Buying a southbend clutch??? See this first!

[ReDBull]

That's not good the Southbend are not backing you up.

 

[Jfox]

Surely a company not backed by the manufacturer would mean they know something is wrong and are unwilling to take the blame and therefore get a bad rep?

If that is the case its sad to see the poor way they handle their issues and dump other companies like darkside with the issue to sort out at their own cost.

Keep us informed, its interesting to know nonetheless.

 

[AshFR]

As i said earlier and just want to clear things up, Darkside have been very helpful for all of this and cant fault them in anyway, just southbend i have the problem with. Anyway, still in the process of sorting the car out in the garage now so hopefully the problem will be solved soon as.

 

[CupraRmark]

I won't be buying there products that's for sure


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[joshy514]

I nearly bought one of these kits from darkside when my dmf was dodger? (think it was the diff now though) However, I didn't include the VAT on top, so couldn't afford it in the end as the turbo needed seeing too, and had tax and all that rubbish that creeps up on you when you really don't need it. So resorted to OEM one. Glad I did now! Scott if you want another car to test out your clutch out on, I'm away for 3 months at the end of this month and the car will just be sat on my drive I'm sure she'd be in good hands haha

 

[MJ]

Just thought I would post in here, as I was made aware of this thread last night.

As you saw in the first post Ashley linked to, we sent out a replacement clutch a few months ago when he started having issues. We paid for that out of our pocket as SouthBend wanted to see this kit before covering it under warranty. To cut a long story short SouthBend would not pay warranty on the part, so we were stuck with the bill.

The second clutch then started giving Ashley problems pretty quickly, which to us points at another issue with the vehicle. However, the car became undrivable before we could try anything else, and ultimately we end up with the disaster that you see in the first photos.

This time Ashley did not want another SouthBend Kit, so we sent a new Pressure Plate and Slave Cylinder free of charge, and a Sachs Race Clutch Disc for our cost price.

Since we did not do any of the work, we cannot speculate on what has caused this issue, but there are too many factors that can cause a clutch to fail, such as bending the disc during install (by not lining the Input Shaft correctly), not bedding it in sufficiently or other external factors that increase wear. Play in the input shaft quickly kills the Disc, and a Faulty Master Cylinder (as mentioned in Ashley’s previous post) can cause the exact damage seen here.
We did a clutch job on a Mk4 Golf last week. The Standard Dual Mass would not clear but had been in around 80k so the customer just expected normal wear. When we took it apart, the rivets holding the marcel fins to the centre of the disc were ripped out. Turned out the Master Cylinder was sticking (at first randomly, but was now all the time) meaning the brand new Clutch and Flywheel would not bleed up. We swapped the Master Cylinder (about 1hrs work in a Mk4 Golf), bled the system and all was well.

We do not like playing the blame game, as it gets you nowhere. We also do not want unhappy customers as I am sure everyone who has dealt with us will know.
In light of this, we have currently removed the SouthBend products from our website until we have a response from SouthBend. We have had no support from them with the last few issues we have had, which as the UK distributor for their products is not acceptable. Don’t get me wrong, we have sold nearly 100 SouthBend kits and the problem rate is in the low single figures (considering with CG Motorsport we had a failure rate of 80%!!!), but without the support of the manufacturer, we are stranded. We have paid the warranty out of our own pockets for several kits (minor issues) and this cannot continue.

We are currently testing our own SMF Kits for the 6 Speeds in some of our project cars as we speak, and these will be released for sale very shortly, but only when we have tested them sufficiently to be confident we won’t have issues with quality.

I hope that clears up our position on the matter, and we hope Ashley gets his car sorted as soon as possible.

Thanks

Scott

You really can't say fairer than that, there's many people who'd blame everyone then wouldn't budge on supplying (never mind paying for) a replacement. Bravo Darkside.

 

[AndrewJB]

Yeh i agree

 

[M20FES]

darksides where iam going for clutch, turbo manifold, injectors, mapping etc when i get around to it

 

[joshy514]

darksides where iam going for clutch, turbo manifold, injectors, mapping etc when i get around to it

Our cars aren't really going to be the same I think , except seats, colour and a few personal touches lol


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[M20FES]

Our cars aren't really going to be the same I think , except seats, colour and a few personal touches lol


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are or aren't ?

 

[joshy514]

are or aren't ?

Are!! Can't wait for big turbo


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[james.l]

Just wanted to write a quick positive for southbend clutches. I've got a stage 3 OFE in my BT build, flywheel was balanced with the crank and clutch was bedded in properly have put mad power through it (500 LB/FT) and haven't had a problem to date. Provides decent pedal feel and not an ON/OFF switch.

Could this be a one off due to manafacturing problem?

 

[jonathanp]

Anymore news on southbend clutches?

I'm having James's engine fitted complete with his clutch, is there anything I should get done while the gearbox is out?

I've heard people talk about fitting shims to help with the pressure plate and also checking/replacing the master cylinder?

 

[AshFR]

Anymore news on southbend clutches?

I'm having James's engine fitted complete with his clutch, is there anything I should get done while the gearbox is out?

I've heard people talk about fitting shims to help with the pressure plate and also checking/replacing the master cylinder?

Check input shaft on the box as it will destroy the clutch if its slightly worn or bent. A new slave cylinder is a must also fresh gearbox oil and you should be good to go.

 

[DanMeiring]

Any clutch cover that comes painted I get dubious about.

 

[AndrewJB]

Clutch cover In my southbend kit was a Sachs one painted red

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[DanMeiring]

Fair enough all stems back to techniclutch and their dogshit blue things.

Personally I'd stick with LUK/Sachs/AP/Helix but that's only my preference and shouldn't put anyone off other makes and models.