My Experience with SPEC Clutch
Jan 27, 2010, 04:31 PM
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My Experience with SPEC Clutch
Hello everyone,
Here is my personal experience with Spec Clutch. Specifically, the Spec Super Twin P-Trim and Jeremy (known on the forum as SPEC-01).
On 10/7/2009 I ordered a Spec Super Twin SS-Trim from MAP. About a week or so later I received the kit. Shipping was fast and I was pleased. Upon inspection of the clutch, I noticed that I had received a P-trim clutch instead of the SS-Trim. I contacted MAP (Kacey) and informed him of the situation. Kacey assured me that the order had been placed for a SS-Trim. I checked my invoice and MAP had in fact placed the order correctly. The SS-Trim is rated at 900 ft/lbs while the P-Trim is rated for 1100 ft/lbs. I spoke to Jeremy over at SPEC and he informed me that the SS-Trim had been discontinued and that the P-trim would be the base twin for Spec from now on. After my conversation with Jeremy, I felt comfortable installing this clutch. Installation was pretty painless. Upon driving the car I noticed a strange TOB noise. I contacted SPEC and I was told that this is the first they ever hear of such a thing. I created a thread on EVOM ( https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...-issues-5.html ) and posted a clip of the sound. Jeremy's diagnosis of the issue as interplay between the TOB and pressure plate fingers. Jeremy informed me that he is sending me a new complete clutch kit with TOB. Upon receiving the new kit I found that the TOB was missing. Jeremy apologized and sent me a new TOB overnight. What you get when you ask for a replacement TOB is the insert that sits in the QM slave. I was ignorant to that fact as I was expecting the whole QM unit. At this point my car had been down for about a week. My mechanic was squeezing me in when he could. When we dropped the transmission we found that there seemed to be some premature wear marks on the input shaft of my zero milage TRE 2.5 transmission. I packed the transmission up and sent it back to Jon @ TRE. Before shipping we took pictures and posted them on the forum as well. Jeremy chimed in and stated that everything was fine and that the splines sit further up the shaft than stock and that they have seen no issues with this setup. He did however offer to send me new disks with a larger offset. He did assure me however that the original disks were fine and that I would have no issues. (see post 61 and 65 of the above mentioned thread) Jon replaced my input shaft and sent the transmission back to me in a timely fashion. We installed the new clutch with the set of disks that came with the clutch (not the modified disks). The reasoning behind this was that my mechanic and myself felt that it would be best to run what everyone else is running. According to Jeremy, Spec has 200+ of these clutches out in the world and have seen no issues. Since Jeremy said that the original disks would be fine.. we felt it would be in my best interest to go with what they felt worked and not change to a "one off" set of disks. We installed the clutch and newly rebuilt transmission and all was right with the world. I daily drive my car about 40 miles a day ( mostly highway). I never shifted the car north of 4000 RPM. I drove the car for about 2000 miles when the clutch failed. I had not even finished breaking in the new transmission. I was on my way home from Christmas shopping around 11pm 2 days before Christmas when I started to hear a loud chatter. Shortly after that I could no longer change gears. The car made a horrible racket even at idle. I called and emailed Spec but they were closed through new years. I had my car towed back the shop and we began the tear down process. We actually video taped the teardown and took lots of pictures. At this point I was pretty upset. When we removed the transmission a rivet fell out of the bell housing. We took a look at the clutch and this is what we found.
Clutch:
Now at this point I was pretty pissed. But it got better. After seeing the teeth stripped out of the disk that sits on the end of the 2nd new input shaft.. I turned my attention to the transmission. And this is what we found:
TRE 2.5 Transmission input shaft damage caused by Spec Twin:
Now I think its pretty apparent what has happened here. I sent these very photos to Jeremy. I then packed up both clutches as I still had the original and shipped them to Spec. I got a call from Jeremy letting me know what they were going to issue a refund for all the parts as I had made it pretty clear at this point that I was not going to be using Spec products again. I then asked about the input shaft damage. Jeremy tells me about the warranty that accompanied the clutch kit. It states something to the effect of:
If we screw up.. we will either replace or refund the product that we manufacture.
At this point I have had to do two extra R&R's on my transmission and am now going to have to replace the input shaft that Spec ruined out of my own pocket. I felt that Spec owed me a little more than what they gave me. Seeing as their product was the direct cause of the damage to 2 brand new input shafts I figured they would "do the right thing" and pay for the part at least. After a week or so of them "thinking" about it... they decided that they would not.
As far as service is concerned...
Jeremy (Spec-01) was always available and always answered my questions. He was prompt to answer emails as well. He assured me that he had gone through all the channels he could go through to get my input shaft replaced. In the end the company choose not to. I appreciate Jeremy's work and wish him the best of luck.
I believe that when race season comes around.. Spec will be in for a rude awakening. The product is obviously flawed and it will be only a matter of time before others who run this particular clutch will have the same issues.
In my personal opinion.. I think SPEC should go back to the drawing board with this clutch. I did not sign up to do beta testing for anyone. Especially with the $1400 price of admission. This product has cause me plenty of aggravation and plenty of dollars. It is this posters opinion that evo owners should stay clear of this product until further revisions are made.
I have chosen to go with an Exedy Twin HD and a clutch fork stop. Kacey over at MAP looked at the situation for what it was and has really worked with me.
Thanks you Kacey and thank you MAP.
Thank you EvoM community
Here is my personal experience with Spec Clutch. Specifically, the Spec Super Twin P-Trim and Jeremy (known on the forum as SPEC-01).
On 10/7/2009 I ordered a Spec Super Twin SS-Trim from MAP. About a week or so later I received the kit. Shipping was fast and I was pleased. Upon inspection of the clutch, I noticed that I had received a P-trim clutch instead of the SS-Trim. I contacted MAP (Kacey) and informed him of the situation. Kacey assured me that the order had been placed for a SS-Trim. I checked my invoice and MAP had in fact placed the order correctly. The SS-Trim is rated at 900 ft/lbs while the P-Trim is rated for 1100 ft/lbs. I spoke to Jeremy over at SPEC and he informed me that the SS-Trim had been discontinued and that the P-trim would be the base twin for Spec from now on. After my conversation with Jeremy, I felt comfortable installing this clutch. Installation was pretty painless. Upon driving the car I noticed a strange TOB noise. I contacted SPEC and I was told that this is the first they ever hear of such a thing. I created a thread on EVOM ( https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...-issues-5.html ) and posted a clip of the sound. Jeremy's diagnosis of the issue as interplay between the TOB and pressure plate fingers. Jeremy informed me that he is sending me a new complete clutch kit with TOB. Upon receiving the new kit I found that the TOB was missing. Jeremy apologized and sent me a new TOB overnight. What you get when you ask for a replacement TOB is the insert that sits in the QM slave. I was ignorant to that fact as I was expecting the whole QM unit. At this point my car had been down for about a week. My mechanic was squeezing me in when he could. When we dropped the transmission we found that there seemed to be some premature wear marks on the input shaft of my zero milage TRE 2.5 transmission. I packed the transmission up and sent it back to Jon @ TRE. Before shipping we took pictures and posted them on the forum as well. Jeremy chimed in and stated that everything was fine and that the splines sit further up the shaft than stock and that they have seen no issues with this setup. He did however offer to send me new disks with a larger offset. He did assure me however that the original disks were fine and that I would have no issues. (see post 61 and 65 of the above mentioned thread) Jon replaced my input shaft and sent the transmission back to me in a timely fashion. We installed the new clutch with the set of disks that came with the clutch (not the modified disks). The reasoning behind this was that my mechanic and myself felt that it would be best to run what everyone else is running. According to Jeremy, Spec has 200+ of these clutches out in the world and have seen no issues. Since Jeremy said that the original disks would be fine.. we felt it would be in my best interest to go with what they felt worked and not change to a "one off" set of disks. We installed the clutch and newly rebuilt transmission and all was right with the world. I daily drive my car about 40 miles a day ( mostly highway). I never shifted the car north of 4000 RPM. I drove the car for about 2000 miles when the clutch failed. I had not even finished breaking in the new transmission. I was on my way home from Christmas shopping around 11pm 2 days before Christmas when I started to hear a loud chatter. Shortly after that I could no longer change gears. The car made a horrible racket even at idle. I called and emailed Spec but they were closed through new years. I had my car towed back the shop and we began the tear down process. We actually video taped the teardown and took lots of pictures. At this point I was pretty upset. When we removed the transmission a rivet fell out of the bell housing. We took a look at the clutch and this is what we found.
Clutch:
Now at this point I was pretty pissed. But it got better. After seeing the teeth stripped out of the disk that sits on the end of the 2nd new input shaft.. I turned my attention to the transmission. And this is what we found:
TRE 2.5 Transmission input shaft damage caused by Spec Twin:
Now I think its pretty apparent what has happened here. I sent these very photos to Jeremy. I then packed up both clutches as I still had the original and shipped them to Spec. I got a call from Jeremy letting me know what they were going to issue a refund for all the parts as I had made it pretty clear at this point that I was not going to be using Spec products again. I then asked about the input shaft damage. Jeremy tells me about the warranty that accompanied the clutch kit. It states something to the effect of:
If we screw up.. we will either replace or refund the product that we manufacture.
At this point I have had to do two extra R&R's on my transmission and am now going to have to replace the input shaft that Spec ruined out of my own pocket. I felt that Spec owed me a little more than what they gave me. Seeing as their product was the direct cause of the damage to 2 brand new input shafts I figured they would "do the right thing" and pay for the part at least. After a week or so of them "thinking" about it... they decided that they would not.
As far as service is concerned...
Jeremy (Spec-01) was always available and always answered my questions. He was prompt to answer emails as well. He assured me that he had gone through all the channels he could go through to get my input shaft replaced. In the end the company choose not to. I appreciate Jeremy's work and wish him the best of luck.
I believe that when race season comes around.. Spec will be in for a rude awakening. The product is obviously flawed and it will be only a matter of time before others who run this particular clutch will have the same issues.
In my personal opinion.. I think SPEC should go back to the drawing board with this clutch. I did not sign up to do beta testing for anyone. Especially with the $1400 price of admission. This product has cause me plenty of aggravation and plenty of dollars. It is this posters opinion that evo owners should stay clear of this product until further revisions are made.
I have chosen to go with an Exedy Twin HD and a clutch fork stop. Kacey over at MAP looked at the situation for what it was and has really worked with me.
Thanks you Kacey and thank you MAP.
Thank you EvoM community
Last edited by WickedWhtMR; Jan 27, 2010 at 06:26 PM.
Jan 27, 2010, 04:38 PM
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There is no resolution. They have refunded the cost of the clutch. Im eating the rest. They should have just paid the $ 260 for the input shaft as well and taken responsibility for their product.
Jan 27, 2010, 04:57 PM
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While I have nothing useful to post in regards to your situation....
your post was well put and well thought out. No bashing of anyone per say, and just the facts.
Good luck with your situation.
your post was well put and well thought out. No bashing of anyone per say, and just the facts.
Good luck with your situation.
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Jan 27, 2010, 05:17 PM
#9
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ive seen the damage in person and wish this on no one so take fair warning and stay away from this product.this is not a bash like most people in your position would have done. it is just stating facts and giving fair waring.
Jan 27, 2010, 05:30 PM
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Another Unsatisfied Customer
Although my pictures aren't as clear and well taken, you'll get the point.
My path with the Spec supertwin follows the OP's exactly. I have a throwout bearing (the QM TOB) that sounded like a cricket on crack, quite loud and annoying. Whether this was a precursor to clutch failure or not, I don't know. What I do know is, I did the install myself, and I can verify it was done 100% correctly. Install is/was not an issue. Beyond the TOB noise, my Spec clutch did great for about 3,000 miles. I took it easy for maybe 1,000 miles, but then drove it like I normally do, hard! I never launch my car, ever. I never go full throttle in first on the street, it's about useless with my setup. But 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th, I shift like it's meant to be shifted at full throttle. Anyway, I'm driving to work at sane speeds and attitude, a simple 4th to 5th gear shift and I felt a clunk. Coming up to the next stop light, it was hard to get into gear, was making a racket, and after 3 more shifts I had to make to just baby the car to work I knew something was totally wrong. Towed the car home that night after work, and here is what I found. Very similar to the OP's photos.
I won't go into my conversations with Spec, as they are now "reactivated" based on this thread. Spec has treated me well on the phone and via email, but it looks like I'm not the only one experiencing this issue.
My path with the Spec supertwin follows the OP's exactly. I have a throwout bearing (the QM TOB) that sounded like a cricket on crack, quite loud and annoying. Whether this was a precursor to clutch failure or not, I don't know. What I do know is, I did the install myself, and I can verify it was done 100% correctly. Install is/was not an issue. Beyond the TOB noise, my Spec clutch did great for about 3,000 miles. I took it easy for maybe 1,000 miles, but then drove it like I normally do, hard! I never launch my car, ever. I never go full throttle in first on the street, it's about useless with my setup. But 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th, I shift like it's meant to be shifted at full throttle. Anyway, I'm driving to work at sane speeds and attitude, a simple 4th to 5th gear shift and I felt a clunk. Coming up to the next stop light, it was hard to get into gear, was making a racket, and after 3 more shifts I had to make to just baby the car to work I knew something was totally wrong. Towed the car home that night after work, and here is what I found. Very similar to the OP's photos.
I won't go into my conversations with Spec, as they are now "reactivated" based on this thread. Spec has treated me well on the phone and via email, but it looks like I'm not the only one experiencing this issue.
Jan 27, 2010, 05:35 PM
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Although my pictures aren't as clear and well taken, you'll get the point.
My path with the Spec supertwin follows the OP's exactly. I have a throwout bearing (the QM TOB) that sounded like a cricket on crack, quite loud and annoying. Whether this was a precursor to clutch failure or not, I don't know. What I do know is, I did the install myself, and I can verify it was done 100% correctly. Install is/was not an issue. Beyond the TOB noise, my Spec clutch did great for about 3,000 miles. I took it easy for maybe 1,000 miles, but then drove it like I normally do, hard! I never launch my car, ever. I never go full throttle in first on the street, it's about useless with my setup. But 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th, I shift like it's meant to be shifted at full throttle. Anyway, I'm driving to work at sane speeds and attitude, a simple 4th to 5th gear shift and I felt a clunk. Coming up to the next stop light, it was hard to get into gear, was making a racket, and after 3 more shifts I had to make to just baby the car to work I knew something was totally wrong. Towed the car home that night after work, and here is what I found. Very similar to the OP's photos.
I won't go into my conversations with Spec, as they are now "reactivated" based on this thread. Spec has treated me well on the phone and via email, but it looks like I'm not the only one experiencing this issue.
My path with the Spec supertwin follows the OP's exactly. I have a throwout bearing (the QM TOB) that sounded like a cricket on crack, quite loud and annoying. Whether this was a precursor to clutch failure or not, I don't know. What I do know is, I did the install myself, and I can verify it was done 100% correctly. Install is/was not an issue. Beyond the TOB noise, my Spec clutch did great for about 3,000 miles. I took it easy for maybe 1,000 miles, but then drove it like I normally do, hard! I never launch my car, ever. I never go full throttle in first on the street, it's about useless with my setup. But 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th, I shift like it's meant to be shifted at full throttle. Anyway, I'm driving to work at sane speeds and attitude, a simple 4th to 5th gear shift and I felt a clunk. Coming up to the next stop light, it was hard to get into gear, was making a racket, and after 3 more shifts I had to make to just baby the car to work I knew something was totally wrong. Towed the car home that night after work, and here is what I found. Very similar to the OP's photos.
I won't go into my conversations with Spec, as they are now "reactivated" based on this thread. Spec has treated me well on the phone and via email, but it looks like I'm not the only one experiencing this issue.
I knew I wast going to be the only one... My mechanics install was flawless. I know because I was there.
Good luck to you.
Jan 27, 2010, 05:35 PM
#13
I think I found the meaning of spec clutch on wikipedia, it says GARBAGE!!!!. I am really sorry to hear what happened to you. It seems like the quality is "made in china" type of deal(no ofense to Chinese people). best of luck to you and thanks for sharing.
Carlos
Carlos
Last edited by fromWRXtoEVO; Jan 27, 2010 at 05:40 PM.
