I don't plan to go dealership. They charge an arm and leg for labour. I go to a local mechanic I know who does a good enough job. So all the vendors are suggesting Act HDSS. This good? Do I need to replace flywheel? I've already replaced it once at 77k.

 

yea the act 6 puck version. my friend had one on his 03 evo for almost 60k miles lol and drag raced it quite a bit

 

Bro, I don't think it's your driving style from what your telling us... I trully think the dealership didn't do something right when they installed your clutch. Unfortunately it is a wear item like brakes... and good luck convincing anyone that it was defective (even if it was) 18K later. If you wanna upgrade to the Exedy Stage 1 or the aformentioned ACT 6 puck clutch would be fine for now but if your considering putting serious power to the ground in the near or far future you may want to consider and exedy twin. Since you drive an VIII they are no where near as chatty as they are on the IX's and really good up to and don't "quote" me but somewhere at the 475ftlb of tq range(at the wheels) which is like what 530-550 @ the crank if I am not mistaking. But only If that is in your future as it's one of those things that you don't wanna do again later as you have seen it's an expensive mod.

 

DONT GET THE ACT CLUTCH!

go with an exedy street/strip clutch and call it a day. if you drive like a grandpa, get the act. but i rarely hear people with issues on the exedy but always hear horror stories with the act. i had an act clutch, it locked me out of gear at high rpm, and the damn clutch was slipping like crazy, i've owned my car since dec 2009 and have never launched it but just the difference in feel from the exedy was worth the change, its a much better clutch.

p.s.- im sure you can install a clutch incorrectly but its not rocket science, im not sure what the issue is but act and evo don't go together

 

God I love these threads---its always the manufactures fault or bad design or installed improperly-- never driver style. A grabbier clutch--ie 6 puck isn't going to fix the problem cause he will slip it more to smoooth it out. if you cant drive a clutch you cant drive a clutch...so if your not getting at least 75k on your clutch your doing something wrong. I point at the 70+k miles on your car before you got it . Within a couple of k it was toast--then another 20k with a new clutch at its toast..Just beacuse you dont smell it burning, it wears---thats whats its supposed to do. So slipping it on hill to hold it in place--sitting with the pedal to the floor causes the slave cylinder to weaken and leak causing potential slippage riding the clutch to park the car, pull off lights, banging gears, grabbing second at every opportunity, showing off to the hondas and the list goes on and on...are the issues more then likely. Its something your going to have to work on. I can honestly say I have driven modified cars for 35yrs and never had a clutch go out with regular driving habits. Today almost 400hp and the same torque and 65k on the odometer and no slipping clutch...and its one of those really weak stock clutches that doesn't hold up to high torque and hp numbers. ...hmm.

 

Yup. Driving style has a lot to do with how they wear.

 

+1. Still on the original oem clutch after 64k, daily driven, 2 seasons of autox and HPDE's. Actually engine gave out before the clutch.

 

Guess I'm bad at driving manual. I'll probably just fix it and sell the car I guess. Evo is such a money-pit, absolutely disgusting. Knew I shoulda just bought a civic or something, but surely I will miss this car, the performance is just so great then again I drove the new 5 series today, the smoothness, the luxury I fell in love already. Thanks for input.

 

Do you leave your foot on the clutch pedal while you are driving?

 

Good for ya to go from Civic to 5 series! Maybe you should also look at Buicks.

 

One of my local friend (that also got an Evo in 03 as I did) rolled over 100K miles on the original clutch. He never launched it though.

 

First thing is first, don't go back to the stealership, that was one mistake I made in the past getting ripped off and never again. Find a good local shop in your area and do a bit of research on the forums as tons of guys have tried ACT and Exedy.

 

No I do not neither do I do any fast grabs or slip the clutch I try my best to allign the gas and clutch together and just go.

Btw whats the difference between exedy stage 1 HD and non HD? My cars near stock which one should i get? I'm leaning towards exedy more than ACT . Seems like ACT has more issues.

 

Also, do yourself a favor and remove the clutch pill in the slave cylinder. Should help with the clutch wear.

 

HD = Heavy Duty pressure plate, more clamping power.

I bought the ACT HDSS and it's been trouble free..no lockout or other issues. I couldn't afford the Exedy Twin when my stocker went out, ACT was the cheapest and most recommended alternative. I would blame some of the rampant ACT issues on user and installer error, but it does seem to be the most finicky.