While reading through threads I noticed several people decided to ditch their Fidanza 3.2 for the 4.3.

Why did you decide to switch?

I'll be needing a new clutch sometime this year (61,000 miles on the original stock clutch!) and was planning on doing the Fidanza 3.2 with a lightweight flywheel. I like the 3.2 because it is kevlar and my understanding is that it will give me longer life, however I'd like to understand why some have moved to the 4.3 and decide if I should as well.

A bit of background: I autocross a bit and have never done a full drag launch...don't plan on it either. Most of my driving tends to be semi-agressive street. I'm doing 360 to the wheels on a dynojet and don't have current plans to increase power. I'm just looking for something more aggressive that will put up with some abuse.

I'm also considering the competition clutch stage 3. A friend has it and it's nice but I'm still a bit weary of CC due to their previous issues with their pressure plates and I didn't like it paired with an Exedy pressure plate.

What do you guys suggest?

i had the 4.3 on my DSM and i dont really know the difference because i never had a 3.2 but the 4.3 is 6puck disk with a heavy duty pressure plate. I thought it was waaaay better than ACT and i never had any problems with it until i sold the car and the clutch did take 20k miles of track abusement. I think fidanza clutches are very good clutches for the price.

Knowing the type of driving you do (tons of hwy miles) and also that smoothness for Maia (his baby) in the backseat is a consideration I'd suggest Kevlar be the most aggressive friction material you look at. Ceramic will hold more power, but its also going to be grabbier (probably won't last as long either). With how well your stock clutch has held up I'm almost tempted to suggest you take a look at something more along the lines of the Fidanza 2.1 and Comp Stage 2 as well (assuming you'll drive the new clutch how you drive the stock clutch).

SmikeEvo put his Fidanza 3.2 through quite a bit of abuse so I PM'd him and asked him to weigh in as well.

I think SmikeEvo was one of the ones I saw move to a 4.3. I'm assuming the 4.3 is more than I need, but it's not fully clear to me yet why the moves were made. Hopefully someone that switched will chime in...

As far as I understand it SmikeEvo's car still had the F3.2 when he sold it. I also recall him saying the newb that bought the car somehow destroyed the clutch very shortly after buying the car.

A friend of his drove it and took it out for a night. I think his friend over-slipped the clutch too many times off the line, literally wearing off all 4 pucks.

I had a good 2 dozen AX and drag launches on my F3.2 and a healthy 15-20k on it. Never one issue. Paired with the ACT Prolite, it was not a super DD. Harder to get off the line. But shifts where crisp and fast. I believe mistreatment lead to that clutches demise.