Competition Clutch Issues After 3K Miles?
 

Hey All. Had my LSD and Stage 3 Competition Clutch and Flywheel installed last August (45K miles). Followed the proper break-in period for both the LSD and the Clutch and did a few AutoX events at the end of the last year. Brought the car out this year and after driving it around in the spring I'm starting to notice the Clutch has a really spongy feel and is specifically slipping when WOT in 3rd gear (and in others too). Car has under 48K miles now (so under 3K since clutch replacement). Has anyone else had these issues in such short amount of time? I had no issues with the stock clutch but since I was doing the LSD I figured it would be the right time to do it. Looking back I'm thinking maybe not! Not pushing extreme power (210whp) so I'm a bit miffed as to why this is happening. Anyone else have this issue with CC ? Hopefully I can get it swapped under warranty but its still another $$$ I have to dish out for a shop to replace it again. Thanks!

I'm sorry that you are having issues with your clutch. If you can, please contact me direct at:

tech@competitionclutch.com
or
1-800-809-6598

and I will do my best to help you through your issues.


Dominic
Competition Clutch

Did you get your situation resolved? I am looking into putting a new, new clutch after a failed attempt with a Valeo kit. I am actually thinking about the Competition Clutch kit from Way.

I received a bunch of compliments by the race shop that installed it as they loved the clutch feel. Its a very fine line between the clutch being 'on' or 'off' especially coming from just the stock one but after some driving you get used to it. I haven't got the suspected clutch replaced yet but the guys at Competition Clutch have worked with me to get a replacement ordered and should be arriving today. I'll send the 'bad' one back to CCI and if they find it to be a mfg issue they will issue a refund / credit - again, great customer service. I'd most certainly look at CCI if you are looking to upgrade and don't want to spend a ton of money on a product like OSG, etc.

Good thing the company is backing their product and trying to work things out with you. I wish all parts manufacturers would do the same. Keep us updated.

I was going to the Valeo kit but a vendor has the competition clutch kit on sale at the moment for a steal so I went for the stage 2. However, they were out of stock. I could not wait any longer and asked them to just send out the stage 4 which is the same price as the stage 2. The stage 3 is more expensive for some reason.
Well I will only comment after the installation and after the break in period. I call competition clutch up and the person on the phone was really helpful. I know the stage 4 clutch is a big extreme for every day and for occasional lapping. I will live with it.

Have you guys had any problems with the starter? I have the stage 4 and it is fine after the break in period the clutch is not as far on the ground anymore. Quit easy to live with even in traffic. On the other hand the problem I am experiencing has to do with the flywheel. my starter hypod gear is not meshing properly with the flywheel. As a result the shaft on the starter is taking all the hit. I am wondering if the flywheel I received was for the r50 and not the r53. Dominic listened to the file last Tuesday and confirmed the problem. I am wondering if it was the dealer's fault for not sending my the correct fly wheel because the did not send me the flywheel with the kit at first. I had to chase after them for the flywheel. I am almost 1 month and a half without a car now. I sent Dominic a message requesting him to give me the specs of the flywheel teeth from a feeler gauge and compare with the one I received from Eurosport design which I did not receive any phone call from when even at my request. quite frustrating dealing with these guys. I think they are a vendor here under a different name.
Competition clutch on the other had has great service so far and do respond fast which I must commend.
stay tuned

R50 fly wheel is much smaller. I doubt that the R53 starter would even touch the teeth on an R50 flywheel.

I've gone through two stage 2 Competition clutch kits within 5k miles combined on both kits and even gave the second kit an extra 200 miles break in time. After talking to Comptetion they said I was overpowering the stage 2 with my mods (even though I was told it would hold before I purchased it originally) and I needed the stage 3.5 ceramic disk so I ordered it and when the kit showed up Competition had sent me another stage 2 disk. I spoke to Competition again and they told me the stage 3.5 was now backordered until July so they were going to send me the stage 4 6 puck disk. As of right now I'm waiting on that to arrive. In the end I really wish I stayed with the Clutchmasters FX300 kit and wouldn't recomend the Competition kit to anybody. Hopefully I can get more than 1500 miles out of this stage 4 kit.

My god you are scaring me dude. I just installed it last Monday with the flywheel/starter problem. I brought the car back on Friday.
I still have not ruled out installation problems yet but I will check out the teeth on the new flywheel with the old flywheel.SlowGSX98 check it before you install it.
I have been biking 60 km or 37.2 miles a day to get to work these days `sigh
-chorline my jcw is also Pepper white. I rarely see cooper s with the pepper white and black top combo.

CC stage 2
 

My CC stage 2 is going out after 5k. Slipping in high gears.(no tracking,autoxing or dragging at all) My stock clutch lasted 102k and still had life. After autoxing, drag strip and track. Steadily for the first 65k and off and on for the remainder. Not a happy camper... I would not recommend Competition clutch any stage. I understand they would probably replace it. But why would I take the chance ? After seeing these other posts just confirms my feeling. Free would be to much...

It's Out
 

Chorline,GSX98

Did your clutchs look anything like this. It looks like the Pressure plate was not disengaging evenly. Yes I did check throw out bearing alignment and bushings. Everything was installed per CC instruction and torq specs.
CC Dominic any thoughts.

Dominic sent me a new flywheel to replace the flywheel with the defective teeth on the flywheel. The new flywheel now properly mesh with the mini starter. However the new flywheel chatters all the time. I am wondering if this is normal with the light flywheel. I can live with it if the chatter is normal. Light acceleration at 62 miles, decceleration 62 miles, neutral gear with the clutch out, all produce chatter sounds. CC has great customer service however I really wish their quality control is better. Putting the new flywheel just cost me another 360$ sigh if I knew all this problem would occur then I would have bought a really expensive one instead. After tallying up the cost of the clutch, 530$ plus 360$for the second installation, car rentals all equals out to the expensive clutch kit combo. Anyways I will be sending back the defective flywheel to CC this Wednesday when I am in te states. The defective flywheel do have teeth that are not square. They promise me to reimburse me if they do see the theath on the flywheel to be defective. I am keeping my f'ing urea crossed. The vendor euro... Has really bad service. Yes I am still bitter about them not getting back to me. CC has great people working there but they have to up the quality on their products.

The chatter is the gear box without the dual mass flywheel there is no tention against the gears. You will just have to get use to it. I am going back to dual mass and stock clutch.

Thanks Minirox. All I want at this point is for the clutch to last. the rest I can deal with. sigh I had so much time wasted on this ordeal.I am even thinking of not tracking my car anymore and go to only 125 cc karts. oh well. Only time can tell.

Glad you got your car running again, the small amount of debris that was not cleaned off the crank really is all it takes to keep things from aligning correctly and why it is very important to make sure everything is clean before installation.

I had a friend who had a problem with a early version of their clutch.
What do you think of the engagment and drive ablity of the clutch though anyway.
At least they are publicly fixing your problem with you.
that is impressive.
and what kind of power and torque will these clutches take?

Stage 4 competition clutch problem
 

Just installed a stage 4 6 puck competition clutch. Now around 150 miles later during break in of engine and clutch the throw out bearing is making a lot of noise. It's kinda upsetting because it seemed perfect in the beginning. No noise or chatter at all. Everything worked and felt good. Now even more frustrating I will probably need to teardown the car AGAIN and I have tried to get in touch with competition clutch thru email but no response. Looks like I have lost a ton of time and money on this clutch. I just want to remove it and send the kit back and get a refund so I can install something else.

Stage 4 competition clutch problem
 

Yes I also am having the same problem with the starter and throw out bearing. I just took the starter out last friday and saw the the starter gear has broken teeth and the flywheel has like scuff marks or grinding marks on it. Really frustrated with Competition clutch. I put a lot of hard work in installing my brand new built engine and now I have to take it apart again!

Stage 4 competition clutch problem
 

I have the same flywheel and throw out bearing problem at only around 150 miles. No way of installing it wrong it only goes in one way with no adjustments needed. Can't even drive it hard because I am still breaking in the new engine and stage 4 competition clutch.