View Poll Results: NA setup, favorite clutch?
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Clutch Debate
Registered User
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 1,308
Likes: 1
Update on my SOS clutch - I've been having so many driveability problems that I decided to pull the transmission out and take a look. It turns out that the clutch itself is fine, and all of my problems were installation related.
The shop who installed it apparently didn't use ANY grease, so the throwout bearing is bone dry and dragging like crazy on the mainshaft collar. They also didn't tighten the pressure plate down evenly, so the clutch was only grabbing on half of the flywheel. (I took pics, which I'll post later.)
The SOS clutch looks fine. I was the only SOS clutch owner having any issues, and now we know they were NOT caused by the clutch. We could put it back in, but I'm either at or above its torque rating already and I'm going for more power next year. So I'm putting in the ACT HD SS since I have it sitting here and the transmission is out of the car.
I think this explains why the car felt like it wasn't putting power down, and why the clutch was so tricky to engage smoothly. My other driveability issues are probably cv bucket wear, so at this point I have no evidence of problems caused by my SOS clutch. Poor thing never got a fair chance to work!
EDIT - Update, a couple hours later:
Just drove home. Took me a couple tries to get used to the way the ACT feels, but after 20 minutes in the car it's as natural as anything I've driven. I can't remember what stock actually felt like, but this seems just like it.
It's making some noise on decel, not bad but it's noticeable. Honestly, at this point I don't care.
Night and day difference vs. trying to engage a clutch that is only grabbing half the flywheel and has metal-to-metal contact between the bearing and the shaft. It's buttery smooth, super easy to drive and - OMG - I can slip the clutch again! What joy!!
EDIT - Update, a year later (January 11, 2013):
The ACT clutch buzz noise on decel is pretty loud. It sounds like a chainsaw. I really love it, because the car sounds super mean. This could have been caused by my flywheel being machined down to the very minimum spec limit when the ACT was installed, so I don't know for sure if the clutch is totally to blame. With a new flywheel, it might not buzz so much.
I'm thinking about selling the car, so I just swapped the ACT out and put the SOS back in. (I figured nobody would buy the car with that much buzzing.) With a properly greased bearing and proper torquing on the pressure plate, the SOS now drives very well. It's 99% just like stock and has no clutch buzz or other issues. The SOS doesn't engage quite as smoothly (it's a bit grabby) at low rpm when slipping the clutch from a start as the ACT does, but rev it a bit higher and it's very smooth to engage. This is a minor difference and not an issue at all, plus I'm still just breaking the SOS in after reinstalling it. By the way, I didn't change the flywheel - it's the same one the ACT was buzzing against, yet the SOS is quiet.
So now I can say that both clutches have OEM-like driveability. The ACT is 100% like Stock; SOS is 99% like stock in terms of pedal feel and engagement. The difference is so small it's not worth worrying about, and I'm completely happy driving either clutch in Atlanta traffic. The ACT does buzz, but it might have been caused by my flywheel. I would recommend either clutch to anyone who wants to buy one.
The shop who installed it apparently didn't use ANY grease, so the throwout bearing is bone dry and dragging like crazy on the mainshaft collar. They also didn't tighten the pressure plate down evenly, so the clutch was only grabbing on half of the flywheel. (I took pics, which I'll post later.)
The SOS clutch looks fine. I was the only SOS clutch owner having any issues, and now we know they were NOT caused by the clutch. We could put it back in, but I'm either at or above its torque rating already and I'm going for more power next year. So I'm putting in the ACT HD SS since I have it sitting here and the transmission is out of the car.
I think this explains why the car felt like it wasn't putting power down, and why the clutch was so tricky to engage smoothly. My other driveability issues are probably cv bucket wear, so at this point I have no evidence of problems caused by my SOS clutch. Poor thing never got a fair chance to work!
EDIT - Update, a couple hours later:
Just drove home. Took me a couple tries to get used to the way the ACT feels, but after 20 minutes in the car it's as natural as anything I've driven. I can't remember what stock actually felt like, but this seems just like it.
It's making some noise on decel, not bad but it's noticeable. Honestly, at this point I don't care.Night and day difference vs. trying to engage a clutch that is only grabbing half the flywheel and has metal-to-metal contact between the bearing and the shaft. It's buttery smooth, super easy to drive and - OMG - I can slip the clutch again! What joy!!
EDIT - Update, a year later (January 11, 2013):
The ACT clutch buzz noise on decel is pretty loud. It sounds like a chainsaw. I really love it, because the car sounds super mean. This could have been caused by my flywheel being machined down to the very minimum spec limit when the ACT was installed, so I don't know for sure if the clutch is totally to blame. With a new flywheel, it might not buzz so much.
I'm thinking about selling the car, so I just swapped the ACT out and put the SOS back in. (I figured nobody would buy the car with that much buzzing.) With a properly greased bearing and proper torquing on the pressure plate, the SOS now drives very well. It's 99% just like stock and has no clutch buzz or other issues. The SOS doesn't engage quite as smoothly (it's a bit grabby) at low rpm when slipping the clutch from a start as the ACT does, but rev it a bit higher and it's very smooth to engage. This is a minor difference and not an issue at all, plus I'm still just breaking the SOS in after reinstalling it. By the way, I didn't change the flywheel - it's the same one the ACT was buzzing against, yet the SOS is quiet.
So now I can say that both clutches have OEM-like driveability. The ACT is 100% like Stock; SOS is 99% like stock in terms of pedal feel and engagement. The difference is so small it's not worth worrying about, and I'm completely happy driving either clutch in Atlanta traffic. The ACT does buzz, but it might have been caused by my flywheel. I would recommend either clutch to anyone who wants to buy one.
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 7,182
Likes: 1
From: Atlantis Buffet
Update on my SOS clutch - I've been having so many driveability problems that I decided to pull the transmission out and take a look. It turns out that the clutch itself is fine, and all of my problems were installation related.
The shop who installed it apparently didn't use ANY grease, so the throwout bearing is bone dry and dragging like crazy on the mainshaft collar. They also didn't tighten the pressure plate down evenly, so the clutch was only grabbing on half of the flywheel. (I took pics, which I'll post later.)
The SOS clutch looks fine. I was the only SOS clutch owner having any issues, and now we know they were NOT caused by the clutch. We could put it back in, but I'm either at or above its torque rating already and I'm going for more power next year. So I'm putting in the ACT HD SS since I have it sitting here and the transmission is out of the car.
I think this explains why the car felt like it wasn't putting power down, and why the clutch was so tricky to engage smoothly. My other driveability issues are probably cv bucket wear, so at this point I have no evidence of problems caused by my SOS clutch. Poor thing never got a fair chance to work!
EDIT - Update, a couple hours later:
Just drove home. Took me a couple tries to get used to the way the ACT feels, but after 20 minutes in the car it's as natural as anything I've driven. I can't remember what stock actually felt like, but this seems just like it.It's making some noise on decel, not bad but it's noticeable. Honestly, at this point I don't care.
Night and day difference vs. trying to engage a clutch that is only grabbing half the flywheel and has metal-to-metal contact between the bearing and the shaft. It's buttery smooth, super easy to drive and - OMG - I can slip the clutch again! What joy!!
The shop who installed it apparently didn't use ANY grease, so the throwout bearing is bone dry and dragging like crazy on the mainshaft collar. They also didn't tighten the pressure plate down evenly, so the clutch was only grabbing on half of the flywheel. (I took pics, which I'll post later.)
The SOS clutch looks fine. I was the only SOS clutch owner having any issues, and now we know they were NOT caused by the clutch. We could put it back in, but I'm either at or above its torque rating already and I'm going for more power next year. So I'm putting in the ACT HD SS since I have it sitting here and the transmission is out of the car.
I think this explains why the car felt like it wasn't putting power down, and why the clutch was so tricky to engage smoothly. My other driveability issues are probably cv bucket wear, so at this point I have no evidence of problems caused by my SOS clutch. Poor thing never got a fair chance to work!
EDIT - Update, a couple hours later:
Just drove home. Took me a couple tries to get used to the way the ACT feels, but after 20 minutes in the car it's as natural as anything I've driven. I can't remember what stock actually felt like, but this seems just like it.
It's making some noise on decel, not bad but it's noticeable. Honestly, at this point I don't care.Night and day difference vs. trying to engage a clutch that is only grabbing half the flywheel and has metal-to-metal contact between the bearing and the shaft. It's buttery smooth, super easy to drive and - OMG - I can slip the clutch again! What joy!!
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 509
Likes: 2
From: Columbus,OH
Update on my SOS clutch - I've been having so many driveability problems that I decided to pull the transmission out and take a look. It turns out that the clutch itself is fine, and all of my problems were installation related.
The shop who installed it apparently didn't use ANY grease, so the throwout bearing is bone dry and dragging like crazy on the mainshaft collar. They also didn't tighten the pressure plate down evenly, so the clutch was only grabbing on half of the flywheel. (I took pics, which I'll post later.)
The SOS clutch looks fine. I was the only SOS clutch owner having any issues, and now we know they were NOT caused by the clutch. We could put it back in, but I'm either at or above its torque rating already and I'm going for more power next year. So I'm putting in the ACT HD SS since I have it sitting here and the transmission is out of the car.
I think this explains why the car felt like it wasn't putting power down, and why the clutch was so tricky to engage smoothly. My other driveability issues are probably cv bucket wear, so at this point I have no evidence of problems caused by my SOS clutch. Poor thing never got a fair chance to work!
EDIT - Update, a couple hours later:
Just drove home. Took me a couple tries to get used to the way the ACT feels, but after 20 minutes in the car it's as natural as anything I've driven. I can't remember what stock actually felt like, but this seems just like it.It's making some noise on decel, not bad but it's noticeable. Honestly, at this point I don't care.
Night and day difference vs. trying to engage a clutch that is only grabbing half the flywheel and has metal-to-metal contact between the bearing and the shaft. It's buttery smooth, super easy to drive and - OMG - I can slip the clutch again! What joy!!
The shop who installed it apparently didn't use ANY grease, so the throwout bearing is bone dry and dragging like crazy on the mainshaft collar. They also didn't tighten the pressure plate down evenly, so the clutch was only grabbing on half of the flywheel. (I took pics, which I'll post later.)
The SOS clutch looks fine. I was the only SOS clutch owner having any issues, and now we know they were NOT caused by the clutch. We could put it back in, but I'm either at or above its torque rating already and I'm going for more power next year. So I'm putting in the ACT HD SS since I have it sitting here and the transmission is out of the car.
I think this explains why the car felt like it wasn't putting power down, and why the clutch was so tricky to engage smoothly. My other driveability issues are probably cv bucket wear, so at this point I have no evidence of problems caused by my SOS clutch. Poor thing never got a fair chance to work!
EDIT - Update, a couple hours later:
Just drove home. Took me a couple tries to get used to the way the ACT feels, but after 20 minutes in the car it's as natural as anything I've driven. I can't remember what stock actually felt like, but this seems just like it.
It's making some noise on decel, not bad but it's noticeable. Honestly, at this point I don't care.Night and day difference vs. trying to engage a clutch that is only grabbing half the flywheel and has metal-to-metal contact between the bearing and the shaft. It's buttery smooth, super easy to drive and - OMG - I can slip the clutch again! What joy!!
