So I took my clutch off the other day, and man, it looks rough! Came off a 430whp lq4 and is a mcleod super street extreme (ceramic disk). Car's also got a mcleod flywheel (billet steel). The pressure plate and flywheel both have some grooves in them which look similar to a work brake rotor. The whole setup has about 10k miles on it or less. My question, is this normal for a ceramic disk? If it was a stocker type clutch i wouldnt even question it, I'd say the clutch needs to be replaced. I don't have any experience with ceramic stuff and am thinking maybe it's a bit more normal for such an aggressive disk (6 puck). I'd consider throwing in a new disk and machining the flywheel, but then the pressure plate will still have grooves. Is it time to just get a twin disk? Expecting around 600 whp with my turbo build but I'm stuck on this one; I could never slip it with 430 wheel but it looks ugly. What do you guys think?

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That looks pretty normal. The ceramic or sintered pucks have a very high coefficient of friction, so a discolored surface is normal. If it's been abused you'll have a lot of hot spots or scallops on the pressure plate and flywheel. Grooving is normal, just watch for cracks. Check the hub and springs, and if it wasn't giving you any trouble I'd just blow it off and put it back.

 

Really?! That actually makes me so happy.The last thing I want to do is drop another grand I figured a ceramic disk would do nasty stuff but this really threw me off guard.

 

Admit it, you haven't been driving grandma to church with this set up. lol! Looks can be deceiving on stuff like that. But when did a part care what it looked like?

I see decent seasoning and metal transfer of the flywheel surface, some smearing, a little hot spotting, likely due to some high rpm dumps but overall it doesn't look like it's taken a lot of heat or slip. Doesn't even look like it would chatter.

I would work a little longer on the break in of the next one, as getting a good transfer of material and bedding of ceramic clutches is important but this one looks functional. Worst I could see is a little chatter on take up, but they're grabby any way.

Were you having any problems with it?

 

I've actually had no issues with it, I was just shocked at how horrible it looks. I will definately try and break in the next one better. Thanks