Have a solid flywheel, would like OEM dual mass

Hi everybody,

I doing a manual B5.5 conversion. I have a Whitbread single mass flywheel, but the LUK clutch kit I bought on Amazon won't play well with it.

So anybody have a dual mass flywheel left over from a conversion and interested in a trade? I think this SMF I have sells for $450.

Or maybe I can sell the LUK clutch kit.

The only clutch kit that will fit the Whitbread flyweel without mods is from clutch masters. The fx300 is the entry level that will hold a stage 2 tune. My 700 plus dollar designer fx300 lasted less than a year as a daily driver before the self adjusting pressure plate lost clamping pressure and cooked the disk. The only thing more disappointing than the pricey clutch that died way prematurely was the awful clutch master customer service. Louis at clutch masters has zero customer service skills and they only stand behind their product 90 days. After my experience i will avoid clutch masters at all cost. I am a service manager at a shop so it's not like they were dealing with a clueless weekend tech and they wasted over 2 weeks of my time before telling me it was not a warranty situation and i was stuck paying to ship it to them for a useless inspection. They offered 300 for a new disk, turn f/w and reset the pressure plate. Matt from Whitbread is a great guy and offered to cover 50 of it but i refuse to send another cent to that company. I want to make their lack of customer service and lack of quality well known.

Some s4 clutches will fit your Whitbread f/w but a spacer must be machined for the throw out bearing to work. I don't think the s4 is a self adjusting pressure plate.

The valeo single mass flyweel(came with clutch kit that needs some south bend mods for @275) was 300 bucks and is about 10 lbs less than the Whitbread but i notice zero additional vibes at idle with my bs deleted engine. If there were my gf would have mentioned it. I take the gf and kid around town playing Pokemon go and it was in the 90s here until Saturday so we spend lots of time at idle with the a.c. blasting for them to take down gyms and catch Pokemon. The little lady would have noticed qnd commented on any additional noise or vibes.

With the OEM PP and clutch mounted on the flywheel, the PP body is about 1/4" taller than the Whitbread and the old PP. PP body is maybe 6.5mm (1/4" taller) and the PP fingers are another 6.5 mm taller (horizontally laying on the table... I guess I could say "deeper" into the bell housing also).

It might just clear the bell housing obstructions, but not sure about the throwout bearing geometry. If I could get a line drawing or measurements of the OEM I could turn it down maybe. I'm not too keen on the OEM DMF, but I don't want to install, then yank it again.

I couldn't tell you specifics on adapting and s4 clutch to the Whitbread flyweel, it was something Matt and I discussed on a phone call. I really liked his flywheel but clutch masters was the only company willing to make a clutch kit for him. South bend wasn't interested in making a kit if i remember the story correctly.

PickleRick said:

The only clutch kit that will fit the Whitbread flyweel without mods is from clutch masters. The fx300 is the entry level that will hold a stage 2 tune.

Click to expand...

Sorry to jack thread, but..
I hope you are wrong, as I just ordered this clutch and Matts flywheel.
From Matts site: "FX300 is kevlar faced on both sides of the disk, rated for 425lbft. The smoothest engaging and personal favorite option."
Along with a DAP GT17VB and TT TBE (aiming for 200BHP, and I imagine near 350tq)

carsaremytoys said:

Sorry to jack thread, but..
I hope you are wrong, as I just ordered this clutch and Matts flywheel.
From Matts site: "FX300 is kevlar faced on both sides of the disk, rated for 425lbft. The smoothest engaging and personal favorite option."
Along with a DAP GT17VB and TT TBE (aiming for 200BHP, and I imagine near 350tq)

Click to expand...

Im not wrong as i had first hand experience with both the sub 10,000 mile failure on a stage 2 tune and the crappy customer service


I also have first hand experience that the first 2500 miles of that "smoothest" clutch will be hell. It will chatter more than anything you've experienced in life. I daily drove a 6 puck solid disk 300 hp del sol with solid mounts for a year just for past experience comparison.

Due to a busy work schedule and my other ride being stuck with towing jobs i babied the fx300 for a month. Before that it was a daily commuter, 99% of the time with child in tow. 50% city driving, 25%hwy 25%country roads. I have never dropped the clutch or red lined the engine. My autozone axles wouldn't handle the abuse. My tiger paw tires won't get traction if I wanted to abuse it.

The clutch first started slipping in 5th when even half throttle was applied. Then 4th began.

Within a month the clutch had to warm up to even start in 1st without slipping.

Clutch masters knew my date of purchase. That jerk Luis at clutch masters knew my dop. He still had me waste my time and money shipping it from South Carolina to cali then wait 7 to 10 business days to let me know warranty was only 90 days.

I hope matt can find another supplier for clutches. I really liked the 240mm but there are plenty of 228 clutches out here holding just fine. Matt is a great guy, this issues isnt on him.

It does hold power but i consider it a good clutch for a track/fun car only. It will hold but the longevity of the clutch will let you down.

Ive been driving a stick 20 plus years now. Even when i was street racing and running twisties hard up to the blue Ridge park way and back i never had a perfomance clutch fail so quickly.


Keep in mind it wasn't their disk that caused the failure, it was the slef adjusting pressure plate that lost its clamping power. It lost ALL clamping power. That caused the disk to burn.

Inferior product, over priced, sub par customer service.

Google clutch masters issues. You'll find hubs coming lose from the disk and plenty of other pressure plate failures. From Hondas to Camaro forums.

So if you dont mind replacing your failing slipping clutch in a year or sub 20k, it's a good clutch for you. If you use it as a dd like i do and only want to replace a clutch every 2nd timing belt, you'll want another clutch set up. I have no need to abuse my passat. Its a good commuter car. It looks nice. It's economical. It's not a fast car and has no business being driven as such. This failure was 100% due to sub par components. The sad part is clutch masters doesn't seem to care.

The valeo clutch kit with flyweel even after the 275 dollar south bend upgrade is half the price of that clutch masters set up. The clutch had zero chatter noticeable on break in. The clutch felt fully broken after a 500 miles or 1 tank of fuel.

I promise you that you'll hate that clutch during break in. Don't ride that clutch to make it engage more smoothly during this break in either. You will glaze that Kevlar clutch if you do and once glazed it will always slip. Just live with looking like an idiot starting in 1st gear for about 2000 miles. It will smooth out after that. I had to fight school lines twice a day during break in. It was miserable.

I wish you luck.

I hope I have it figured out: I'm installing the 11.2mm spacer plate from an Audi. Need to get longer bolts, longer dowel pins, and make an extended pilot bearing. If this works I will have the bullet proof solid flywheel mated to the OEM TDI clutch and pressure plate.

I think what is wrong with these aftermarket clutches you guys are talking about is the pressure plate. My OEM PP look substantially beefier than the one that came off (which was stamped SACHS TYP M 240). An OEM clutch should last at least 175,000 miles.

I bought this from Amazon.de, cost with shipping was $200, and is the LUK brand.

I'll let you know in a few weeks how it works.

Quick tdi is using a stock audi s4 or maybe rS4 clutch on a custom flyweel. The turbo gasser that clutch came with makes some 300 to 400 hp. He's had zero issues with his.

Sadly there are many clutch master fx300 horror stories. Not from passats in particular as they are not super common compared to all the muscle and spots cars that have ran them.

I wish i had half those fab skills. Back when the economy was tanking @08 i should have bought some going out of business milling machines and lathes.