Some background: I drove on this clutch in the summer of '06 and '07 - Never had an issue. 3+ track days at Dunnville, 1 night at NYIRP, 20k miles max maybe? Stored the car for '08 and '09 (and as of now, most of '10 too) and moved it once in a while, driving it maybe twice? Never an problem starting until this spring when the clutch went to the floor and wouldn’t come back. No biggie I thought, I planned on replacing the rear main anyway so the trans had to come out regardless. The car sat outside for a few months in the snow before moving it into the shop.
This is a full-feramic clutch setup rated @ 600ft/lbs
Pulled the trans and the damn thing was stuck to both the pressure plate and flywheel… material from the disk looks like it melted or rusted to them? Either way, looks like I need a new clutch, lol;
I was an early-adopter for this clutch (Southbend DXD) back in the day so I doubt I have any recourse, but I’ve emailed them to see what they thought of it.
It would appear that the composition of your clutch friction surface contained some ferrous material. I think you nailed it on the head when you said it rusted, thus when prying apart the fused parts broke off. Like brakes, clutches need to be used…driven. Good luck.
The only thing that doesn’t really fit with that is there looks to be a ‘burn’ ring around the PP and some color changes that make me think it might have slipped at some point? Also how would there only be one small ring? Uneven pressure on the disk?
Everything that you just pointed out makes sense for it not looking right at all. If it was rusted, you would expect a ring ripped off all of the way around and covering more of the surface. I have to assume that corrosion is the correct answer, but why in such a limited surface area?
You have almost a 4 year old clutch, that sat around in a high humidity area not being used. I can’t believe you even contacted the manufacture. I should send GM an email asking why my piston ring failed on my 1997 Corvette with heads/cam and N20, with 50K miles and over 30 bottles of juice through it. Just to see what they think of it.
that seems a bit harsh. He only had 20k miles on it. Clutches usually last to about 80k. Even with a lot of abuse I think this should have held up better.
