S3 8V Stage 1/2 Manual Owners Clutch Question

[Scott325SE]

Hi folks,
First of all, yes, I know these OEM clutches are made of chocolate, and I know that they won't take any sort of sustained use with spirited driving. This thread isn't about that..

I would like to know if anybody with an aftermarket UPRATED Clutch AND uprated DMF, would be prepared to let me feel the clutch pedal weight (I'm not asking to drive the car, just feel the clutch) in return for a case of decent beer?

I can almost guarantee that my S3 wil end up at Stage 2 eventually, and what I'd like to end up with, is a car that has more pedal feel than OEM, as I personally think it's too light and lacks feedback and "feels isolated" from the driver.

I live in North Ayrshire, it Scotland, but work regularly in Liverpool, so I can do anything in between.

I'm particularly interested the Sachs Performance Clutches and the RTS (all variants) as they all seem to offer different levels of pedal weight.


Thanks for everybody's time.

Scott

 

[Damo S]

I have a slightly odd setup in mine. Its a Sachs organic but has a Helix pressure plate (lack of sachs availability). The Sachs was advertised as a "near OEM feel". Mine is definitely not anywhere near OEM, perhaps only in the way it engages in that it's not snatchy (if thats what they mean by near oem feel) but its a lot heavier and makes my leg ache in traffic. I believe the sachs kit is advertised as up to 410lbs torque, but I recall elsewhere reading the Helix kit was good for anything between 420 and 450lbs (different rating on different sites) so maybe that's why its quite heavy but also means that potentially it could cope with stage 3 provided it wasn't excessive.
It can be a touch juddery at times particularly when slowly going in reverse and not fully engaging the clutch. It was quite bad to start with but running the clutch in fixed it. Some other owners never got rid of the judder.

Mine does have the stock DMF however. I considered having a lightened single mass flywheel which would in theory give it a little more acceleration in the low gears but lots of advice suggested that its better to stick with the DMF as it cuts down on transmission vibration which may interfere with the sensors???. I dont know...make of that what you will. Turbo cars of old with single mass flywheels never had any trouble but still I took that advice and just had a new stock DMF at the same time.

In hindsight though it was a good choice not to go lightened. At stage 2 and in the wet the car can break traction fairly easily in 2nd when that surge of torque hits and the annoyingly overzealous traction control kicks in taking a lot of power away. Turn the TC off and then what happens is it breaks traction and the revs fly up and smash into the rev limiter with a horrible abrupt cut out of power, which is actually worse than the traction control. I can imagine with a lightened flywheel the revs would be climbing so so fast in that scenario it could potentially damage the engine. Again, dont know.

If you ever think that you might be tempted with stage 3 then perhaps now is the time to go for that stronger clutch which can cope with that from the outset. I never even considered beyond stage 2 initially but now Im there and have been for some time I am considering the possibility of going to stage 3 in the future, but that possibly means having to put in a stronger clutch as well. Perhaps should have done that from the outset.

Sorry I'm far away so you couldnt really try mine, but just providing a bit of a brain dump on it. hope it is useful.

 

[blodwen715]

I have APR stage 1 with the Sachs clutch (AwesomeGTI remap/clutch package), I also replaced the flywheel as there was some blueing with the Sachs DMF. I totally agree with Damo, this gives a heavy pedal which took a while to get use too, especially as I had it done just a year ago and I'm doing very little mileage due to covid and change of job. As mentioned there is also judder in 1st and reverse, which I'd hoped by now would have gone with running in. Unfortunately this does diminish some of the driving experience /pleasure you get with the extra performance.

Also, they do say on their website "Please note this clutch kit is not suitable for Stage 2 Tuning"...? if you was thinking of going to Stage 2 maybe look elsewhere?

 

[SM61MON]

Unsure if you have resolved your issue now but i have the RTS Twin Friction Clutch and i replaced the flywheel for OEM replacement at the same time. my pedal is actually lighter than OEM and feels brilliant to drive.

Im currently Stage 1 and going Stage 2 on Tuesday with Awesome GTI - APR Sports Cat MTC Intercooler.

The only issue i had to resolve was the pedal lag on the accelerator, which was cured with the XLR Pedal Box. Sport or Sport+ along with the new clutch gives a brilliant
driving experience!

Im based in Accrington BB5 if you wanted to drop by and have test the pedal feel.

 

[Scott325SE]

Many thanks SM61MON.
What you say about the RTS Dual Friction and OEM Dual Mass Flywheel combo is interesting though... I'm looking for a heavier clutch pedal, to regain some of the lost feel in the system. To me, the clutch is too light from OEM spec, so even lighter would be the opposite of the way I'm hoping to go.

Thank you for the feedback and the offer to try the pedal feel. If it's lighter though, I will (very very politely) decline, but really appreciate the offer. FWIW, I'd have happily come down if you had said it was heavier.