clutch f.a.q.?

[Mautai916]

I have never owned a 5-spd car in my life, so i have been pretty much deprived of the knowledge of a 5-spd. I can go to howstuffworks.com and figure out how a clutch works and all... but they don't really fill you in on the performance part of it. SOOO..... is there anyone or any link that can pretty much tell me how certain clutches are better than others (the material its composed of, 4 puck/6puck). I am also wondering how differently each clutch feels and stuff. Im just trying to 1) pick a clutch for my car 2) gain more understanding bout performance clutches

Sorry guys, i've been deprived . Im just surprised there isn't a sticky for this.

[Mautai916]

cmon you 5-spd people! enlighten me.

[92G]

Well i don't know a ton but there are different pressure plates around with different clamping force and their are plenty of clutch disks around that are different material and design, ie street disk/4puck/6puck. Basically you want to match the clutch for what setup you'll be running because there are guys out there pushing maybe 200whp on a det and running a clutch to handle 400ft/lbs and they end up breaking their transmission all the time. For the street the option you want is a street disk which will be the smoothest and easiest to drive on the streets. Driving a 4/6puck on the street is more difficult and in stop and go traffic it ain't gonna happen. With a street disk you can add a stronger pressure plate to a point to get the clamping force you need. ACT has a 250ish ft/lb heavy duty pressureplate/street disk called the ACT-HDSS, they also have the extreme pressure plate/street disk which is rated more like 320ft/lb which is the ACT-XTSS. For ACT the HD/XT means the pressure plate you're getting and the SS stands for Street disk. You just want to pick the clutch thats right for your application. There are really a lot of options if you read around on here, people have tried just about every combination out.