First ever? Southbend clutch FAILURE!

[blmlozz]

soo.. after about 1 year of constant clutch engagement issues and about 10K of driving, 8 tranny pulls, 3 T-O bearings, 3 slave cylinders 1 master cylinder and countless hours of labor that could have been thousands in $$$ if I couldn't do this myself I have found the problem with my stage V Southbend clutch in my A4 that I spend $1200 total for (with LW fw), This was supposed to be the cyro treated clutch that lasts longer too..





the acutal disc material has seperated from the clutch disc, *all* (the material fell off without any force) of the bolts holding it together sheared off and allowed the material to run free, there's still *plently* of material left and the clutch saw just 1 launch, along with plenty of easy shifting, I very rarely absued it, mostly because I couldn't. I'll be contacting Southbend today to see what they want to do, it's been so long however though I'm hoping they'll warrant it so i can get a replacement or refund.


What's really weird, is if you can see , exactly half of the bolts completly sheared off, while just the heads of the others were sheared off, strange.

[Poopie]

i saw that one time before. same exact issue. southbend sent a new clutch

[blmlozz]

i saw that one time before. same exact issue. southbend sent a new clutch

I'm hoping they can re-imburse me the cost instead of sending a replacement.. I need to sell the car not track it. I suppose I won't be too picky if they make it an issue anyway. makes it feel better you said that though, thanks.

[Poopie]

they won't reimburse you.

[mike-2ptzero]

Just call up Andy, he will most likely just send you a new disk since thats all you should need. Dont think he will refund you the money back seeing that you did put 10k miles on the clutch, but no way to really know till you ask.


I wonder if the cryo treatment might have made the rivets brittle.

[Obie17]

I just had a second southbend clutch put in my car yesterday. The first one completely failed. I had a kevlar clutch the first time and it kept slipping until it completely failed. Clutch had only 11k miles on it in 8 months. Southbend upgraded my clutch the the stage 3 composite for $150 and replaced everything else. Good luck!!

[blmlozz]

talked to john, andy's son.. good guy, all I said was the material plate seperated from the clutch disc and bam "okay, well that is warrantied"

got a UPS pickup on monday for a repair/replace job and a free re-surface of the flywheel.

now all I need to do is decide whether I want to sell the car with the FW/stage V, or try to sell it on the forums and buy a new OE clutch and resurface the dual-mass..

anyone want a 20lb FW and SB stage V for 25% off?


good experience, besides the failure.

I wonder if the cryo treatment might have made the rivets brittle.

that's what I'm wondering.. because the rivets broke in a very patterened way, half sheared off on the same side, and the others broke in the same way as well.

[Kyle H]

When I got my clutch they told me there was a bad batch made in '07 (i think). You probably got one from that batch, apparently it's all good now.

[blmlozz]

Andy retuned my call today and said a new throwout bearing will be included as well, I'll probaly order a sb clutch for my s4 just becuase of the customer service.

[adr3naline fix]

Ah man I just ordered my Southbend clutch today! :(

Andy is a great guy, I was on the phone with him for abuot an hour today. Southbend for life! :)

[Militant-Grunt]

Ah man I just ordered my Southbend clutch today! :(

Andy is a great guy, I was on the phone with him for abuot an hour today. Southbend for life! :)

+2 I got a stage 5 coming in, its one of my worries, though it should be fine.

[Tifun]

I don't know why I didn't get SB. They are and hour away, just like precision turbo, they are like 15 minutes. Tire rack is down the road. I just realized I have a lot of nice places near by lol.

[onemoremile]

I wonder if the cryo treatment might have made the rivets brittle.

It should do the exact opposite.

[Kyle H]

I don't know why I didn't get SB. They are and hour away, just like precision turbo, they are like 15 minutes. Tire rack is down the road. I just realized I have a lot of nice places near by lol.

I'm moving to where you live.

lol.

[mike-2ptzero]

I'm moving to where you live.

lol.

so you can pay tax for everything you buy from all those local shops?

[Kyle H]

Hahah actually I like my location now... purems and 034 are right in my neighborhood (1 hr and ~6hrs... close-ish!)

[Tifun]

LOL. Yeah taxes are there, still cheaper than shipping, plus I can get it that day if I need it by a short drive haha. I'll pay my tax and save the shipping costs haha.

As for cryo. Does anyone know how cold they actually get the product?

[Wizard-of-OD]

they won't reimburse you.

to Andy@SouthBend
SouthBend is bar FAR the most responsible clutch firm in this industry.

[B5A4Kevin]

one of the reasons i am choosing SB when i upgrade is customer service.