papa_smurf

ok i found out what was wrong with my clutch, just ripped the tranny off. i had the HDSS combo and one of the springs popped out of its perce in the friction disc, all the perches were deformed from the pressure and some were begining to crack. this POS got lodged between my flywheel and the friction disc and proceded to chew up my clutchmasters flywheel. anyway im jsut venting and it wasnt the throw out bearing like i had originally thought. i wonder if there is any way i can get ACT to replace my parts, i only had about 15K on this clutch combo, well below the life span and i only have bolt ons at the moment, no major power adders. i think im gonna go with a Puck clutch design next time around.

AndyD

iTrader: (1)

Man, that is crazy. What were the symptoms of this??

My car has been out of commission for a few months now because I think something similar to this happened to my clutch (original OEM clutch though)

ludesleep

i didnt know act made their own disks..i orderd one of their combos and i got an exedy disk. Act is good in my book

papa_smurf

it was whining when i pushed the clutch pedal in for a while but for the last couple of miles before i went south it was rattling, presumably from the spring popping out. im gonna call them tomorrow and bitch...

ludesleep

im sure they will replace

Greyout

I blew my clutch w/ a mis-shift, and ACT replaced it, no questions asked.

BoostedH23a1

ACT owns

prelude22085

Next time get Clutch Masters.

BoostedH23a1

yea get A POS CM

PreludeRacer023

yeah i had a freak thing like that, 2 flywheel bolts has somehow become loosened, and grinded down the springs..anyways, im using a stock replacement made by exedy...and i think unless your running a big shot of nitrous or turbo, a stock clutch is more than enough, mine grabs great, and still has just enough play to really feather the clutch out nicely, ive driven some ACTs..and i dont like the grabing and chattering from them, just my opinion though, i think the stock setup is the best until you start making the power that requires a stronger cluth..peace

Que_Lude

Man, sorry to hear about your clutch probs....... I just had a CM Stage 3 & FW installed. Broke in just last Sunday w/500 miles.

Accord94DX

No problems with my ACT. Have had for over a year, much nitrous abuse.

prelude22085

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BoostedH23a1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yea get A POS CM</TD></TR></TABLE>
CM is better on a street car than ACT any day of the week

papa_smurf

i just got off teh phone with ACT, those ***** arent gonna help me out. even though the clutch obviously failed early. they said it must be due to installer error because it didnt fail before 90 days, but if i installed it wrong it would have failed long before now, i mean how long can a missaligned clutch last? so anyway ACT blows ***, never buy from those *****...ill try to post some pics to show you how ugly this friction disc got and what it did to my flywheel.

93 VTEC

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by papa_smurf &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i just got off teh phone with ACT, those ***** arent gonna help me out. even though the clutch obviously failed early. they said it must be due to installer error because it didnt fail before 90 days, but if i installed it wrong it would have failed long before now, i mean how long can a missaligned clutch last? so anyway ACT blows ***, never buy from those *****...ill try to post some pics to show you how ugly this friction disc got and what it did to my flywheel.</TD></TR></TABLE>

As long as everything was torqued properly, there isn't much room for error. The only reason you align the disc is so the trans goes on smoothly, as soon as you depress the clutch the disc will align itself. I would get a CM, and that is coming from an ACT owner.

BoostedH23a1

4 of my friend have CM and everyone of them took that pos out after 2000 miles and got ACT.

ziggity

i got an action 2ks and it is really smooth and is a beefy clutch

VSM3point5genDC4

For those of you that have complaints about the ACT, what exactly did you come across that was bothersome? (Actual ACT drivers only please)
My car is in the shop getting a new ACT clutch right now.

93 VTEC

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Silver94SBostonMA &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">For those of you that have complaints about the ACT, what exactly did you come across that was bothersome? (Actual ACT drivers only please)
My car is in the shop getting a new ACT clutch right now.</TD></TR></TABLE>

My clutch chatters and doesnt engage smoothly unless you really try. It isn't hard to do right, but if you're not paying attention you will **** up. Other than that no problems. It grips great and has never slipped on me. I have a friend with a CM stg 4 in her SI and it engages damn near like stock but grabs really hard. That is why I have respect for CM, but I have no idea what the clutch will be like in a few thousand miles.

ludesleep

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Silver94SBostonMA &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">For those of you that have complaints about the ACT, what exactly did you come across that was bothersome? (Actual ACT drivers only please)
My car is in the shop getting a new ACT clutch right now.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ok lets add some other questons to this ....how many of you ACT owners took your stock flywheel off and had it resurfaced & ballanced??? Every person including me that had this done do not experence chatter or any other problems. Two of my other friends that went the cheap way and just had the new disk and pressure plate installed had chatter and all sorts of problems.

Have you guys done this??? Cause your supposed too

ACTman

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by papa_smurf &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i just got off teh phone with ACT, those ***** arent gonna help me out. even though the clutch obviously failed early. they said it must be due to installer error because it didnt fail before 90 days, but if i installed it wrong it would have failed long before now, i mean how long can a missaligned clutch last? so anyway ACT blows ***, never buy from those *****...ill try to post some pics to show you how ugly this friction disc got and what it did to my flywheel.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't mind the heat but let me try and shed some light on the situation. It doesn't suprise me that someone from our company would say that it was probably installed wrong. Misalignment will cause the disc center to blow springs prematurely just like you describe. However, I don't think that is the case at all here. I think your premature failure is most likely because of the super light aluminum flywheel. The disc springs are designed to dampen the torsional vibrations (rotational pulses) so that the gears in the transmission don't make noise. The heavy mass of the stock flywheel contributes to this dampening by smoothing out these rapid pulses with enertia. An aluminum flywheel causes these engine pulses to be more violent and this creates havok on the disc center and therefore causing premature wear. I don't see much that we could have done by design to prevent the failure. Any other spring center clutch disc may also have a short life span with an aluminum flywheel. This only gets worse as you make more power and further reduce rotating mass. Cam changes and higher compression especially will produce more torsional vibration. Aftermarket front dampeners/crank pulleys will also contribute. FYI, the more cylinders you have the less violent the torsional vibrations are. No matter how much torque a V8 is really easy on disc springs. I am sorry for your frustration with ACT and I hope this helps you to understand the problem.

For those of you who think that going solid is the answer think again. The splines will wear out just as fast as the springs since there is nothing to dampen the constant hammering of the torsional vibrations.

The spring center puck discs are the worst of both worlds in some regards. More chatter, spring problems, heavy for slower shifting over solid discs. The only benefit is noise reduction.

ZoNe_HKS

ACTman how long do you think an ACT HDPP with organic disc will last on my h22??, my CM stage3 lasted me 14k now, and its about to die anyday now, i just picked up my ACT HDPP w/ organic disc for 365 today, i just hope it will last 30k+, NYC sucks with all the traffic, i do like my CM clutch, but i dont like puck disc, its too hard to drive in traffic, other wise its great. i hope this organic disc will give me some pressure in traffic and accutally last...

papa_smurf

thanks ACT man, that deffinately makes more sense than what i was hearing from ACT the other day. but it still doesnt explain why the springs (all of them) were rubbing on my flywheel even while they were still in their proper location in the friction disc, they even were rubbing against the flywheel mounting bolts. and if your theory is in fact correct what kinda of clutch can i use in lieu of a sprung disc, i was jsut about set on a 6 puck solid hub, but i already have to replace the transmission on my car because teh splines are worn...

papa_smurf

for anyone thats interested here are some pics of the crap i pulled out of my bell housing, ACT man i am really interested to hear what you think aobut these pics...
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4290101877

sloaccord

well, i dont really know what to say about my high-compression jdm motor with my 8 lb flywheel, but thankfully, my ACT HDSS has survived 30,000 miles of traffic, at least 20 autocrosses, a million drag races. . . . . all with not even a peep. it still grabs ridiculously hard. although the throwout bearing squeaked for a month, that is my only complaint.
i'll buy ACT again.