Errrrrrr E@$#'n SPEC clutches suk

[240life]

I thought my SR transmission was junk, so I went for a 2 hr drive and picked up a spare cheap...So I removed my transmission and it's bell housing all the gears were good. I looked inside the bellhousing(clutch side) and saw metal shavings, which were from the sheared teeth on the pressure plate. Freaking overpriced piece of poo. I will take pics tomorrow after I remove the pressure plate


Modified by 240life at 9:12 PM 6/13/2009

[thatonekid]

dam that sucks good luck with your car

[J240sx]

I like Spec clutches, i've never had any problems with mine.

[AZhitman]

Sounds like a bad installation.

I have a SPEC on both of my boosted cars and have had no issues.

[240life]

idk how it would have been installed improperly I always follow proper procedures and use correct tools, my disk is fine, but the splines where the input shaft goes into have worn completely away, there is no way to install that section wrong as it only fits one way. This clutch has been on for about 5,000 miles of incident free driving and I loved it, now this.

[Wc240]

had one and it was great. sounds like install error. your right tho, its kinda hard to F that up. sucks man
Modified by Wc240 at 7:42 PM 6/13/2009

[240life]

Well I contacted spec, we will see what they say in a couple days. Hopefully there is a warranty on this thing or something, unfortunetally the splines on the input shaft of my transmission got damaged

[Broadfield]

For what it's worth, I have never really heard anyone having clutch issues with any clutch manufacturer...... except for Spec. I have a good friend that had one in a boosted Civic. He has been a certified Honda tech all of his life, teaches driving techniques for autocross and he has had two bad ones. He is obviously done with them. Do a Google search for "Spec clutch problems" and you will get a lot more results than any other big names. Again, I am only giving an example of one person with an issue. But it is the only time that any of my friends have had clutch issues. And that's over a hundred combined vehicles in the past 20 years or so. They go through a lot of cars

[Justin35ll]

I guess I'm glad I went with clutchmasters

[240life]

For what it's worth, I have never really heard anyone having clutch issues with any clutch manufacturer...... except for Spec. I have a good friend that had one in a boosted Civic. He has been a certified Honda tech all of his life, teaches driving techniques for autocross and he has had two bad ones. He is obviously done with them. Do a Google search for "Spec clutch problems" and you will get a lot more results than any other big names. Again, I am only giving an example of one person with an issue. But it is the only time that any of my friends have had clutch issues. And that's over a hundred combined vehicles in the past 20 years or so. They go through a lot of cars

I have heard some nightmare stories too, but the clutch was already purchased so I looked at the quality and it appeared to be good. I have been trying to be optimistic about it but it is not looking good I ended up finding a used ACT Heavy duty pressure plate should be here in a week, thank god the disk is still good. It never slipped or nothing when this happened, all as I heard was a light thud almost like it popped out of gear, but it had not. Then I heard grinding so that is what prompted me to purchase a new transmission, but it was pressure plate failure. Now I am out of a low mileage trans mission cause the input shaft got all banged up by the metal shards.

[spank044]

I have had 2 spec clutches in my kA-t. The first one was warped and only made contact with the outter 3/4" of disc. Now my replacement is correct and grabs great when I launch. I launch at 6200 rpm, with about 10 lbs. of boost, a single piece driveshaft, welded diff, and a pair of 275 MT Steet Radials. I have not had any problems with the new disc yet, but with any mass produced item there is always gonna be a few that fail.

I am a little confused about your problem still, in the first post you said sheared teeth on the pressure plate, third post was damaged input shaft splines, and fourth post was pressure plate failure. What failed the pressure plate or disc?

Spline damage most generally occurs from hard shifting and hard launching.

What kind of torque do you have? Is it a stock engine? Is that the right clutch for your application? Do you have a solid or spring hub? All of this info makes the picture alot clearer for the rest of us.

[240life]

the pressureplate failed by shearing the teeth on the plate, the failed teeth damaged my inputshaft hope that clears it up for you...as far as driving goes i don't launch, I accelerate from a safe street rpm so i don't rear end people, I have only drifted on this clutch once 15laps....power is above stock probably close to 380 at the wheels, the clutch was there 6puck stage 3 sprung hub rated at over 400ft lbs torque which I was no where close to it's limit....like I said the disk is fine this clutch performed perfectly every day no slipping nothing and out of nowhere literally doing 30 mph it just dissentegrates the splines

[240life]

[Koshin]

I know some guys who run them in some vehicles with much less power than you and I and they seem to work well...but I wouldnt even think of putting one in mine...EXCEDY y0

I just got a new ATS carbon kevlar clutch and 2-way LSD...s*** gonn abe baller...I just say a used cusco go on E-ghey for like 320 bucks...it was like new...it was a deal

[240life]

nice find, I will never runb anothere one again

[slidestyle69]

I rocked a spec clutch for around 4 yrs along with their lightweight flywheel and never had a problem, raised hell on it everyday of my life

GO SPEC!

[240life]

if you told me i HAD to put a SPEC clutc in my car or you would shoot my dog, I would hand you a gun

[White Comet]

i agree with broadfield, spec is the only clutch comany i've heard horro strories from. even though ppl have had good experiences with them, its not worh the risk imo

[slidestyle69]

i think its got alot to do with how you drive your car. The spec i had was in my ka although i had 19's and 1 driveshaft and subframe collars with a vlsd. i launched it alot so thats pressure on the drivetrain there but it held up and was one of the best clutch's ive had but i had a exedy disc explode on me with my sr, with specs feedback thats why i went with the exedy but it f'd up but hey when you are rasing hell on your alot, things break and thats just how it is.

[240life]

true beating on your car raises hell but I have never seen this before

[clutch_kik]

My SPEC has never given me problems...

[Koshin]

My SPEC has never given me problems...

surprising...I bet you clutch kik it a lot too

[240life]

oH and I might add for the next person that wants to say installer error...I have been installing parts and working on cars longer then most of you have been on this earth, I may not know tuning as much as you younger folks but proper procedure I can handle. I've been playing with automobiles for almost 20 years, as my dad started me with changing oil and tuning engines at 10, im almost 31 now

[Broadfield]

My SPEC has never given me problems...

Yeah, but there are also plenty of people out there that have never had a Meagan manifold crack on them, but that doesn't mean they're good.

[240life]

so true...I hope my megan mani doesn't crack its the only thing I cheaped out on (other then the clutch apparently)

[240life]

nah bro I got no serious connections that saved me money initially I put only the best parts in this car Im close to 25k AND ITS STILL NOT ON TO THE BODY WORK YET the manifold I purchased on the belief that they all crack all of my other stuff as far as pistons intercooler bearings etc..list goes on are all serious shiat, not to brag, but I aint your average 240 owner

[Koshin]

i was d!ck with you mister....

your screen name is 240life....

I assume you are serious with it...or else you would be a liar...thus negating the significance of the name

[240life]

Naw it's cool just raining in maine alot so I got lot's of Capn's in me Seriously though you own me, you got the real deal silvia K's FTW!
Modified by 240life at 4:54 PM 6/14/2009

[Koshin]

it raining here to man...sux

I was supposed to play golf all day...instead, I got stoned and watched movies/Nico...

[240life]

must be nice, no smokey smokey for me, (anymore) I raised my right hand several years ago and am owned by the military......someday when I retire I will be that old guy