Whilst some swear by Spec clutches there is a history of short life on the boards. Why I chose an OEM when replacing mine, wanted an OS Giken but it was a little to pricey for me.
It's something that had been gradually developing on my '06 Justa convertible as well. When taking off from a stop, it started to vaguely feel as though the engine had less power and torque. I was starting to think about things like the air filter (hadn't changed it in a long time), but as it gradually became more pronounced I could finally identify the feeling as a slipping clutch.
Our MINI has 70K miles and this will be the 3rd clutch. I think our conditions are particularly harsh with constant stop and go on congested San Francisco streets, often on hills. Yet the clutch lasted a long time in our previous cars (VW and Honda).
Sounds like clutch to me, but I'm no expert. I have heard that most of the aftermarket clutches don't last as long as OEM...of course depends on how hard on the clutch you are??
In my 30 some years of driving cars with clutches I've never had one go before the car till I used a Spec in my MINI. Maybe it lasted 25k miles. OS Giken has done well for me since.
Yep, sounds like clutch is it. Not happy with the 15k life. BTW, turns out it was a Clutchmasters, not Spec. Looks like the traffic bump and grind killed it. To be honest, I never liked it from the start. It was always too jerky and chattery. Time to go back to the OEM.
As a side note, I've always been hard on my clutches. Must be the way I drive. 50k on the OEM was the most I've ever gotten on any car.
If it was a Clutchmaster, didn't you have to use a solid flywheel? If so, Valeo now makes a clutch for solid flywheel. More than likely that's what I'll do when mine goes out.
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