Clutches - the good, the bad and the ugly

[yoshiman]

Any makes of clutch that are recommended and any to avoid?
Specifically, I need one for my Daihatsu Fourtrak but I've heard that some clutches are terrible.

[astranaut]

I've always used LUK clutches on whatever chod I've been doing them on, did 90k on one and only replaced it as I had the box off though it had plenty of meat on it still.

[Phil H]

Ditto LUK.

Borg and Beck used to be good but I’ve no idea what they’re like since the name has been sold on (to FirstLine?). I fear they might not be what they were.

[yoshiman]

Thanks for the replies - it is appreciated.

Anyone else?

[swampy76]

We will only fit LUK in the workshop sat work on customers cars.

[welshpug]

valeo, sachs, luk.

oem.

only ever had issues with transmech from ecp.

[vanpeebles]

The last Daihatsu I had, I got a Daikin clutch, do they still do them?

[discostew38]

Sachs or LUK I profer Sachs as I mainly do BMWs and that's the clutch of choice for them

[yoshiman]

Sept 11, 2018 7:01:24 GMT vanpeebles said:

The last Daihatsu I had, I got a Daikin clutch, do they still do them?

I'd not heard of Daikin but a quick look at Google and it looks like Daikin is part of Exedy...and Exedy is one of the brands I was considering...

LUK seems to be well recommended judging by the comments above. I'm just wary of buying branded clutches that aren't really from the companies they used to be...(think Karrimor and outdoor equipment, but now just another Sports Direct brand...).

[welshpug]

forgot about exedy, very well regarded on a lot of japanese market stuff.

[silver63]

Japanese vehicles we only fit exceedy or ADL.European Luk or Valeo.

[yoshiman]

Thanks for all your replies. They've really helped me out.

[ChasR]

I've had variable success with a few brands. The ones mentioned are fine however in most cases.

Going genuine IME is the best way, and here is my example

I had an '05 Mondeo 3.0 V6 have a clutch change due to the slave cylinder failing. An LUK clutch was installed. Within 300 yards it spat the centre plate out; it broke away from its spider. 2 weeks without a car and a genuine Ford clutch was used (probably LUK). It did 60k without a fault.

An ST220 owner had exactly the same issue as much, and only a genuine kit fixed it.

In both cases, the prices were similar to an LUK kit. I've had cars with LUK clutches not give an issue but the above is a very interesting one IMHO.

I've used Sachs before with success too.