They gave me the prices in dollars and the import duty was only approximate, but the price they gave me for the 400lbft kit was around £930 (which I think includes all the bolts and alignment tools, but I haven't actually asked).

Ah thats not bad! Cheapest price I found for Helix was £880 delivered.Did they say what the feel/driveability was like?

The helix is awesome

I ran one at 375lb-ft

Also had a helix in my golf which was the old derv doctor car, rumoured to be 323bhp in a previous life although it had been detuned to 267bhp when i got it

Did they say what the feel/driveability was like?

No, and that's part of the problem. I don't think many (or any) people have these clutches on TDIs in the UK. JBS have been selling SouthBend clutches for a while and it's basically the same part for the 02M gearbox whether it's on a TDI or a 1.8T but I can't find much about them actually being fitted to TDIs in the UK. People seem to run them over the pond in America fine though and SouthBend themselves seem to be a reputable, good quality company, it's just putting me off a bit that I can't find any UK TDI owners.

And the Helix might be fine, but the fact that MardiGras will only put 350ftlb in writing makes me a bit uncertain. It might be that their ratings are conservative, or it might be that you've been lucky and had a couple of good clutches. But I don't really want to pay over a grand and find out that I'm over the rated limit cos there'll be no comeback. Be different if I already had it and was just modding to see how far it'd go, but it doesn't seem like a good way to spend the money as a new purchase when I could buy something specced for another 50-100lbft for relatively little cost

Has anyone tried one of the larkspeed clutch setups? Sorry if this has already come up .

And the Helix might be fine, but the fact that MardiGras will only put 350ftlb in writing makes me a bit uncertain. It might be that their ratings are conservative, or it might be that you've been lucky and had a couple of good clutches. But I don't really want to pay over a grand and find out that I'm over the rated limit cos there'll be no comeback.

Doesnt the helix come with two different type of friction plates?

Yes and no. There's a choice of organic or paddle plates, as there is with Sachs. But paddle clutches are harsher to launch, and apparently can wear quicker (maybe to do with the smaller surface area that contacts the flywheel, I don't know). Whereas I want something OEM feeling and that will last for a while, which narrows my choice down to the organic friction plate. There's also a choice of sprung hub or rigid hub organic plates, but this decision is made for you depending on what flywheel you want to use. I want to use an SMF, so I have to use the sprung hub. So in total, there's three types of friction plate, but they're not really interchangable, you pick whichever one suits your application; I want an SMF but OEM feel therefore my choice has to be the sprung organic.

The only option to my mind that ticks all the boxes is the Sachs Performance Clutch Kit & Heavier Jabba Flywheel

A bit pricey at close to £1k

Ouch

Yeah, I'm down to either that, or the SouthBend Stage 2 Endurance. Both the same price give or take a few quid, SouthBend has a higher torque rating but I don't know how it'll drive, whereas Sachs is slightly lower but I've driven two cars with them in alongside DMFs so know roughly what to expect.

The Southbend clutch - anyone had any experience of these or know anyone that has? I've been told that the 'daily' feels exactly the same as OEM, and they've developed a silent flywheel?

There's loads on TDIClub and VWVortex, but all the threads I read seemed to be about lower spec TDIs with 5 speed boxes, so different clutches and characteristics. There was one thread on SCN about them I think, but that was on a petrol Leon Cupra R, so that was the same clutch and box but different engine. I struggled to find anything specific to the 6 speed PD TDIs. SouthBend seem a very high quality company in general though, so one of their clutches should be fine, but I just didn't fancy the risk for saving about £50 over a Sachs setup from Jabba.

Yeah, its just the silent smf thats swaying me to go for it!

They do look pretty good though, time for some googling I think

my Sachs clutch is dying

Is that SMF or DMF mate and what power are you running?

Is that SMF or DMF mate and what power are you running?

Not sure which one it is....all i know is this: Sachs Performance Clutch Kit 6SPD 02M PD TDI----how do i know if its SMF or DMF?

Running 232bhp and torque 497nm

Hmm, it doesnt say but SMF's have a noticable chatter when the clutch pedal is up? How is yours dying?

Yeah, if you can hear quite a big change in noise in neutral with the clutch in and out, you probably have an SMF. At that torque level, you really should have one IMO. But then I wouldn't expect a Sachs organic to die at that level unless it's been abused for many miles (497Nm being around 360lb/ft? So plenty inside the rated figure) so maybe it's been skimped on and you still had a DMF like I did :(

The symptoms of my flywheel going were lots of juddering when pulling away at low RPM, various vibrations through the pedals, apparently it can make getting into gear difficult although I never really had a problem with this, and sometimes a "thump" when you turn the engine off. Again, I didn't notice cos mine is a little rougher on shutdown due to having no anti-shudder valve.

OEM! 200bhp and 275 ftlb (AMD) I floor it from idle abuse it and for some reason do as many burnouts in 2nd as I can. If a car burns up behind me and im in 6th doing 40 ill still floor it and no slip. I can even side step it and dont slip. Mapped by unit 18.

OEM! 200bhp and 275 ftlb (AMD) I floor it from idle abuse it and for some reason do as many burnouts in 2nd as I can. If a car burns up behind me and im in 6th doing 40 ill still floor it and no slip. I can even side step it and dont slip. Mapped by unit 18.

Lol one way to guarantee a dmf failure

Yeah, if you can hear quite a big change in noise in neutral with the clutch in and out, you probably have an SMF. At that torque level, you really should have one IMO. But then I wouldn't expect a Sachs organic to die at that level unless it's been abused for many miles (497Nm being around 360lb/ft? So plenty inside the rated figure) so maybe it's been skimped on and you still had a DMF like I did :(

The symptoms of my flywheel going were lots of juddering when pulling away at low RPM, various vibrations through the pedals, apparently it can make getting into gear difficult although I never really had a problem with this, and sometimes a "thump" when you turn the engine off. Again, I didn't notice cos mine is a little rougher on shutdown due to having no anti-shudder valve.

I don't have a change in noise when clutching

nor do i abuse it

Got some info -turns out its DMF.Never been advised when had it done in 2007 to get SMF one!!!! remapped by Jabba

It does judder at low revs - slips 'more' in colder weather though

Do i need a whole new clutch kit or just the flywheel ?what do you think

Sounds like you could be looking at the same as me:

If you buy a Sachs SMF, then you should get a new friction plate (the design is different between the SMF and DMF parts)

You need new bolts anyway

You should fit a new release bearing anyway

While you're doing all that, you might as well replace the cover anyway meaning a whole kit (you could reuse it, but if it ever failed then you need to do everything again. I didn't want to take that risk, it's bad enough spending this much once!).

If everything else is in good condition then you *could* get away with just the flywheel, I think matt1chelski or whatever his username is on here runs a SMF with the friction plate designed for DMF. But in my opinion Sachs spent money designing the two designs for a reason, if they could have got away with just one then they would have done for cost reasons (as maintaining and manufacturing a single part in high volume would be better for their profits than designing and making two different designs). I'm still not sure what your problem is though, I found the juddering more noticable in hot weather (the worst day being the day I went to London in it and it seemed to be really struggling with a full car, in traffic, on a pretty hot day) so you could have a slightly different problem to me...

It started last year.this year got a bit worse/annoying-that is my problem.i don't like the fact that at low revs its slipping.goes to higher rev and back down with a grunting noise....

Actually you are right-it does rattle more in hot,but slips more in cold weather.....

I'm running the 6.25kg Jabba kit and the Sachs clutch with it. The clatter is quite loud, but the revs pick up well and once you are out of 1st and on the road you dont hear it!

I've just had their 8.5kg kit fitted on Thursday. Seems good so far, the mechanic who fitted it seemed impressed by the build quality on the flywheel so I'm happy that it's a good piece of kit.

When yours was fitted, did you find that for a little while it was very "juddery" with the clutch only partly out? Going forwards it's mostly fine, but when I'm reversing onto the driveway and can't engage the clutch fully (difficult to do doing a reverse turn onto the drive) it feels pretty horrible. I'm guessing it's just still bedding in as I've only done about 50 miles on it and it'll calm down a bit?

I'm running the 6.25kg Jabba kit and the Sachs clutch with it. The clatter is quite loud, but the revs pick up well and once you are out of 1st and on the road you dont hear it!

what power and torque r u running?and how long u had it for?

I've just had their 8.5kg kit fitted on Thursday. Seems good so far, the mechanic who fitted it seemed impressed by the build quality on the flywheel so I'm happy that it's a good piece of kit.

When yours was fitted, did you find that for a little while it was very "juddery" with the clutch only partly out? Going forwards it's mostly fine, but when I'm reversing onto the driveway and can't engage the clutch fully (difficult to do doing a reverse turn onto the drive) it feels pretty horrible. I'm guessing it's just still bedding in as I've only done about 50 miles on it and it'll calm down a bit?

i don't really remember-it was a while ago. which clutch kit is yours?