Hi all, I’ll try not to make this post too long. But basically I am trying to find recommendations on a clutch. My car is an 07 (S model) with a built motor (bored out block with Mahle pistons, ported head, JCW turbo, and pretty much every bolt on minus meth and aftermarket cams), that currently has an OS Giken Grand Touring clutch. I had what friends assume to be throw out bearing failure, and the clutch pedal will not go down far enough to start the car (happened out of state to top it off). It’s currently sitting at shop that only works on BMW and MINI, and I’m trying to figure out which clutch I want to go with now. The OS Giken is great, just a little out of my budget right now. I’ve looked at Clutch Masters, Southbend, JMTC, etc. Just want to see opinions/recommendations from others.

P.S. The car was a daily prior to this happening, but will just be a nice weather, weekend fun toy on The Dragon now.

Thank you, Chris.

 

Ive seen that many people use Helix.!
After my research for my mini i have order the OS Giken STR Single...After talk with my tuner (Lou-Prototype R )+ my research this is the best clutch for a mini up to 300-320PS and not too heavy for daily use.
Hope i helped jsut a little bit

 

Based on your description, I would guess clutch fork failure.

If you want to have a clutch on hand when you remove the transmission, I would only recommend OSG, Clutchmaster, or OEM. The JMTC flywheel does not have a timing hole for setting the timing chain, so I would avoid their products. Beware too, that whichever path you go, if you switch clutch manufacturer, you will also have to get a new flywheel. If you stick with OSG, you can reuse some your existing hardware.

 

OS giken and the same as above.

 

I've got a JMTC single mass conversion kit with the lightened flywheel. I did mine in conjunction with new a timing a chain kit, so I'm not concerned about the lack of a timing notch, as the car will likely die before I need to deal with the timing chain again. I've been impressed with the JMTC kit's performance and characteristics, but will likely toss the Kevlar disc in favour of one of his ceramic "button" disk options over the coming winter, as I'm still afraid I will kill the Kevlar disk prematurely. Not the fault of the kit, more a case of my additional mods and driving style. When I ordered the kit I purposely went with the Kevlar as I lived downtown in bumper to bumper traffic. Now that I'm in a place where I can stretch the car out, I feel like I want more insurance.

 

The other problem I have with JMTC clutch kits, and based only on forum knowledge and JMTC website pictures, they use a solid hub clutch disc with their single mass flywheels. To me, that stinks of having MUCH driveline shock transmission. The reason the OEM clutch can get away with a solid disc hub is the dual mass flywheel, which absorbs vibrations. When a solid flywheel is used, you should have a sprung hub disc to absorb those vibrations. I've read on the forums of their clutch hub rivets shearing during use, which I blame poor design.



Purely my own opinions of their products...

 

Given the nature of a Kevlar disc, I think that is a bit of an overblown concern. I’ve never felt anything in the performance of the clutch (even when driven very hard) that made me feel like I was shock loading the driveline. For a ceramic button “on-off switch” style disc, I could see that being a bit more of a concern.

 

Like I said, purely my own observations and opinions.

It seems to me that JMTC just hasn’t put much thought into their products. Like they had their product meeting and said “OEM clutch has a solid disc hub, so our will too! And let’s make a solid flywheel because that’s what everyone wants.” Then, they have no consideration to how those two products should work together, or what their use was in the car.

OSG is at least a clutch and driveline manufacturer, and they over designed their clutch kits and differentials. They know how the clutch is used and how to make it durable. Same with Clutchmasters. They only make clutches, and their discs and flywheels are made to work together, for the vehicle they are intended to be used with.

 

For fear of turning this into ping pong, I'll reply briefly and leave it here. My experience is exactly that, my real world experience.

I think you're losing sight of the fact that the JMTC kit is (or at least they used to be when I bought mine) significantly cheaper than the other options out there that weren't just a straight up OEM replacement. Maybe your assertions are true. Who knows. What I can say is that I've been running their kit hard with a heck of a lot of mods on my R55, and the setup has been absolutely flawless. You can certainly pay more for an over engineered kit from one of these other outfits, but in my case I didn't see the requirement. It's really up to the OPs wallet.

That said, the planned switch to a ceramic paddle disc is in no way a dig on the product, but rather me wanting even more insurance at the expense of some drivability. I've got the engine pulled apart to install ARP bolts, so it seemed like a good time to do it, otherwise I'd have left it alone.

Good luck OP.

 

Thanks everyone for the recommendations. I ended up pulling the trigger on the Clutch Masters FX350 kit. I considered the FX400 kit with 6 puck disc, but was advised against from friends as it might be too harsh.