OEM RS4 clutch..

B6/7 S4/RS4
#1

Car has 61k miles, I’ll assume this was the original clutch because there is no history of a replacement and everything looked untouched when I was removing the transmission.

FYI this happened at ATCO…first run…and that was my last run. Car hooked great, shifted to second, never made it into 3rd. Pedal stuck to the floor and I was hoping for just the dreaded SAC annoyance, but I wasn’t that lucky.

Hopefully I’ll have a working DIY started this weekend for AR. Myself and Badtoyz are going to make it a collaborative effort and also ask for inputs from guys like Justin and Jimmy. We can discuss tips, tricks, special tools and I’ll put a nice finalized DIY together.

JHM LWFW and 3R going in for those that are curious.

Now for the carnage…

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b601/rs4elitist/clutch/8434A494-C5CF-4C4D-8BD6-53D8EF8AA215_zpsltfysulo.jpg

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b601/rs4elitist/clutch/D59408B9-32A7-4C14-B510-DAE4E4BE951E_zpsozzowgnk.jpg

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b601/rs4elitist/clutch/5D4142D7-227D-4356-B0AF-BDDC22CED496_zpsslfqbv4y.jpg

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b601/rs4elitist/clutch/E053B6E6-7F42-4A17-8853-179CC16B0F99_zpsww1yakpk.jpg

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b601/rs4elitist/clutch/D357636B-D15B-44E2-A707-D81317D45AD8_zpsjn2rhxuz.jpg

#2

Ouch on the first run huh that’s blows. On a positive note, 3R will be a lot of fun putting power to the ground. Great idea regarding DIY!

#3

Good attitude! Every broken part is an opportunity for a better one… plus anything else you can get to while in hard-to-reach places. :slight_smile:

#4

Yeah this car was bought to keep for a long while and addressing upgrades like this is great. The plan always was to replace upon failure…failure just came quicker than expected. This clutch oddly enough never slipped or showed signs that it was in bad shape. It just kinda gave up all at once, lol.

Removal wasn’t so bad, only issue was rusted DP bolts. Snapped 4 out of 6 and need to stop to buy a torch today to remove what is leftover the studs. I Hope I won’t have to drill them out. I soaked those bolts in PB blaster 3 times too (overnight) and that still didn’t help.

#5

Damn, that clutch is shredded. Happy to hear you’ll be upgrading those things though.

#6

Also, for the people throwing a fit on other forums over the possibility JHM has teamed with ACT for the manufacturing of their clutches, here is a picture of the 3R disc. I’d almost guarantee this is exclusive to JHM and the 034 flywheel is almost to nice to hide in a bell housing.

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b601/rs4elitist/clutch/322752D5-193E-4C2E-B78E-B1950A3F52CE_zps1htpsgyn.jpg

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b601/rs4elitist/clutch/2D2AD152-FEB5-42A6-9CFF-6B477063D98B_zpsx3478dkc.jpg

#7

Wow your clutched failed spectacularly.

Wonder what happened. Trying to figure out how Flying Fatbeard and Corbett will blame this on JHM…

Mine has been pretty much rock solid for the same miles and far more launches. When I need a new one, I will definitely go 3R.

#8

I did have a Set of JHM IM spacers on the shelf in my garage and some JHM stickers prior to my track visit.

Yeah you have a ton of passes, surprising. “Failed spectacularly” haha

#9

Why did you go with 3R and not 5R since you’re planning to supercharge it anyways? That’s not to say 3R is not capable of holding extra output, but wouldn’t 5R be a better candidate in this case. Once my clutch takes a royal dump, I’ll be definitely upgrading from stock and not quite sure which one to go with just yet.

#10

actually most of the talk has been about the Pressure Plate. I’m pretty sure the stg3 and 1R are Luk clutches.

…man that 3R looks nice. I REALLY wish I could have gotten one. When they first released the R series the only choices were 1R or 5R. The 3 was not available even though they showed pictures for it.

take a look at the PP if you haven’t installed it yet. the black paint on mine came off in several spots during install and the sticker and grind marks sure make it look like that ACT PP…once again, not that this is at all a bad thing. However I don’t think it’s a fact that needs to be hidden either.

#11

I guess I went 3R for a few reasons.

#1 I’ve had a 6 puck clutch in another car and did not like the on/off engagement. The JHM kit could be different, but I want to keep it comfortable because my wife will occasionally drive the car…occasionally.

#2 I do plan to go supercharged, probably just stage 1 at first and I think this setup will more than suffice. if I decide to go stage 2, then upgrading to the 5R isn’t a huge deal if I do find it necessary. As you see I do almost all the work on my cars so it is only a matter of my time, not technically my money.

#3 The 5R seems a little extreme for a daily driver, spirited driving, and occasional drag strip outing car to me. I think many will agree and I feel the 3R is perfect for what I need. I don’t launch the car at every stoplight or abuse it, but occasionally I like to have some fun.

#12

yeah I realize that, but I’m pointing out that JHM may have certain items produced to a JHM specification by ACT or other manufacturers. They may own those specs and the stuff ACT advertises for the B7 RS4 may look IDENTICAL, but may not be the SAME.

I don’t think anyone is hiding anything. People are pretending like JHM is saying they make these PPs in house or something. JHM said that they designed and tested the R series kit…they don’t manufacture any of the parts…so why people care is beyond me.

Saki said it best, if it is indeed an ACT PP you can cheap out for $50 and buy it direct…or possibly make a $2000 mistake hoping that the ACT product is indeed identical to JHM. Also, I’d prefer to buy a kit designed and tested together rather than piece together something and be a guinea pig. That is what I don’t understand…who cares. It really boils down to trolls starting issues.

None of these companies claim to make their clutch kits in house JHM (Luk OEM, 034, ACT??), APR (SOuthbend/DXD), Amviva (Luk). They out source the manufacturing process.

#13

Bummer about it being first run, but at least you were prepared and even better is the fact that JHM now is able to off the 3R etc. Would have sucked for this to happen a year or so ago and not had that option available. The 3R should be good for everything you’ll throw at that car!

And I agree with Saki, that was an impressive failure!

#14

Mine did pretty much exactly the same thing at the strip last spring except I had no clutch going into 4th instead of 3rd. There were no slipping issue prior, it just kind of disintegrated.

#15

DON’T LET YOUR WIFE DRIVE YOUR CAR WOMEN CAN’T DRIVE!!!

/standard misogynistic forum bullshit

#16

the way it works when you hire a company to produce something like this is you have two choices

  1. they produce it for you, charge you something for the R&D process, then you can sell it, but so can they if they want to
  2. they produce it for you, and it is exclusively yours, but they charge you a fuckload more

Almost everyone does #1. If they produce something for you, then you take it and change it and sell it to your customers, it’s pretty much yours alone. In that case, you aren’t sourcing a product from someone and just drop shipping it. You are outsourcing the bulk of the manufacturing, but are finishing things yourself. I don’t know what JHM do on the clutch but I know I wouldn’t fucking gamble for $50…and I would rather the margin go to JHM than someone else. I also know JHM isn’t dumb. None of their JHM branded products that they have manufactured elsewhere have ever been succesfully copied/sourced to save someone a buck.

So potentially buying an ACT clutch/PP and trying to attach it to your B7 RS4 with an OEM or 034 flywheel will likely result in you needing to do this again in a few weeks/months. Of course, you saved $50 so that’s great lol. But hey, to be sure, take your ‘bargain’ clutch/flywheel kit to JHM and ask them to modify it for you so it will work. They’ll only charge you $1900 to do so.

#17

Wow that’s shredded… is it just me or does it look like there wasn’t much meat left on that clutch?

I’m still a little confused on the different JHM clutches available now. I see you went with the 3R… will that still have a stronger pedal feel compared to my Stage 4?

Or is it only the 5R that will have the increased pedal pressure?

Also anyone know if the chatter on the R’s will be the same as the Stage 4 or more?

#18

"- The stiffness of the clutch pedal is increased by about 25%. " from JHM about the R series… so does 1R, 3R and 5R have the same pedal stiffness but difference in “drivability” is what exactly?

Yea I don’t know much about how clutches work… thanks in advance.

#19

Clutch 101. Clutches work by squeezing a clutch disc (attached to the transmission input shaft) between the flywheel (bolted to the crankshaft) and a pressure plate (PP) (bolted to the flywheel).Some of the differences are the clamping force of the PP, and the friction material of the disc. This can vary from very soft and forgiving (easy in traffic) to light switch (racing: either on or off).

#20

Pedal “stiffness” has nothing to do with the clutch disk, that is dependent on the clamping force of the pressure plate.

Do you understand the clutch disc design and purpose? It’s mainly all about the material used.

For example puck clutch discs, like the JHM 5R 6 puck, usually have a material that will grip harder and faster than most full disks, the puck design is also used to eliminate weight and heat.

The full clutch discs usually have a material that will grip well, but not as harsh as the 6 puck. So in reality the difference between 1R and 3R is the material on both side of the clutch disc.

Other than that all three kits use the same FW surface and PP…Pressure plate clamping force is the same, but disc material and design are what increase the holding power.

Edit: I also forgot to mention the sprung center of the discs…that can also be a variable between each of the stages.

NOTICE the material difference specifically.

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b601/rs4elitist/clutch/ScreenShot2014-11-24at61841PM_zpsd9bac720.png