Spec Stage 3+ destruction (yes, already)

[comtrang]

So as some may have noticed, not long ago I was looking for options to replace my somewhat prematurely worn Clutchnet disc. I ended up going with a Spec Stage 3+ after seeing enough good results from them in the Saab community and cause of the ~$500 price difference.

On June 20 I drove my car off the lift with the new clutch, and yesterday, July 24, I was suddenly unable to shift my car to the next gear. Today I found out why.



No idea what happened here but I've already sent in a few pictures to Spec. The worst part is I'm supposed to be on the road this Saturday morning back to Utah but I don't see how that's possibly going to happen now.

[dan-the-kid]

Throw in any clutch you can get your hands on until Spec gets back to you.

Lay off the right foot.

[VI009DZ]

Originally Posted by dan-the-kid

Throw in any clutch you can get your hands on until Spec gets back to you.

Lay off the right foot.

best advice ever given on this forum.

[Cark]

that looks gnarly!

[comtrang]

Originally Posted by dan-the-kid

Throw in any clutch you can get your hands on until Spec gets back to you.

Lay off the right foot.

That's pretty much my only option. I don't have a problem detuning and staying off of it. It's the part about doing three clutch jobs on my DD that I don't like.

[grkguy89]

Damn.
Try and get two kits out of them and send me one

[dan-the-kid]

Originally Posted by comtrang

It's the part about doing three clutch jobs on my DD that I don't like.

You're "friends" with some of the most annoying people on the internet. I'm sure they can give you some pointers on how to correctly bitch out Spec.

[Saabeh]

Jesus. Phone calls need to be made. This clutch nonsense is unacceptable. A company advertises handling power/torque and they last a few months...

[Jaws]

That really bites - good luck and keep us posted.

[Drew in Houston]

Originally Posted by dan-the-kid

You're "friends" with some of the most annoying people on the internet. I'm sure they can give you some pointers on how to correctly bitch out Spec.

You're not talking about when I had two bad units from SPEC are you? One where the spring tore out under light load like this one, and the other where the friction material was so hard that it machined out a groove the depth of the material in the PP in like 4k miles?

And SPEC wouldn't do a thing about it?

Is that what you're talking about? Hope not...

For me, I'll never buy another SPEC product. Their clutches might be okay sometimes, but when there's a problem they suck. I predict he won't get a cent out of them (hope that's not the case, but that's my experience).

[comtrang]

Originally Posted by Saabeh

Jesus. Phone calls need to be made. This clutch nonsense is unacceptable. A company advertises handling power/torque and they last a few months...

I've already called them and sent them a bunch of pictures. I expect to hear back from them today and if I don't within the first few hours of the AM they will be hearing from me first. Though I'll be busy putting a stock clutch all day.

Originally Posted by Jaws

That really bites - good luck and keep us posted.

Thanks, will do. I seriously expect nothing less than a new clutch shipped to my door. It wasn't even in long enough beyond the break in period to be tuned thoroughly besides throwing an old tune on. I have a 4 bar that's been waiting to be tuned and that I expected to do here on my last day in KC before leaving but once again that gets put off. This set me back quite a bit in terms of time and money so I'm beyond unhappy and if things don't get taken care of they will know.

[lms]

I bet they blame it on driver error, they suck at customer service, fingers crossed. Looks like a serious cob job, almost like they had elves hammering the tabs into place that hold the springs in place. This happened to me on my stock viggen clutch, but only one popped out. And I remember when it happened. To much right foot going from first to second, and at the same time I was just cresting a ridge in the road, wheel hop, bam!

[comtrang]

I've been in Kansas City for two weeks now and on a stock fuel pump becausey Walbro went out just before I made the drive over here. No hard driving for awhile and when this ultimately happened I was just on the freeway on my way to the gym and had just downshifted to fourth to merge over a couple lanes to get to my exit. If they are expecting me to allow them to do nothing after dropping that much money on a clutch kit only for it to last me one cross country run and a break in period, they're wrong.

[grkguy89]

like i said try and get two out of them and send one my way

[comtrang]

We'll see how it goes. They've already made contact with me as promised asking when the disc was purchased so I've forwarded the invoice. I'm going to hope that since that was the only question, they're just checking to see whether I'm outside of the warranty range or not which I believe is 120 days. Hope for the best.

[saabkid37]

sadly not the first time ive seen it. theres a reason no evo's run spec clutches.

[bogan]

Wow... I'm disapointed about that... I feel sorry for you...

I have heard some good stories about them replacing stuff like this..Hopefully everthing goes smothly...

I'm very suprised.. I have had mine in for a while now, No problems.. I know yellowjet had had his for a while too.... And JZW uses these in his customers cars..

Good luck

[bogan]

Looking at your picture there comtrang... I'm trying to work our what could have happened?

That plate steel that the springs are held in buy is pretty thick...

It's like somthing has came loose and sheared everything....

Seems strange to me... I'm very curious in what the answer is..

[comtrang]

Originally Posted by bogan

Wow... I'm disapointed about that... I feel sorry for you...

I have heard some good stories about them replacing stuff like this..Hopefully everthing goes smothly...

I'm very suprised.. I have had mine in for a while now, No problems.. I know yellowjet had had his for a while too.... And JZW uses these in his customers cars..

Good luck

Originally Posted by bogan

Looking at your picture there comtrang... I'm trying to work our what could have happened?

That plate steel that the springs are held in buy is pretty thick...

It's like somthing has came loose and sheared everything....

Seems strange to me... I'm very curious in what the answer is..

Thanks, I have already received an RMA number so I'm hoping that's a good sign but we will see.

I am not sure what happened. As you can see one came completely dislodged and another one was one it's way out. If you look closely you can see that the metal was indented from the inside as if it was pressed up against it really good and the metal lip just started to fold out. I think it all worsened when it finally popped out and was getting tossed around in there.

[comtrang]

So it was Thursday and I had the bad clutch out but no good clutch to go back in. We checked around and nobody in town had even a stock clutch kit that I could throw back in. You could say I was feeling pretty desperate.

Well, out of another stroke of luck, after almost throwing away the old Clutchnet stage 2 disc/pressure plate several times I still had it and brought it back to Kansas City with me. My dad called a local clutch builder, Kay Cee Clutch Rebuilders, and an hour after dropped off the old disc I had it back with new friction material on it. So I am currently running a rebuttoned Clutchnet Stage 2 disc.