Ceramic clutch disc...

[KATwo40]

Anyone here know much about ceramic puck style clutch discs? Have a guy swearing that his ceramic sprung 4 puck disc kits come with a refurbished stock pressure plate and can handle upwards of 500ft/lbs torque.

If this is true, I'm buyin' one in the next couple weeks.

The guy offers a complete warranty with the kit. Says if it doesn't hold, he'll give a full refund.

Thanks for anything ya'll can give me on this.

[scarboroughdub]

yeah i currently use a 6 puck ceramic sprung disc with a dual diaphram pressure plate, and i must say it bites and hold hard. npo dyno numbers yet so ic annot verify but im very sure it can handle 500whp plis.

so a 4 puck will hold more power since it has more clamping force but it all depends in the pressure plate.

also to note cermamic is good because even if oil gets on it, it will not kill the clutch since ceramic does not absorb oil like othr materials.

the only negative is you have lessened flywheel life since ceramic is much more aggressive and bites harder.

[KATwo40]

Thank you. Other peeps have been telling me consistant information about it. I think next week I'll go ahead and order the ceramic disc kit.

[scarboroughdub]

but depending on your power goals this might change

the 4 puck will chatter, the 6 puck does not at all.

[C-Kwik]

First off, before you get away from an organic disc, make sure you need the power. It'ss likely a copper ceramic disc, and they are both harsh on the flywheel and pressure plate and harsh in engagement. I went with a Dual friction disc once and I'll never use anything other than organic unless I need to. Never again, given the poor drivability and short lifespan(10-12K mils out of mine - the ceramic materials didn't wear much, but the pressure plate wore to the point, the pressure plate diaphragm was fully extended when the pedal was out leaving no spring pressure to actually clamp onto the disc). In fact, I'd probably try out a dual disc organic clutch before going to a non-organic material if the need were to arise, but that's just me.

As far as clamping force, a 6 and 4 puck disc will have the same torque holding force. More pucks(assmuing same sized pucks) will spread out force from the pressure plate along it's greater surface area. Given a constant coefficient of friction, the actual holding force will not change. Where more pucks can be useful is in it's ability to absorb and dissapate heat. If clamping force is not the issue, but overheating the clutch is, then the additional pucks may help. The pressure plate force and the coefficient of friction present in between the surface areas are the sole factors in determining torque holding capability.

I would make sure the clutch is no overkill. If you actually are making 500 lb/ft of torque, then go for it, but if an organic will hold what you are planning for, then my recommendation would be to stick with an organic disc.