Competition Clutch and others review
Dec 20, 2010, 04:31 PM
#1
Competition Clutch and others review
So this will be a bit long talking about the many clutches I have owned and driven and my thoughts on them. I will start by saying there is no perfect clutch yet, but I think Competition Clutch and us are moving in the right direction.
I dont pay much attention to what companies say the clutch can hold for power because it does not seem to have much meaning. A good condition stock clutch will hold 500+whp with not a problem. But as soon as you launch and grab a gear at 500whp, it wont hold.
ACT HD street disc combo
If you daily drive your Evo and have to start on hills and want the smoothest clutch that will still take a lunch and if driven right can last 40k + and has a good cost this one works.
The spring 6 puck will of course hold more hp and shift a tad better. Fine to daily drive if you dont hill start alot. I find all the puck clutches seem to take launches better, and back to back launches even, but their life is shorter. Life is longer then the street disc if launched alot.
Unsprung 6 puck shifts even better and has no chance of spring failure, but is even harder to drive and adds alot of decel growl.
If you are a real Drag Racer the problem with all single disc clutch is they dont shift well past 7-8k. They do lock out no matter what the manufacturer claims, I race 100s of passes a year and know 1st hand. The other problem if you get them too hot the pressure plate will start to warp and then they really lock out. You can play with adjustment and make them ok but it will eventually take your syncros out if you are a good power shifter.
I feel one of the best shifting driving single disc clutches I have driven is the Exedy stage 2 but it does not hold much hp and has a horrible life expectancy.
Now on the the multi Disc clutches which if you are a real drag racer and want to turn the right 1/4mi times for the hp you make then a muti disc clutch is the only way.
Here is the clutches I have had and raced and thoughts on each one: Exedy HD twin, Exedy triple, Tilton Twin ceramic and carbon, Quarter Master (QM), 2 versions of the Clutch Master Twin. I Have driven a few Carbonetics and RPS but never did have a good opinion of either of ever being a serious option. May be different these days.
Exedy HD twin
This is by far the nicest twin to drive and the least noise, but it really is not a good drag clutch. Much past 400whp if you launch hard and NLTS it will be good for a hand full of passes before it wont hold on the WOT shifting. Also when they lose it on the wot shifting they dont slip out of control so for alot of drivers with low experience that do not know its really slipping. Should know though when they grab 5th before the 1/8mi, but in the moment of the race they just dont. Once they have been too hot the top plate warps real bad and causes 1st and rev engagement problems. They will hold the power on street and non wot shifting for a long time after they lose the ability to hold the launch and WOT shifting. When I was doing my stock turbo racing I went through 2 twins before I moved to the Triple.
Exedy Triple
This is at the moment still my favorite clutch for the drivabilty and the abuse it can take. I have had 2 triples and the amount of passes, quality of shifting, and engagement on the street is amazing. Ok now for the But, This clutch is about the same as a ACT HD unsprung 6 puck with stock flywheel for engagement. So if you are used to stock it will suck but if you are used to a QM or Tilton twin it will be a dream. Also noise with clutch depressed is very loud with the triple. Many will ask if you car is broken by the noise it makes. It also has Decel noise. not as bad as the tilton, QM twin and the version 1 comp clutch.
QM, Tilton, and comp version 1
I will group together since they are so close in how they act and drive. All these clutch hold the HP, Shift awesome and drive like crap. Since they are so light idle quality is much harder to tune. They will rev quick and die just as fast as the rev. They also have pretty bad chatter on take off. So city hill driving is horrible. I feel the QM and Comp drive just a bit better then the Tilton. The Tilton and QM both use the same style push bearing throw out bearing. The Comp use their own throw out bearing and flips the stock Fork and uses the stock slave. (Carbonetics does the same thing). While this does look a bit cheesy, it does work and now learning that you cant seem to replace the bearing on the QM or tilton, you are forced to buy a whole now $300 slave bearing Assembly. So as a investment its makes the Comp clutch much cheaper to maintain. ($65 TB)
Carbon
I found the carbon/carbon clutch to be smooth for a multi disc clutch, hold good hp, but life seems to be low. Seems that daily driving wars them real fast and the cost to rebuild is quite high also. I find the Tilton twin Carbon is hands down still the best straight drag clutch with how fast it shifts and smooth it can launch but cost per pass is a bit high, but if you are at that level the clutch will be the least of your cost.
NOW THE ACTUAL REVIEW
Competition Version 2 clutch that I am testing. Its the same as version 1 but with a 6lb heaver flywheel. Putting the weight very close to a Exedy triple. While its still not as smooth as an exedy triple, its much better then the Tilton and QM Twins in being able to drive, launch, and idle quality. I can now idle my car down to 500rpm with out dying. With the version 1 much less then 900rpm it would die. Also the added weight cut the decel growl in ½. Almost no noise on decel form 1500-3200rpm. Above 3200 it can still get a good chug but much better than the light flywheel. While I still feel we have more to work on with this clutch there is noting better on the market at this price point of $1250 retail.
I dont pay much attention to what companies say the clutch can hold for power because it does not seem to have much meaning. A good condition stock clutch will hold 500+whp with not a problem. But as soon as you launch and grab a gear at 500whp, it wont hold.
ACT HD street disc combo
If you daily drive your Evo and have to start on hills and want the smoothest clutch that will still take a lunch and if driven right can last 40k + and has a good cost this one works.
The spring 6 puck will of course hold more hp and shift a tad better. Fine to daily drive if you dont hill start alot. I find all the puck clutches seem to take launches better, and back to back launches even, but their life is shorter. Life is longer then the street disc if launched alot.
Unsprung 6 puck shifts even better and has no chance of spring failure, but is even harder to drive and adds alot of decel growl.
If you are a real Drag Racer the problem with all single disc clutch is they dont shift well past 7-8k. They do lock out no matter what the manufacturer claims, I race 100s of passes a year and know 1st hand. The other problem if you get them too hot the pressure plate will start to warp and then they really lock out. You can play with adjustment and make them ok but it will eventually take your syncros out if you are a good power shifter.
I feel one of the best shifting driving single disc clutches I have driven is the Exedy stage 2 but it does not hold much hp and has a horrible life expectancy.
Now on the the multi Disc clutches which if you are a real drag racer and want to turn the right 1/4mi times for the hp you make then a muti disc clutch is the only way.
Here is the clutches I have had and raced and thoughts on each one: Exedy HD twin, Exedy triple, Tilton Twin ceramic and carbon, Quarter Master (QM), 2 versions of the Clutch Master Twin. I Have driven a few Carbonetics and RPS but never did have a good opinion of either of ever being a serious option. May be different these days.
Exedy HD twin
This is by far the nicest twin to drive and the least noise, but it really is not a good drag clutch. Much past 400whp if you launch hard and NLTS it will be good for a hand full of passes before it wont hold on the WOT shifting. Also when they lose it on the wot shifting they dont slip out of control so for alot of drivers with low experience that do not know its really slipping. Should know though when they grab 5th before the 1/8mi, but in the moment of the race they just dont. Once they have been too hot the top plate warps real bad and causes 1st and rev engagement problems. They will hold the power on street and non wot shifting for a long time after they lose the ability to hold the launch and WOT shifting. When I was doing my stock turbo racing I went through 2 twins before I moved to the Triple.
Exedy Triple
This is at the moment still my favorite clutch for the drivabilty and the abuse it can take. I have had 2 triples and the amount of passes, quality of shifting, and engagement on the street is amazing. Ok now for the But, This clutch is about the same as a ACT HD unsprung 6 puck with stock flywheel for engagement. So if you are used to stock it will suck but if you are used to a QM or Tilton twin it will be a dream. Also noise with clutch depressed is very loud with the triple. Many will ask if you car is broken by the noise it makes. It also has Decel noise. not as bad as the tilton, QM twin and the version 1 comp clutch.
QM, Tilton, and comp version 1
I will group together since they are so close in how they act and drive. All these clutch hold the HP, Shift awesome and drive like crap. Since they are so light idle quality is much harder to tune. They will rev quick and die just as fast as the rev. They also have pretty bad chatter on take off. So city hill driving is horrible. I feel the QM and Comp drive just a bit better then the Tilton. The Tilton and QM both use the same style push bearing throw out bearing. The Comp use their own throw out bearing and flips the stock Fork and uses the stock slave. (Carbonetics does the same thing). While this does look a bit cheesy, it does work and now learning that you cant seem to replace the bearing on the QM or tilton, you are forced to buy a whole now $300 slave bearing Assembly. So as a investment its makes the Comp clutch much cheaper to maintain. ($65 TB)
Carbon
I found the carbon/carbon clutch to be smooth for a multi disc clutch, hold good hp, but life seems to be low. Seems that daily driving wars them real fast and the cost to rebuild is quite high also. I find the Tilton twin Carbon is hands down still the best straight drag clutch with how fast it shifts and smooth it can launch but cost per pass is a bit high, but if you are at that level the clutch will be the least of your cost.
NOW THE ACTUAL REVIEW
Competition Version 2 clutch that I am testing. Its the same as version 1 but with a 6lb heaver flywheel. Putting the weight very close to a Exedy triple. While its still not as smooth as an exedy triple, its much better then the Tilton and QM Twins in being able to drive, launch, and idle quality. I can now idle my car down to 500rpm with out dying. With the version 1 much less then 900rpm it would die. Also the added weight cut the decel growl in ½. Almost no noise on decel form 1500-3200rpm. Above 3200 it can still get a good chug but much better than the light flywheel. While I still feel we have more to work on with this clutch there is noting better on the market at this price point of $1250 retail.
Dec 20, 2010, 08:01 PM
#5
so... for a daily driven 500hp car, would the exedy twin hd be the best? im still on stock transmisson/axels so i would be afraid to break something. which means i would probably never launch my car, just do rolling pulls with slow/easy shifts. would the exedy have best life and handle the power? there are so many clutches out and conflicting reviews on all of them that it makes it hard to choose.
noise wouldnt bother me much and i could get use to the pedal/engagment so thats not an issue for me.
i currently run the act hd and it has held my power levels for 25k+ miles. that should give you an indication on how i drive. i do a lot of wot runs but its getting near the end of its life. have you herd of the single carbon disk clutches out there? what do you think? TIA
by the way. great reviews. its nice reading stuff from people with real experience and know what they are talking about.
noise wouldnt bother me much and i could get use to the pedal/engagment so thats not an issue for me.
i currently run the act hd and it has held my power levels for 25k+ miles. that should give you an indication on how i drive. i do a lot of wot runs but its getting near the end of its life. have you herd of the single carbon disk clutches out there? what do you think? TIA
by the way. great reviews. its nice reading stuff from people with real experience and know what they are talking about.
Last edited by 05VIII; Dec 20, 2010 at 08:06 PM.
Dec 20, 2010, 08:02 PM
#6
aaron
Dec 20, 2010, 08:13 PM
#7
so... for a daily driven 500hp car, would the exedy twin hd be the best? im still on stock transmisson/axels so i would be afraid to break something. which means i would probably never launch my car, just do rolling pulls with slow/easy shifts. would the exedy have best life and handle the power? there are so many clutches out and conflicting reviews on all of them that it makes it hard to choose.
noise wouldnt bother me much and i could get use to the pedal/engagment so thats not an issue for me.
i currently run the act hd and it has held my power levels for 25k+ miles. that should give you an indication on how i drive. i do a lot of wot runs but its getting near the end of its life. have you herd of the single carbon disk clutches out there? what do you think? TIA
noise wouldnt bother me much and i could get use to the pedal/engagment so thats not an issue for me.
i currently run the act hd and it has held my power levels for 25k+ miles. that should give you an indication on how i drive. i do a lot of wot runs but its getting near the end of its life. have you herd of the single carbon disk clutches out there? what do you think? TIA
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Luke's car is currently turned down on a small turbo. I will look and see if we have any of the pre install pix.
Dec 21, 2010, 10:26 AM
#10
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Correct its a newer version of the Twin but is still in testing right now. It is doing well though.
Lockout and a broken flywheel would lead me to believe differently. I have only driven one ATS twin vs countless Exedy. Its not exactly fair since there very well could be 999 good ones out there and I drove the one bad one. With the Exedy though those are 2 situations we have yet to encounter.
aaron
Lockout and a broken flywheel would lead me to believe differently. I have only driven one ATS twin vs countless Exedy. Its not exactly fair since there very well could be 999 good ones out there and I drove the one bad one. With the Exedy though those are 2 situations we have yet to encounter.
aaron
Dec 21, 2010, 10:57 AM
#11
If something goes wrong with the ATS/Carbonetics there are no parts to fix them in America. There are clutch kits but not individual pieces. The broken 1 piece Chromoly flywheel was $655 and had to be (I know how this is going to sound) overnighted from Japan.
Dec 22, 2010, 01:00 AM
#15
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZrcJMj7Gvg
I know the White Hatch is running the Comp Twin and I believe Zol's red coupe is as well. The white hatch put down 955 on our dyno spinning on a smaller turbo and its believed to be almost 1100whp now.
aaron