integra_gsr98

So here is my deal...

Car is untuned making about 330 whp. Clutch is an ACT Xtreme PP w/ 6 puck ceramic disc.

First off about 1000 miles ago I stripped the splines on the disc, forcing me to replace that.
That's fine I have a spare disc lying around and put that in.
Now about a week ago the pressure plate took a **** on me. If you stand on the fingers they completely collapse, and the plate was causing the car to not allow me to go into gear without having the vehicle off. I put in another pressure plate tonight and all is well.

I am just wondering if I am the only person having these problems or if others are as well.

I work at a shop here in town and we are ACT dealers, but I am now looking for another brand of clutch to switch to.

Any recommendations as well? Car should make over 500 whp with the boost turned up and once it gets tuned.

turbospool

Tilton clutch...


my ACT xtreme with SS disc wouldnt hold the power. Sure they said it woudl handle 311 toruqe...but not at the launch. Im making less and it dont grip when im on slicks. Moved onto ACT XTreme six puck. holds up well so far.

ACTman

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by integra_gsr98 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So here is my deal...Now about a week ago the pressure plate took a **** on me. If you stand on the fingers they completely collapse, and the plate was causing the car to not allow me to go into gear without having the vehicle off. I put in another pressure plate tonight and all is well.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If it went totally limp then the only thing I could think of from your description is that the diaphragm may have broken. You should be able to tell that by looking at it. If that is the case, we will replace the diaphragm no charge as long as the rest of the pressure plate isn't toast. Our written warrantee is 90 days but for broken diaphragms generally we ignore the warrantee period (unless it is really old) because the diaphragm shouldn't fail and there is not much a customer can do to make a diaphragm break. We have improved the Xtreme diaphragm design in the last couple of months as well . You said that the disc splines failed in the first 1000 miles??? That doesn't sound right at all. Can you elaborate on your engine/car setup a little?

PM-Performance

i love ACT"s and never had any probs with thme , mine has been on for 2.5 years and going on its 3rd race season now and no probs at all . ACT

Adriano

Im getting scared. I just recieved my xtreme p/p with ss disk today. Should i return it or install it?

quikB18B

Ive never heard ofd this before, me and my friends swear by act good product imo.

Dinuguan

I had an issue with my HD pp. When I first got my turbo installed, I had a new HDSS dropped in. 6 months down the road, my car is at the track. Up until this point, no problems at all. Well, the friction point would vary at times, feeling almost like the clutch was slipping before actually grabbing. Anyway, my car was at the track. Took off from the line, grabbed 2nd, got into 3rd, when all of a sudden the whole car goes practically nowhere. RPM jumps, with not much forward motion to match the rpm. Shift to 4th, car feels sluggish, and cruise into 5th. I'm thinking the disk took a crap. At only 6 months with a Greddy kit, it was hard to believe, but eh, who knows.

Clutch engagement was fine, and going through the gears was smooth, but first was a little harder getting into than usual. Pulled the tranny off to check out the clutch. Looked at the pressure plate and the teeth were bent on the diaphragm. MOst of them were uniform as far as placement goes, but you could definitely see that some of them were bent inward. Checked out the disk and it was perfectly fine.

I was thinking that maybe I just got one from a bad batch of HD pressure plates. eh.

Phoenix GSR

I ran my gsr with 315 hp to the wheels most of the time, I launched at redline on slicks at the track running the act xtreme pp and street disk...

my clutch lasted about 25000 miles and then the disk broke.. I called act and told them and they sent me a new one free of charge even though the clutch had as many miles on it as I expected to ever get out of a performance clutch!

I definately plan on buying one for my new setup
for a great clutch and great service!

ninesecrx

We run a off the shelf Extreme pressure plate (yes extreme, not even the double extreme) and a 6 puk unsprung disc in the race car which makes in excess of 600whp. It doesnt slip and holds the power. I cant attest for your clutch, but ive been running them for 2 years of racing and they work well for us. The man above will take care of you from what it sounds like so maybe give them a call and explain what happened.

ACTman

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dinuguan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... Looked at the pressure plate and the teeth were bent on the diaphragm. MOst of them were uniform as far as placement goes, but you could definitely see that some of them were bent inward. Checked out the disk and it was perfectly fine. I was thinking that maybe I just got one from a bad batch of HD pressure plates. eh. </TD></TR></TABLE>

There are several things that could contribute to slippage and a couple that could cause the diaphragm fingers to be bent so it's hard to say. Generally diaphragms don't just go bad and bend. Since they are heat treated spring steel they would rather break than bend. I have seen foreign objects get caught between the diaphragm and the cover causing uneven fingers and slippage but it's pretty rare. Almost any clutch failure that is going to cause slippage is going to cause a disengagment problem. Having not enough clutch for the job, overheating, or oil contamination are the exception of course. How much boost are you running? Have you had it on a dyno?

RGAZ

Dirk,

I am glad you lurk on this forum. It is good to see a major aftermarket supplier actually care about the Honda FI online family. I myself am an avid ACT user and find your company provides exactly what is promied. I hope you can stop by more often because there is alot of "clutch bad-mouthing" that goes on in alot of Honda forums.

Thanks for your input,
Randy

88 to 90 conversion ACT HD PP and Street disc.

Distorted

I've never heard of people having problems with the ACT pucked clutches other than them overheating from hard racing. I do know they tend to demolish transmissions over time, but thats to be expected with a ceramic pucked clutch. If your looking for more than comparabe grip, I would recomend MacLoed Industries clutches. I run one on my turbo D-series that burnt up a regular street disk with no problems. MacLoed makes(for my car and others) single disk "streetable" racing clutches. They are called Disked though they actually have 4 very large pucks and use sintered iron as the friction material. GUARANTEED NOT TO SLIP UNDER FULL LOAD FOR LIFE OF CLUTCH, or they'll more or less give you another one free. It is designed to slip just enough during a launch not to break your axles or cause extreme tire spin if your skilled at launching your car. They drive like racing clutches but retain a completely stock feel, almost decieving. I've never once had even the slightest issure with mine in any sense.

turbohondask

i never had pressure plate break but I had the disc fail by having the splines broke but sent it back to ACT and it was warranted, it was on a LS/vtec not even making more that 180 ot the wheels, I think there was a bad batch or something

boostaholic

I've installed several ACT clutches and use an extreme press. plate w/ 6 puck unsprung disk in my car and haven't had any problems with them. Last time i pulled my tranny i did notice that the puck disks like to wear a groove into the pressure plate and flywheel surface, but i guess that's to be expected with such a hard grabing clutch.

Doodoo

I recently smoked my ACT after 3 years of hard running. It was a Extreme PP with a street disk. I ran it on my CRX. The only problem I had was the pedal feel and release point. Pedal was heavy but I got used to it. The release was waay to low for me.

I changed to a CM Stage 5 and its like night and day. The ACT did its job but I love my CM!! It makes my clutch feel like a hydro tranny!

ACTman

Because of the low release point, it sounds like you may have had a ACT standard street disc and not the performance street disc. Keep in mind that the sacrifice for the CM light pedal is clutch life, so you may not get 3 years out of the CM. You are also comparing their race clutch to our street clutch. Kinda apples and oranges.

Of course what's important is that it works for you. Props to them.

ACTman

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Distorted &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...MacLoed makes(for my car and others) single disk "streetable" racing clutches. They are called Disked though they actually have 4 very large pucks and use sintered iron as the friction material. GUARANTEED NOT TO SLIP UNDER FULL LOAD FOR LIFE OF CLUTCH,. It is designed to slip just enough during a launch not to break your axles or cause extreme tire spin if your skilled at launching your car. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Any time you increase friction it is harder on parts. The idea that it is "designed to slip just enough" would rely entirely on what kind of power you are making. The clutch is not tunable like pro-stock clutches. It is a simple calculation of clamp load, friction, size, and number of surfaces. Sintered iron doesn't get more aggressive with heat so it not like metallic brakes or something that will grab harder as they heat up. The best feature about sintered iron is that it's friction remains very consistent. We have confirmed this through our own dyno testing. From these tests we calculated about a 50% increase in friction (torque capacity) in sintered iron over typical organic material. One drawback is that typically the disc is very heavy making it harder on syncros and slower shifting. As you would expect engagement is usually too harsh for street use. We usually only sell and recommend sintered iron for clutchless transmissions.

turbospool

screw clutchmasters, those clutches do not hold whatever they advertise. ive had fitment problems in the past with their cltuches. ACT all the way.

is the MaXX xtreme clutch with the six puck streetable?

Jared

I'm gonna go in with the guys who have never had problems from ACT. I'm running and extreme pp and 4 puck disk in my turbo car right now and its a daily driver to it gets beat on every time its driven and no problems. I've also put ACT clutches in any car I've ever worked on that made any power. All the way from a 180hp all motor LS to a 500hp race car and never had a problem with any of them.

EG6owner-T

i got the ACT xtreme clutch, but when i launch at 4k rpm and try to shift to 2nd it wont go in, i heard ppl said ACT clutches dont like to shift at high RPMS but now im turbo hopefully it holds up for a 2 yr. old clutch

95c1v1cs1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EG6owner &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i got the ACT xtreme clutch, but when i launch at 4k rpm and try to shift to 2nd it wont go in, i heard ppl said ACT clutches dont like to shift at high RPMS but now im turbo hopefully it holds up for a 2 yr. old clutch</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sounds like you need to learn how to drive like me

ninesecrx

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95c1v1cs1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Sounds like you need to learn how to drive like me </TD></TR></TABLE>


Could be the trany or even something that is way out of balance...but id guess the trans.

BoostFrenzy.com

I have the SS w/ Extrm plate.. not a problem.. only thing I wonder is.. in haevy stop and go traffic.. when releasing the clutch and starting to go.. the clutch pedal seems kind of shaky like its not catching.. wierd feeling.. but I only experience it every now and then.

Dinuguan

As far as boost goes, I'm running 8lbs on the Greddy kit, on a JDM ITR tranny, if that makes a difference. When the clutch was first installed, it felt great and I had no problems whatsoever. At times like I said before, when I'd let the clutch out a little, the car would start to grab not even an inch off the floorboard and start to roll, but would feel like it was slipping until I got to the actual friction point. It's hard to explain, and you'd have to drive it to know what I mean.

My car is currently down for a motor rebuild, but it has been on the dyno, but that's with the stock pressure plate mated with the street disc. I didn't get it dynoed with the HDSS. I got it dynoed after the pressure plate was switched back to stock. Clutch engagement is perfectly fine; no grinds, smooth shifting. The slipping sensation I was experiencing prior with the HD pressure plate is non existent.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't have any problems with ACT at all. I understand that some failure is bound to happen because that's just the nature in all things mechanical, even to the best of companies. I definitely stand by the ACT product and support it. I have a 6 puck waiting to be dropped in as soon as I buy another HD pressure plate. I doubt that the pressure plate would be covered under warranty, but I still do have it if there's a slight chance it can.

ACTman

[QUOTE=I doubt that the pressure plate would be covered under warranty, but I still do have it if there's a slight chance it can.[/QUOTE]

Our warrantee depends a lot on the type of failure. From your description I have no idea off hand what the failure is. I have seen several things that could cause what I think you are describing, from lack of lubrication of the guide tube to a broken diaphragm. Your best bet is to call and get a RGA, and send it in for us to test.