Edit: This is a very good thread for anyone considering CMs. I had a problem and they went above and beyond to help me out. Customer service is great and they are allways trying to improve their product to prevent failures like I had. Everyone makes a good clutch, but it's how well they back up their product that makes it count. Please read.


I had my Clutch Masters Stage 3 installed by Mitsubishi 2 years and 32,000 miles ago. This past Saturday while I was driving home I attempted to shift from 2nd to 3rd and the clutch pedal drops to the floor. At this point I knew something was up with the clutch. I get the car towed home and began the surgery. Well I get the tranny out and come to find out the clutch disc was in a few pieces. Just look at the pics and you can see what happened to the whole assembly.
Well I wasn't to upset about the clutch other than the fact that I had spent $700 dollars on this clutch. It was when I noticed the inside of my tranny that I really got furious over the whole matter. The bell housing was really groved in one spot that houses a gear set, and all the shrapnel was shot gunned throughout the bell housing. In some areas it is pretty deep. At this point I can not tell the damage to the tranny other than I know I will need a new bell housing. I'm just not sure about the gear set.
Overall I am very upset that a clutch designed to hold 500hp failed on a car making not nearly that amount of power. When I posted pics of my CMs stg 3 on evom before the install I was very excited to get it in although ACT did comment that the disc looked very weak. I guess they were right. This could possibly be the last CMs product that I buy depending on how well they resolve this defective clutch disc with me. And I mean defective. I have never seen a disc seperate the way this one has.

If anyone from Clutch Masters cares to comment please do so as to resolve this issue with me. Also, I will be contacting your customer service very soon.

 

Pressure plate and Tranny. You can see where the pp ate into the tranny and clutch fork.

 

Here you can see some of the sharpnel and all the pieces of the disc. It looks like what happened was the rivets holding the disc assembly together let loose sending pieces flying everywhere.

 

I already knew that it was time to get a new clutch and I was actually in the process of shopping for one. I was actually considering another Clutch Masters because I was very pleased with it untill this happened.
You can see the disc is pretty worn, but it still had clearance from the rivets on the disc. Also, the clutch showed no signs of slipping at all and there were no groves on the pressure plate or flywheel.

In the last pic you can see where a piece broke off.

 

DAMN! that fcking sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STAGE 3? thats like Stage -3.5! get ACT or EXEDY they have proven themselves!

 

I'm not surprised.Same thing happened to me with a CM stage 3 on a turbocharged Tiburon a while ago.Hope you get it up and running soon. Good Luck

 

I have already purchased an ACT street clutch from a friend that was selling his. I would have gone ACT to begin with but they were still in the designing process of there unit so I figured I'd try CMs out. I have done a few ACT's on DSM's in the past and they worked out great even after 50,000 miles. This is just ridiculous that the disc would come apart like this and it is clearly a factory defect.
I am not pleased at all.

 

Well there you go two occurances with the same thing.

 

WOW!!! That looks worse than you described Barry. I hope that CM does something to help you out, it being that your evo is your daily driver and now you have a hardship because of faulty part. I had a CM Stg3 on my turbocharged integra GSR and it was ok, it would slip a little at the track after a hard launch. Although it is on different applications, I love my ACT in my evo a lot better.

BTW- love that new sig....lol

 

Damn, that sux man . Unless the bellhousing is actually punctured or cracked you dont need to replace it. Fact is that defects do happen and just goes to show that even name brands will end up with problems. I installed an ACT street set-up on a customer of mine last october that came back to me after 3 weeks with a dead clutch pedal. Upon tear down I found that the ACT pressure plate had most of the fingers twisted and broken because of a retainer ring that snapped, not to be confused with the throw out bearing clip. Anyhow, the customer was supposed to call up ACT and seek some form of warrantee, not sure what happened though. Just keep in mind that defects can and will affect all brands, of course some more than others. Good luck on getting some form of replacement

 

defect should be reported and manufacturer should be notified.

get your money back for part and hopefully for work.

it's nobodys fault, shlt happens.

 

Anyone notice in the last pic that the clutch disc is actually an Exedy part? CM is probably subing out manufacture to them.

 

Much of the f-body internet crowd boycotted Spec after that happened to a whole bunch of people (exploding clutch disk). I helped a friend install a Spec Stage 3 in his car and less than 5K miles later the thing exploded like that. Very scary as it punctured the bell housing and some schrapnel punctured the floorboard. The very top of his accelerator pedal was sliced off! Luckily his foot was a little lower and he wasn't hurt. Can you say tranny blanket (or scatter shield)??

 

Most offerings out there are OE-ish discs... Including the ACT. What the manufacturers are doing, is re-manufacturing OE parts with their friction materials. That was my concern initially with the ACT being they use an OE disc. I thought that the "upgraded disc" from RRE would be a good option as they were using a "six rivet" design that looked heartier. Come to find out that it was just an OE replacement disc meant for a Mazda (and I forget what else). One of my customers used it with the ACT PP as provided by RRE. Well, that unit wore out in 20-something-k wearing the hell out of his Fidanza Flywheel.

Now I'm a little concerned as I have an Evo Clutchmasters stage 3 due in today for an early next week install in my own Evo...

 

Sorry to hear the bad news.

My advice is not to use CM for DSM. They are good for hondas and toyotas though.