As the title states, which carbon clutch would you guys recommend. I have read many posts and the judgement is leaning towards the ATS. I mostly use this car as a daily driver and plan to go FI later on. I don't mind a clutch that is hard to drive, but do not want any grinding noises comming from the car. Want it quite and able to grab.

Thanks in advance.

 

I have the ATS dual carbon.. I dunno if I would put it in a daily driver.. when the clutch is cool, it's fine--drives almost like stock.. but when it heats up, it has very little slip.. You would be very frustrated in a lot of traffic.. It's also very unpredictable from stoplight to stoplight.. sometimes it will slip, other times you'll really have to rev it up before you can get it to go smooth..

Let's put it this way.. driving with the stock clutch, you pretty much don't think about it and just drive.. but with the ATS, you are always aware of it and have to work at it to get it smooth...Are you willing to put up with that?

Oh and it does sound like a mac truck between 2000-3000 rpm.. idle is quiet

--mike

 

If you get an ATS twin carbon, the lighter clamp force 1100kg is near OEM pedal pressure. Get this version if oyu expect ot remain <500rwhp. Bump up to the 1350kg model if >500rwhp. You can also opt for the slightly heavier flywheel option which damps out the "mac truck" noise significantly and is easier to lauch smoothly in stop and go traffic . The heavy flywheel option is till several pounds lighter than OEM so rev matching is improved.

 

I don't suppose anyone would know how much easier the ATS dual is to drive in comparison to a tilton do they?

I'm used to how the tilton drives, but sometimes it's not as predictable as I'd like and can sometimes be hard to do "street light launches" where you're not totally peeling out, but not going slow - just quick and quiet launches.

Someone I think once said the tilton street has roughly like 15% slip compared to stock and the ATS twin has 80% slip compared to stock. Does that sound right to anyone with an ATS?

 

I'd say that was accurate when the clutch is cold.. Heat it up by driving around and in traffic and I'd say the 15% number is accurate too..

--mike

 

hmm so the ATS gets really grippy like that after say 15 minutes of driving in city traffic?

that almost makes me consider just keep using the tilton but switch it to the semi-street version or maybe even the CF one cause it'd weigh less and rev faster and still hold high power if it's going to drive the same anyway

Or maybe I should get the JWT flywheel and nismo clutch then, i dunno

I was thinking of getting the dual ATS clutch and was hoping it'd be much easier to drive than the tilton, sounds like it isn't going to be.

 

15% when hot from a "grip" perspective is about right ;however, the
ATS in either light ot heavy fly option is still way easier to drive in traffic than the Tilton just due to the greater flywheel mass.
From least mass (less streetable) to most mass (more streetable) it's:

Tilton
ATS (light fly)
ATS (heavy fly)
OEM.

The most streetable ATS is the heavy fly option , 1100kg spring, good for 500rwhp. If you were NA only , the dual Carbon is overkill and you could consider the single carbon.

 

If you are NA applications, any ATS is big overkill.
The most streetable and cost effective setup for NA out there is the JWT with a regular organic disk IMO.

 

yeah, well i've been considering a vortech SC...

 

Even a Vortech on stock internals and stock pulleys is still served very well with a JWT setup.

 

The heavier ATS is the way to go with the light clamp pp

I've got some customers using Exedy - I'll see iof I can get them to chime in

 

May I ask what you think of your OS Giken clutch Z1? I was leaning towards the OS dual disc setup.

 

I've got the single in my car since my car is NA and will stay that way. Frankly there stuff is so hard to get a hold of, I'd go with something more readily available ala Cusco, Exedy or ATS

 

Mike,

You must have gotten a different ATS clutch than the one I got. I drive Miami traffic everyday and the ATS is easier to drive with than the stocker. I do have the mac truck sound, but I mostly get it in the higher gears and lower rpms. At idle I have a little chatter.

 

There are other ways of heating up the clutch if needed.

 

Yo Jorge, Maybe I don't drive my car enough LOL.. I've only gotten stuck in heavy traffic 2-3 times since I've had the clutch last spring..and it wasn't too pleasant. The car doesn't want to glide or cruise very easily in gear with the foot off the accelerator at lowish speeds.. It jerks like it wants to engine brake..(probably a by-product of the 9.9 lb flywheel?) and that Mac truck sound is LOUD sometimes in low gear going slow(sound deadening is probably better in the G35 ). Sit in bumper-to-bumper and it becomes increasingly hard to slip it.. You have to really rev it up.. maybe 3000rpm before it's semi-smooth (gets worse to the point that there is almost no slip no matter what RPM) .. Get stuck like this for an hour and damn.. I was pulling my hair out

dunno if that's anyone elses experience with this clutch..but other than bumper to bumper, the clutch drives fine to me..

--mike

 

Mike, you might be slipping your clutch a little too much causing the warm up and grab in traffic. I have driven Gman's twin disc, and mine, and I can I launch the car from a traffic light at 1300rpm or less...just a stab at the throttle and I can pull away cleanly. Never had it grab in traffic.

 

nope - what Mike is experiencing is normal. You guys likely don't have the NY/Boston type 50 mile backups like we northeasteners get. The light flywheel does not like low rpm foot off throttle cruising (I am talking 1000-1500 rpm coasts where you are literally creeping forward). For that you need a heavier flywhee to hold more intertia as it rotates. In traffic, the carbon cluthes do get very grabby, since the heatsoak is enormous just sitting there idling. As a result the disks heat up and the car becomes very grabby. In lighter traffic, or when not stuck in those 45 minute snarls, its not something you will ever likely encounter, but having spent significant time behind the wheel of the ATS and similar carbon carbon clutches, it is a byproduct never the less. The trade off of course is unbelievable disk life - they last a very long time if broken in properly. Plus, the holding power from a launch is simply amazing..the more you heat them up, the more the disks grab. But, like ANY multidisk clutch, regardless of disk material, they are not for everyone. However, one thing I can say, without question, is the overall day to day driveability of the ATS, Exedy, Cusco, etc. are lightyears ahead of the Tilton...I swear to god I don't understand how people convince themselves that the clutch is driveable in any way, shape or form. I drove a car with it last weekend for a bit (350Z, NA), and despite owning cars with multidisks and driving them quite frequently (we do them in the Evo as almost a matter of course over 400 whp), it was the most obnoxious, unfriendly piece I've ever driven. While the revs are simply breathtaking, the day to day liveability in high traffic areas was simply non-existant

adam

 

The clutch doesnt warm up when the car is idling, as the clutch is fully engaged. It is only going to warm up when you slip it. I have been in some decent traffic jams myself...20-30mins of stop and go, and still havent noticed any chatter. Other users may experience something else.

Many people, including myself, tend to slip their clutches way to much on the launch....and this is contributing to the heat-up and grab.

 

Hey Guys,

I really do appreciate all of your help in providing me with the information in order to make my decision on the clutch/flywheel combo to get. I pretty much have ruled out the ATS option as I do not want to sound like a cement truck. I would really like a clutch/flywheel combo with sound that is similar to stock or better.

Does the Exedy carbon clutch sound like a cement truck as well?