Clutchmasters fx100 life of only 60k miles?

B

bbob203

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2012
Location
Louisville, ky
TDI
b5.5v
I bought a b5.5 with a manual trans and failed clutch. I called clutchmasters to see if I could buy just a disc given the flywheel and pressure plate only have 60k miles. They didn’t want to sell me only a disc and told me that 60k miles is a lot of miles on one of their clutches. They also said this is a normal failure due to chatter... seems like a bunch of bull****. Not sure I would buy one of these new..


 
Last edited:
PickleRick

PickleRick

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
Seeing as they specialize in street/strip application i can understand why they won't warrant a 60k replacement. The po may have beaten on it. Break in period on a kevlar is also very important and many have issues keeping easy on the skinny pedal for 1500 or so miles. They also like to ride a clutch to stop the break in chatter. These motors make a hell of a lot of torque just at 2k. Not hard to beat it

Have you contacted south bend for a clutch?

What stage tune are you running? If you're above stock you were pushing it from word go. I am running the fx300 i believe. After about 2k the chatter is gone. On whitbreads custom flywheel it's a 240mm clutch. It holds my stage 2 fine. I'm still less than 10k miles on it
 
Last edited:
B

bbob203

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2012
Location
Louisville, ky
TDI
b5.5v
PickleRick said:
Seeing as they specialize in street/strip application i can understand why they won't warrant a 60k replacement. The po may have beaten on it. Break in period on a kevlar is also very important and many have issues keeping easy on the skinny pedal for 1500 or so miles. They also like to ride a clutch to stop the break in chatter. These motors make a hell of a lot of torque just at 2k. Not hard to beat it

Have you contacted south bend for a clutch?

What stage tune are you running? If you're above stock you were pushing it from word go. I am running the fx300 i believe. After about 2k the chatter is gone. On whitbreads custom flywheel it's a 240mm clutch. It holds my stage 2 fine. I'm still less than 10k miles on it
Click to expand...
Stage 2 tune according to PO. Guess he could’ve beat up on it. What PArt no is your clutch? Wasn’t looking to invest a ton in this clutch as I won’t drive the car hard at all.
 
PickleRick

PickleRick

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
The fx100 isn't rated for the 300 or so ftlbs of torque the BHW puts out. No idea on my fx300 part number.

This motor is making sbc v8 torque on a geo metro size clutch disk. I have little doubt that once you told clutchmaster fx100 and passat diesel in the same sentence they already knew what your issue was. Im sure your clutch was slipping when pushed hard, just passing and merging into traffic.


The p.o. went cheap on that purchase and you're paying for it now.

Whitbread perfomance is a clutch master dealer, check and see if he can get you an fx250 or fx300. They are more likely to have better customer service with a dealer than john doe over the phone.
 
20IndigoBlue02

20IndigoBlue02

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 22, 2001
Location
Was North NJ, now SoCal
TDI
2002 Golf TDI-- deceased
bbob203 said:
I bought a b5.5 with a manual trans and failed clutch. I called clutchmasters to see if I could buy just a disc given the flywheel and pressure plate only have 60k miles. They didn’t want to sell me only a disc and told me that 60k miles is a lot of miles on one of their clutches. They also said this is a normal failure due to chatter... seems like a bunch of bull****. Not sure I would buy one of these new..


Click to expand...
They probably don't sell disc only because then if a "defect arises", then it's harder to know if it's the disc and/or the pressure plate causing it, as well as the flywheel.

Do you have a light weight single-mass flywheel right now? Chattering on a lightweight flywheel does tend to happen, since you're only depending on the disc to absorb vibrations from engagement.

Sounds you have a 1.8T for this, right? unless a manual was swapped into to replace the Tiptronic.
 
Last edited:
Uberhare

Uberhare

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Location
Ontario, Canada
TDI
Too many.
It looks like the plate cracked in the corner where it is stamped for the springs. Common problem with high torque. Spec had this issue too on VR6, they started to drill the corners to prevent it from happening.
 
B

bbob203

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2012
Location
Louisville, ky
TDI
b5.5v
20IndigoBlue02 said:
They probably don't sell disc only because then if a "defect arises", then it's harder to know if it's the disc and/or the pressure plate causing it, as well as the flywheel.

Do you have a light weight single-mass flywheel right now? Chattering on a lightweight flywheel does tend to happen, since you're only depending on the disc to absorb vibrations from engagement.

Sounds you have a 1.8T for this, right? unless a manual was swapped into to replace the Tiptronic.
Click to expand...
Per PO it’s a 32lb flywheel from Clutchmasters. Clutch is from a 1.8t car is a BHW TDi.
 
PickleRick

PickleRick

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
I couldn't tell you if the pressure plates are the same or not. Did he buy a custom 30 some odd lbs flyweel thats custom built for bhw 5 spees conversions with 240mm clurch or do they also make a heavy flyweel that fits a 228mm disk?

Fwiw the bhw, alh and 1.8t all share the same bolt pattern flywheel.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top