Sprung vs. Unsprung

I live in Northern Jersey, 5 minutes from the new Meadowlands Stadium and roughly 15 minutes from NYC. My car is a daily driven warrior and see it all from, putting around town, highway cruising, city traffic/highway traffic and everything in between. The car is parked outside and is driven in all weather conditions as well. She is a work horse and I love her. The car is pretty much a bolt on affair, still rocking the stock IC, O2 housing, and turbo. 330whp/330wtq on CBRD’s dyno.

I currently have an ACT HDSS mated to an ACT Streetlite Flywheel, and after 50,000+ miles of service, it has started to slip in the higher gears under load. I thought about switching things up to a different brand, etc, but after talking to some folks, I think I’ll stick with what has worked. I’m also a stickler about keeping setups as matched up as possible, and so if I had decided to go with another brand, I most likely would have wanted to run their flywheel as well. Going this route saves me cash.

Now, I’m not against trying something different that could potentially be better. After looking over ACT’s site, as well as STM’s, I noticed that the SS disc that ACT offers comes sprung (what I currently have), and unsprung. Now, I spoke to Emery and he explained that the unsprung disc has great engagement and disengagement, but is noisy under deceleration. Is it possible for you folks to describe that a little more for me? I mean, is it annoying? My girlfriend absolutely loves the Evo and loves the way it sounds. Loud exhaust, squeaky brakes and all. Will my girlfriend absolutely hate the noise? Will I think it’s annoying as hell?

What are the pros and cons of running an unsprung disc vs. a sprung disc? Advantages – Disadvantages?

Another point of discussion which will naturally be mentioned is the reason for running an unsprung disc vs. a sprung disc in a daily driven car. I don’t go to the strip or autox a lot, but I still want a clutch that can perform that’s still civil with good life. This is why I agree with Emery and feel the SS disc is a good choice. I def drive the hell out of the car so she def gets her work out quite often if that matters at all.

Please discuss and please give me your opinions.

Thanks in advance.

-Jalal

 

I was running the ATS twin disc and got around 49k miles out of it. Since I was short on funds I decided to give ACT a try.
I went with the Act Extreme pp, solid hub street disc on the stock flywheel. I couldn't believe how quiet my car got. It doesn't make any noise under deceleration. I have just put around 800 miles on it and I love it. It does grab abit hard but you can still slip it for daily driving.
It might get noisey with some more miles, but as of right now it's quiet.

I got mine from RRE, they had the best prices.

 

Thanks for the response. Keep us updated as you put more miles on it.

I'll be running the HD Pressure Plate and Streetlite Flywheel which is 13.1 lbs. OEM Flywheel is 14.116 lbs. I have no issues driving my car with the PP and flywheel combo right now, so I don't think the unsprung disc would give me much issue. I also don't think I need or want the stiffer XT pressure plate. It bumps torque up by like 50ft/lbs so it's not that big of a deal.

More feedback the better!

-Jalal

 

IMO go unsprung. I have installed that same sprung disc 2 times. The first one gave me lock out issues at high rpms and after only 8K miles one of the springs came off and I had to replace it completely. I was short on $$$ and needed my car ASAP so I had to buy the same disc. This time it didn't gave me any lock out issues and it worked great for about 20k miles with about 350 something WTQ.

Now I just swapped that disc for a 6 puck unsprung. I was expecting the worse and let me tell you, it feels the same as the sprung street disc, but with a little more bite to it. I love it. Also, think that simpler is better. Less parts(no springs) means less chance of failure and a lighter clutch which will result in faster engagement/disengagement, which will equal faster shifting. If you can live with a little more sound go for it.

 

So you were and still are using the Heavy Duty pressure plate? Thanks for the response!

-Jalal

 

I same the same set up Act XTSD with the RRE flywheel. The clutch has around 45k miles and the flywheel has about 65k. The clutch does chatter a bit for me, but nothing that bothers me enough for me to get crazy. I'll most likely go with the same set up again once it goes out(hopefully not anytime soon).

 

That is correct. The plate is still in great condition! However, you should be aware that although I drive my car hard, I don't launch it. I only do rolling starts from 2nd and rarely from 1st to keep the drivetrain in good shape.

 

That's great to hear. How do you like the Xtreme Pressure Plate? Is the pedal very stiff? How much stiffer than stock would you say? I don't know if you daily drive your car, although the miles indicate that you probably do. How is it on a daily basis in traffic, hills, etc? The more detail the better!

Looks like that RRE Flywheel is 10.7 lbs which is almost as light as the ACT Prolite which is 10.1 lbs.

Thanks!

-Jalal

 

Very nice.

At this point, I have over 50k miles on my clutch setup as a whole, so I feel that replacing the pressure plate is a good idea to make sure everything starts off fresh. I'll be resurfacing my flywheel.

I'm still between the Heavy Duty Pressure Plate and the Xtreme Pressure Plate.

Hmmmm.

-Jalal

 

I prefer fairly stiff clutches so I like it. I would say the pedal is perhaps 20-25% stiffer than stock and yes the car is in fact my daily driver with 95k on the odometer(2006 Evo IX). I can tell that over the last year to year and half that the clutch has gotten noticeable softer and I wish it was as stiff as it was new. I've gotten used to the clutch so it doesn't really bug in traffic and on hills(grabs pretty quick).

 

Very nice! I bought my IX MR from one of my best friends with ~21k on it. It now has ~74k. Daily driven warrior! She's been everywhere from Boston, Hartford, NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Virginia Tech, CBRD, and back again. Woot woot! She'll be up to New Hampshire this spring/summer as well.

I'm trying to decide if I want to take the plunge and pick up the XT pressure plate. I just don't want it to be so stiff that my leg falls off in traffic LOL. I was once leaving Hoboken and was stuck on an uphill on ramp to I-495 (prolly 10° grade) for about 40 minutes and my leg almost fell off as we crept foot by foot up the damn hill to the highway. FML^FTMFL.
I mean, I know I'll definitely get used to it since I'm not in the kind of traffic I mentioned above that often, but I just don't want it to suck. That's all.

Hmmm.

-Jalal

 

Just an FYI so that everyone knows, when I get the clutch installed, I'll also be installing the following:

• STM 1-piece Stainless Steel Clutch Line
• STM Clutch Fork Stopper
• Blox Front Motor Mount
• Whiteline 26mm Front Sway Bar

Would any of these parts help make my experience with the unsprung clutch any better? Do you recommend any other parts while I'm in there?

-Jalal

 

50k miles on your clutch is excellent, just put another sprung disc in there.

 

Any other input on the subject?

-Jalal

 

I have to call BS on the guy saying that there's almost no difference in how the car drives with the sprung street disc and the unsprung 6 puck. I've used both before and the unsprung one to me is terrible for the drivetrain and is a PITA to work with in daily driving. The rivets came loose and it fell apart inside the bellhousing and the metal put huge gouges in my flywheel. As far as the unsprung street disc, I don't know. I will never consider using it myself. Nothing but lock out problems with the sprung street disc as it's heavy so I moved to a 6 puck sprung disc for better torque capacity, daily driving, and to eliminate the lock out problems.