Did your ACT clutch fail on you? If so, post here

[RiceKiller_TSi]

As mentioned before the bad batch was a long time ago.
If you think the clutch is at fault just contact the vendor or ACT and see what they'll do for you. Also how are you only making 120whp? WTF I don't think a fmic is needed at that power level.

 

[headrec*]

I just recently had my ACT clutch disc completely destroy the hub. When i pulled the pressure plate about 15 piece fell to the floor. But this failed due to missing one of the dowel pins and the bolts backing themselves out. There was only 2 bolts holding the transmission to the motor. IMHO it was totally "my" fault and had nothing to do with the disc. I plan to replace it with a ACT street disc.

I have no idea how everyone else situation is but I fully stand behind ACT and their clutches. I think dsm are just so old and beat up that it's a far cry away from being brand new so when people have these disc fail its because things aren't setup correctly (whether installation error or just not knowing thing are out of spec or whatever). But I do strongly believe that if your car is within "specs" then your disc will last you a long time. I mean shep is running a street disc in his car, why the hell would the guy with the fastest AWD dsm run one if they sucked?

I was pretty quick to jump on the "ACT sucks" bandwagon but after looking into it I know that it isn't their fault IMHO.

 

[laserspeeddemon]

I mean shep is running a street disc in his car, why the hell would the guy with the fastest AWD dsm run one if they sucked?

I'm pretty sure he ditched that a quite few seasons ago. You might want to edit that out, before I find a good reference to support my statement.

**edit** I found this, so at least as off 2004 he was still running a Street disc, and still ran an 8.71 seconds at 166.25 MPH
http://www.advancedclutch.com/racing/sponsored/shepherd.asp

 

[v8s_are_slow]

It really burns me up that everyone who has one that hasn't gone bad, or they did something wrong themselves, believes that those of us who have had problems is because of something we did wrong in the installation.

I dunno, but if my Fidanza flywheel is brand new, new master cylinder, new clutch fork, new pivot ball, new pedal assembly, all new bell housing bolts (all tightened and with blue loctite), new dowel pins, new slave cylinder, new steel braided line, oem throwout bearing (greased lightly on the inside), and shimmed the pivot ball are what makes springs pop out with it adjusted properly, and broken in correctly then I guess it's mine and everyone elses fault for doing something stupid??? What that stupid thing is I dunno. ACT isn't to blame at all cause everyone seems to think they're God or something I guess

Mine went bad once and decided to buy another clutch from someone else. It was within the warranty time but they wanted me to send it in to inspect it, yet wouldn't give me my money back. They'd just replace it with another disc. What good does that do if I've bought another clutch??? I didn't have the time to wait around to wait and ship it to them, have them inspect it, and lemme know if they were gonna send me another. I needed my car running and it was 2 weeks before they even got back to me to tell me that they had to inspect it. I'm going with Spec now.

 

[Dream On]

I'm pretty sure he ditched that a quite few seasons ago. You might want to edit that out, before I find a good reference to support my statement.

**edit** I found this, so at least as off 2004 he was still running a Street disc, and still ran an 8.71 seconds at 166.25 MPH
http://www.advancedclutch.com/racing/sponsored/shepherd.asp

But then again they say he drives a 91 Eclipse, so how do you know you can trust that site? By the way v8s are slow, what Spec clutch did you get, and how is it performing?

 

[v8s_are_slow]

It wasn't the Spec clutch that I replaced it with. It was the even CRAPPIER eClutchmasters Stage "2" clutch. There's a nice lil review I left for them as well. The one I'm getting is the Spec Stage 3+ (not the stage 3) which will be going in my new setup. Everything will be new for the most part. Block, Tranny, turbo, etc. etc.

http://forum.panhandlegearheads.com/viewtopic.php?t=4853

Well over $12k in go-fast parts. And I'll for sure post a review on this clutch when it's in, when it's broken in, when at the track, etc. etc. I helped a buddy of mine install a stage 2 Spec and I loved it. He's got a Stage 3 to drop in when his motor build is done, so I'll be able to post my thoughts on all 3 when the time comes.

 

[Nayr747]

Mine went bad once and decided to buy another clutch from someone else. It was within the warranty time but they wanted me to send it in to inspect it, yet wouldn't give me my money back. They'd just replace it with another disc. What good does that do if I've bought another clutch???

God companies suck. It's like how Blockbuster charged everyone late fees for no reason for years. Then after their customers won the class action law suit, their "penalty" for jacking people was they had to give them coupons, which then expired a month later. That would otherwise be known as a marketing gimmick. Companies do that to get people to buy more. How is that fair?

 

[dave99gst]

Well, I get to add myself to this hall of fame (shame)
My ACT 2600 failed - This is on a stock AWD - with the exeption to
the clutch,flywheel,exhaust, intake. This car is my daily driver.
The failure happend under very normal driving, as i came to a stop sign
I took it out of gear and it woudnt go back in. I have no idea on how many miles,
nor do i know much about the install (the clutch was on the car when i got it)
Everything seem torqued down pretty good and i have both dowel pins in place.

disk

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Pressure Plate

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Aluminium Flywheel.

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Shrapnel

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I also have a ACT 2600 in my 99gst and have had it for 4 years w/o any probs.

 

[dave99gst]

I Inquired about a possible replacement from ACT and this is the reply i got.

Hello,

I would like to preface this by saying that I'm sorry that you have had
a failure with your clutch disc. This is not a common occurrence for our
clutch discs to fail in such a manner as these are commonly used parts
used among casual enthusiast to the hardcore racer with great success.

Our warranty is valid for 90 days against defects in materials and
workmanship and we would be more than happy to assist you with this
matter. For anything to happen under warranty we would need your old
disc back with a copy of the invoice for our warranty department to
inspect. Once we receive the parts and inspect them will determine a
course of action (repair or replace). If you want to send your parts in,
please contact me so that I can issue a Return Goods Authorization.

Thanks,

Richard Barzaghi
Customer Service/Sponsorships

Advanced Clutch Technology, Inc.
206 East Avenue K-4
Lancaster, CA 93535
(661) 940-7555 Ext.107

 

[laserspeeddemon]

If you had a warranty then you would have something to battle with. But you're kinda stuck.

You can try to schnuze him and them him that David let me have a flywheel at a discount and that you are aware of at least 162 failures of clutches from ACT for 1990-1999 Eclipses, Talons and Lasers. Or even contact David directly

 

[v8s_are_slow]

Yep, money back isn't even an option...even if it's ACT's fault. "repair or replace."

 

[dave99gst]

Me and Richard @ ACT are still going back and forth via email:
I invited him to read this thread.
as far as warrenty:
a clutch should pretty much never fail in the way these are -IMHO
As i told Richard, im not out for money, or even a new clutch.
If there is a problem i would like to see it solved.
ACT and DSM'ers have had a long relationship, Im just attempting to play the
marriage counsler.

 

[seth98es]

Yay. I lost all my springs, pretty much both retainers and all the springs fell to the ground as soon as I pulled the pressure plate. Do I win a prize? Pressure plate was bolted to spec and installed on the dowel pins correctly. I bought my ACT 2600 from SBR around last May and did not drive the car untill July/August.

My ACT 2600 pressure plate and street disc after 6k:

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Looks like my ACT Xact flywheel got off lucky compared to some of your guys'

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My "garage":

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[prostreetdsmx1]

Me and Richard @ ACT are still going back and forth via email:
I invited him to read this thread.
as far as warrenty:
a clutch should pretty much never fail in the way these are -IMHO
As i told Richard, im not out for money, or even a new clutch.
If there is a problem i would like to see it solved.
ACT and DSM'ers have had a long relationship, Im just attempting to play the
marriage counsler.

good luck bro. When we started getting complaints from our customers about the clutches they were saying they had no luck. At the time i was purchasing from SBR at the time and after i got the blow off from ACT i asked mike to help out and even that resulted in NOTHING being done. That is why we stopped selling the ACT clutch line and refuse to sell any of their clutch products. I can offer them like everyone else and sell a good amount of them but i refuse to sell a product that fails at the rate we were seeing or from a company that seemed not to give a shit. Hell i had some local EVO customers that had similar issues. It's all good though, got them on Spec or Competition Clutches and everything is good, and when there has been a problem they step up and take care of their customers.

 

[laserspeeddemon]

good luck bro. When we started getting complaints from our customers about the clutches they were saying they had no luck. At the time i was purchasing from SBR at the time and after i got the blow off from ACT i asked mike to help out and even that resulted in NOTHING being done. That is why we stopped selling the ACT clutch line and refuse to sell any of their clutch products. I can offer them like everyone else and sell a good amount of them but i refuse to sell a product that fails at the rate we were seeing or from a company that seemed not to give a shit. Hell i had some local EVO customers that had similar issues. It's all good though, got them on Spec or Competition Clutches and everything is good, and when there has been a problem they step up and take care of their customers.

Good man.

I had luck when I called, they got me a great deal on a flywheel, I think it was like $100. Then again. I came with big guns. And if I was states side at the time, I would have even bigger guns... no... WMD.

 

[cyclonetsifwd]

I guess I have to add my .02 cents to this long, ongoing thread. My 6 bolt FWD has been chattering for the past three weeks or so. I've noticed that the pedal feel is lighter and that the clutch engages farther down the pedal. The clutch was installed professionally because my previous 2600 took a crap on me as well. The dowel pins were in place the first time and are there this time. I asked the shop to replace them just as a precaution and watched them install the dowel pins along with the clutch and the XACT flywheel. It still engages and works, but I don't want to damage the flywheel or bell housing. All the work has less than 5k miles on it. The car wasn't driven for about 5 months due to me being in school far away from home and the car being out of commission for other reasons. The car has NEVER taken any hard launches(it's fwd, what's the point?). I will say that ACT has had a good track record in the past and that I've heard great things about them. I myself have just not had a good experience thus far. However, I will say that the clutch has been great when it was working correctly, but that goes for anything I suppose. I would buy from them again just because things do happen. Manufacturer defects do happen. But that's not going to scare me off completely.

 

[prostreetdsmx1]

I guess I have to add my .02 cents to this long, ongoing thread. My 6 bolt FWD has been chattering for the past three weeks or so. I've noticed that the pedal feel is lighter and that the clutch engages farther down the pedal. The clutch was installed professionally because my previous 2600 took a crap on me as well. The dowel pins were in place the first time and are there this time. I asked the shop to replace them just as a precaution and watched them install the dowel pins along with the clutch and the XACT flywheel. It still engages and works, but I don't want to damage the flywheel or bell housing. All the work has less than 5k miles on it. The car wasn't driven for about 5 months due to me being in school far away from home and the car being out of commission for other reasons. The car has NEVER taken any hard launches(it's fwd, what's the point?). I will say that ACT has had a good track record in the past and that I've heard great things about them. I myself have just not had a good experience thus far. However, I will say that the clutch has been great when it was working correctly, but that goes for anything I suppose. I would buy from them again just because things do happen. Manufacturer defects do happen. But that's not going to scare me off completely.

you point is very well stated and the fact that you understand that sometimes things go bad really speaks a lot about your knowledge of how things work in this business. I will agree that defects happen but when they happen the company should back their product but when they basically tell you to #### off it makes it very hard to support such a company. Like i stated before i was very fond of the ACT line for a very long time because it WAS a good product and in all honesty it was easy to sell but when a company uses the cop out to say that the install caused every failure it makes you think twice. I can understand that being easy to say when a person installs their own stuff but when a shop that was founded on the DSM it is hard to use that excuse. To say that a shop like ours and other KNOWN dsm shops would install several clutches wrong multiple times is just stupid.

 

[TimG]

Take this how you like. ACT and RPS buy their clutch disks from Exedy. Not so long ago, RPS stopped the sales of their clutches to the DSM market because their disk were failing at a higher rate then normal. A representative e-mailed another member on this board: bytheway.

Response was:

"This is the reply i got from RPS today:

Brice,
Sorry that we can't accomidate your needs, I tried to look for a dealer
that had one, but I didn't find one. Here's the reason for us stopping
production on the clutch. The current material used to make some of the
parts on the disk (that we don't make, and purchace from another company) are to
fragile and break with little effort. We tried to due to what we had, but
found that there were too many problems.

Best regards,
Tim Benson
RPS Performace Products"

Go figure.

 

[cyclonetsifwd]

you point is very well stated and the fact that you understand that sometimes things go bad really speaks a lot about your knowledge of how things work in this business. I will agree that defects happen but when they happen the company should back their product but when they basically tell you to #### off it makes it very hard to support such a company. Like i stated before i was very fond of the ACT line for a very long time because it WAS a good product and in all honesty it was easy to sell but when a company uses the cop out to say that the install caused every failure it makes you think twice. I can understand that being easy to say when a person installs their own stuff but when a shop that was founded on the DSM it is hard to use that excuse. To say that a shop like ours and other KNOWN dsm shops would install several clutches wrong multiple times is just stupid.

I definitely agree with you whole-heartedly. And I plan on talking to ACT about my clutch failure(probably with no luck). The first one I had that failed I installed myself, so the second 2600 I purchased I had installed by a very reputable shop locally that specialized in Chryslers/Jeeps/Eagles. I also used to work for them. So I knew they do great work. Never half-asses anything. After this failure I definitely plan on giving them a call. $900 in clutches shouldn't happen in less than a year regardless.

 

[Nayr747]

If I were you guys I would file a complaint with the BBB. Here's the form: http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Complaint/ComplaintDetail.aspx?CompanyID=13118716&sm=
And here's where ACT is listed with them: http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=13118716

I'd also write a review at dsmreviews to help fellow dsmers not have the same problems. http://www.dsmreviews.com/index2.php3

 

[robs90tsi]

Woah woah, is there still problems with ACT clutches, I just bought my 2100, I really hope that there wont be any problems with it, is it worth sending it back and getting another??

 

[laserspeeddemon]

I will be going with a 2100 kit on my wifes FWD

 

[bhop]

I've had my 2100 for a few months now. It seems to work ok, but recently started making a weird clicking while pressing the clutch in. I'm hoping it's just a spring on the pedal or something..

 

[dave99gst]

My email tag with ACT has grown cold -

my spec stage 3 should be here in a few days.

 

[laserspeeddemon]

Actually looking at SPEC right now, myself (contrary my last post) can't beat the price on the Stage 1, which is more then my wife needs.