Clutch break-in period (twin disc)

[heitzke]

Currently breaking in my new Spec twin disc (unplanned addition to the car after my factory unit killed itself) and i'm curious how others are approaching or have approached a break-in period.

Spec recommends 500mi with mostly stop/go city driving. The mechanic I talked to after install suggested ~250mi of the same driving situation.

500mi of city driving is a LOT, but I also don't want to risk harming the longevity of this clutch at all. I'm at 300mi on the clutch now, with at least half being stop/go lower speed driving.

All that to say, i'm tired of babying this thing around town shifting at 2500-3k out of boost, but someone convince me that i'm doing the right thing here. Or tell me otherwise lol.

[slaughter.mode]

I think that's a fair assessment. Factory was 800 miles I believe. Curious --- how did your factory unit kill itself? I'm reaching the 93K mark, things are starting to act up. Curious if this will be another issue for me.

[MJ6]

Originally Posted by heitzke

Currently breaking in my new Spec twin disc (unplanned addition to the car after my factory unit killed itself) and i'm curious how others are approaching or have approached a break-in period.

Spec recommends 500mi with mostly stop/go city driving. The mechanic I talked to after install suggested ~250mi of the same driving situation.

500mi of city driving is a LOT, but I also don't want to risk harming the longevity of this clutch at all. I'm at 300mi on the clutch now, with at least half being stop/go lower speed driving.

All that to say, i'm tired of babying this thing around town shifting at 2500-3k out of boost, but someone convince me that i'm doing the right thing here. Or tell me otherwise lol.

I think that some of it has to do with what the clutch material is. When I had the CM FX1000 Twin-Disk installed they had ceramic disks, and the manufacturer mentioned that they didn't require much of a break-in period at all due to the material.

The FX250 that replaced it however was a semi-organic compound which required a certain number of heat cycles to really break-in properly, hence the 500mile recommendation.

Regardless, I'm in the boat of rather safe than sorry.

[heitzke]

Originally Posted by nv_f82

I think that's a fair assessment. Factory was 800 miles I believe. Curious --- how did your factory unit kill itself? I'm reaching the 93K mark, things are starting to act up. Curious if this will be another issue for me.

I wish I knew, it just... happened one day honestly.
Sounded like a TOB issue initially, but then one day it became really tough to shift and didn't want to go into first/reverse without really forcing it. No one at the shop had seen a clutch come apart like this so I wouldn't really expect it tbh. I had tons of life left on the clutch and flywheel looked good too.

Originally Posted by MJ6

I think that some of it has to do with what the clutch material is. When I had the CM FX1000 Twin-Disk installed they had ceramic disks, and the manufacturer mentioned that they didn't require much of a break-in period at all due to the material.

The FX250 that replaced it however was a semi-organic compound which required a certain number of heat cycles to really break-in properly, hence the 500mile recommendation.

Regardless, I'm in the boat of rather safe than sorry.

Yeah good point, i'll be at the 500 mark later this week anyway so i'll just wait a few more days. Isn't going to hurt me to wait another 2-3 days.

[Commanderwiggin]

If you're at 300mi already with a good majority of that in stop/go then you'll be fine.

[heitzke]

Originally Posted by Commanderwiggin

If you're at 300mi already with a good majority of that in stop/go then you'll be fine.

Ok awesome thanks, I just crossed the 400mi mark this morning on it after sitting in some wicked morning traffic.

The interesting thing is that between 3-400mi the gear engagement became much smoother and the clutch engagement doesn't seem to fluctuate at all. I'd venture to say it's broken in now and maybe i'll start doing some pulls tonight/tomorrow for tuning.