clutch in my '99 1.8T Passat. Oh, it took two full days and one badly cut knuckle. :crazy: :roll:
 
#20 ·
20vvillian said:
I purchased a stage 1 clutch and fly wheel, installed it and it was great for about 5 months. It died i called A.W.E they said that it was probably faulty so they gave me a stage 3 for next to nothing. It came straight from southbend clutches. we resurfaced my flywheel, and did the install by the book. 4-5 months later its starts to slip, i can drive normally until engine temp is up and the box get hot then it slips and i have to park it up and let it cool all the way down.

The stage 1 clutch was bright red and beautiful, it came out black and clear as day written right on the clutch luk in big letters. I had it checked an the pressure plate splines were bent to add pressure other than that it was an ordinary OEM pressure plate. i paid over a grand for this setup, honestly i was taken! :mad:

The stage 3 clutch was given to me for $300 buck the o.e.m LUK & SACHS clutchkits are $300.00 hmmm :suspicio: so i threw it in and sure enough 4-5 months of use and it started slipping.

This is the reason I'm telling everyone, when you go aftermarket and they are claiming they are building your clutch, But take a good look at it. Ask them where the components came from. be sure that you are getting what you paid for and that your paying for what you need.

Be very specific, because they love to take your cash.
Dam bro.....I have stage 2 ready to go in...but now Im scared....very very scared.....what should I do???

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#21 ·
First off physically inspect it, look for the makers name under all that pretty paint. If you can you may also find numbers. These numbers tell the original maker of the clutch which pressure plate you have and they can in turn tell you the how much clamping or holding power its rated at if they tell you it an o.e.m your screwed get you money back. If they give it a high rating make sure you ask them what center clutch disc material it's spec'ed to work with, find out what you have and make sure its acceptable.

Good luck bro!
 
#22 ·
20vvillian said:
Infomercial, ok well im just trying to assure that no else has to go through what i went through, If you dont like what im saying ignore it!

The stage 1 clutch i yanked was marked luk, and the stage 2 was sachs! and both pressure plates were luk with the friction material altered. both were put together by southbend.
Ok so you're saying you had a Luk clutch, and it slipped. Then you provide links to a website that promotes Luk clutches? This is confusing.
 
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#24 ·
Thanks octick, hey T the let me un-confuse you you can buy a clutch direct from the manufacturer spec'd for your that will last you forever or close, Or you can buy a $1000 frankenclutch that will grip like the devil and last for 4-5 months. You decide!
 
#25 ·
Heres a shot of my trashed clutch disk.



I said earlier that it came from Brazil, well that's wrong. How about South Africa? :roll: :roll: Of course everyone knows that all the best clutches come from the famous clutch mines of South Africa. :roll: :poke: :poke: :puke:

Actually I think Luk clutchs suck. Sachs is a much better clutch and the friction matterial isn't an organic compound like that of the Luk POS. And the springs on the Sachs pressure plate are stiffer than that of the weak Luk. If the car was kept at the stock 150HP then I'm sure it would have been fine. But we all know that isn't what's going on. :lol: :lol: Zoom, Zoom!!

For the rest of my clutch install pictures look here: http://groups.msn.com/vwpassatgls/clutchinstallpics.msnw?Page=1 There are 3 pages to look at, a total of 30 pictures.
 
#26 ·
20vvillian said:
Thanks octick, hey T the let me un-confuse you you can buy a clutch direct from the manufacturer spec'd for your that will last you forever or close, Or you can buy a $1000 frankenclutch that will grip like the devil and last for 4-5 months. You decide!
so the issue is really to avoid buying a REBUILT clutch.
 
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