I've had one of the old designed spec stage III carbon clutches in my car for almost two years now.. besides being a bit tough to drive it's been a good clutch - clamps well, etc. The clutch wasn't abused AT ALL and saw very few city miles even (college student) it only saw interstate miles home. The car wasn't even a track car and hasn't been to the track since installing the clutch.. BUT the darn thing grenaded the other day after a fairly hard first to second shift - yes it was in gear and accelerating when it blew. I called spec and they want to see it so I'll probably send it off tomorrow. The springs blew in it evidently. One of the 4 segmented sections broke clean off... I found it wedged up between the bellhousing and pressure plate. One of the other sections (with spring still intact) has a hairline fracture in it also.. I'm confident spec will provide their same great customer service as always but am not sure I want another clutch from them.

Anyways (yes I did a search) I've heard mixed reviews about the rest of specs products... I'd like a clutch that's a bit easier to drive but still engages good.. I was considering a stage II but then I saw the post about it slipping worse than the worn stocker and now I'm concerned. And someone else claims to have had repeated failures with the new stage III's (springs breaking) so I don't think I want to go that route again besides I want something less grabby anyway. Any ideas on what I should do? Could I just get a new pp from them use a different disk? What do yall think - mcleoad single disk or stock or stage II? I'd like a few more opinions..

 

Look up my name on Spec clutches in the LT1 section... My stage 3 carbon blew on a 3rd gear hit... hard accelerating... about 2000 miles on the clutch.

Anyways i say screw spec..

Right now my car has about 400hp at the fly and the LT4 clutch holds just fine and its smooth intown. Car will have 450 after a tune so im not sure how well it'll hold. I think it'll hold fine.

Stick with the stock clutch, lt4 clutch, or slp clutch. Those are safe bets.

The Mccleod has a lot of praise but its pricey..

 

If your not going to be racing that your car and not pushing alot of power go with a mccleod single disk. Dont go with slp, it wont even last one day at the track on street tires. I had my mccleod single disk for almost 2 years and about 10 track days on it before it gave out. If you want the mother of all clutches, go with a street twin. Yea it costs alot, but it will last you a long time. When it finally gives out it only cost 350 to get it rebuilt, no matter whats wrong with it. Mccloed has some of the best customer service I have ever seen. You cant go wrong with them.

 

The clutch should arrive at SPEC today.. I'll let you all know what I decide after I call them..

In the mean time I will say that I'm leaning toward the stage two.. I've seen pictures of it next to the stage III and frankly the new design looks like it will be prone toward the same failure the old one was (puck flying off).. the springs on the stage II look much better too..


I was also wondering how many times I can have the flywheel turned or what the stock specs are on it? I've seen a few people complaining that the clutch doesn't fully disengage if the flywheel is too thin...

Is there anyway I can measure mine after having it turned again? And how could I fix it if need be? shimming?

Thanks again for the imput..

 

your flywheel should be good for about 2 or so resurfacing's... Depending on how bad it got chewed up and how much they need to shave to get it straight.. so that depends.. typical resurfacing's is about 2 though.. Good luck w/ your "spec" issues'.. I too was one of the first to apparantly break a Stage III kevlar.. Not once but twice in 3K miles.. Then they tried upgrading me to the Carbon because my bolt on car apparantly had too much power for the kevlar.. WEll that **** the bed.. So they gave me ceramic and it popped a spring.. So I got tired. Told them i wanted a unsprung 6 puck clutch w/ ceramic's.. They willingfully obliged. Then i unloaded it for really cheap.. and only forked over 400 for my Street Twin.. haven't looked back since...

 

I have to get on this....My Old 4 winged Stage III blew after like a month. Same as yours, one of the wings came clean off. What happened was the wing was a little out of round and hit the bolt flange on the PP. SPEC replaced it with No probs (except that they would not pay for the new bellhousing). They sent me the revised 6 puck version. It has been on my car for over a year and a half with no issues, and it has taken a lot of abuse!

 

How would you compare the new stage III to the old in terms of driveability? How about compared to a stocker?

The old version bit hard but was a bit too much for a daily driver.. not like I would have replaced it but now that I am in need of a new clutch I think I may get something a bit easier to drive that way the GF doesn't gripe about it too much

 

i thought it chattered less, but i may just be used to it since i drive it at least 4days a week.

 

I had a Spec Stage I and it chattered so bad I called Spec and the said "it'll break in", well it never did, just got worse, then they said "must be a bad resurfacing job, do it again" so the clutch shop pulled it and sent the Stage I back to Spec and resurfaced the flywheel again and I had them put the Stage II in instead. Well it's better and grabs well (smokes tires through 3 gears and barks forth) but it still chatters a significantly in first (worse when warmed up, and terrible if stuck in uphill traffic). I'll live with it for now because I'm tired of messing with it but I'm not happy with the chatter issues, I've had many standard transmission cars with performance clutches and never had a chatter problem with one of them, I consider it unacceptable for it to be this way on a product that they advertise as being "chatter free"
I'd be curious to know if anyone has ever had anything bad to say about the McCloyd Street Twin (other than cost), if it grabs that hard to destroy rear ends (is that more a function of traction and power than the clutch), does it still engage chatter free?

 

I have the twin and i love it.. Pedal effort is a lil harder than stock and take up is not stock like smooth.. but its by far not like any SPEC on/off switch...

 

Are you riding the clutch a lot? I had the old version (4 puck) stage III (blew up as I'm sure you read) and it chattered a bit but nothing too bad.. mostly I didn't like the harsh engagement... the new stage II I'm getting (yes I'm going back to SPEC) isn't even a pucked design and it's kevlar.. not ceramic or carbon.. I expect it to be A LOT more streetable.. but I'll let you all know once I get it installed. I do have a real high tolerance for things though... hard to drive clutch and a muffler-less true dual system come to mind