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Old 09-21-2009, 04:27 PM   #1
darrius024
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Default Experience With F1 Clutch Kits? Good Or Bad

i was in the market for a new clutch, one of the ones i ran across was a F1 stage 1 clutch kit, chosen because the ratings on it are around what i am looking for in HP and TQ for short time goals and the price is cheap at 199.99. the only mod so far is a cold air intake. as soon as i get the clutch i will be putting on all parts i already have for tranny/motor (no power adders, just misc bushings, shifter linkage, ect...) my question is if anyone on NASIOC has experience with these clutches, good or bad. i want to get past customers input on how well they are build and if i should buy one. otherwise i will just go exedy oem replacement until i build enough power for a higher performance clutch. thanks for any input!

link to clutch site.

http://gripforce.com/store/index.php...products_id=62

status:

out of box: 10 - looks good
after install: 8 - some shudder, little worried, assume needs break in
500 miles: 9 - shudders getting better, seems a little bit grippier
2 years later: 10 - operates fine, lasted a couple years, still working great. i kept my old clutch and almost sold it 10 times but backed out because i thought maybe this clutch would fail me eventually. glad to say, its perfectly fine, and now that i know my stock clutch is still good, i am just waiting for the day when i need to replace my clutch, then the stocker goes right back in. i initially thought my tranny issues were due to bad clutch bearing so i ordered clutch before tearing it apart, even though my stocker was a 9 out of 10 i still replaced it just for the experiment.
4/17/2012 - well i am going on 3 years, still good on clutch. i recently just sold my stock clutch i took off (it still had 90% life in it, dealer put it in before i bought car, but i thought throw out bearing was bad, or clutch was bad until i found issue in tranny. i had new clutch so i just put it in anyway and kept old one as backup.) i dont know how many miles exactly i have on it, but for 3 years without issues, im pretty happy. i will prob drop out the tranny, or pull the motor for other stuff before it goes bad. for the price i may just replace again with same brand when i get to the point of a motor or tranny pull i give this clutch 3 thumbs up so far


notes:

-inspect all critical surfaces for defects. my clutch came with a little overspray of paint on the machined surface of the pressure plate. i was told that could lead to glazing or uneven wear (worse than normal) and i would have bad things to say of these clutches had that happened. i used brake cleaner to get paint off of that surface.

-clutch pedal seems easier to press in than when i had stock clutch in, could be good or bad???? still runs pretty good

-personally i heard not so great things of the stage 2 and up clutch, i have stage 1 which pretty much appears to be a stock exedy friction disc (printed on the disc) and i think F1 pressure plate unless thats from another comany also, and it is painted.
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Last edited by darrius024; 04-17-2012 at 08:50 PM.
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Old 09-21-2009, 04:34 PM   #2
09rexwagon
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OEM/Exedy or ACT .

Cheap == cheap
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Old 09-21-2009, 05:35 PM   #3
vien
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 09rexwagon View Post
OEM/Exedy or ACT .

Cheap == cheap

they are a direct distro of exedy lol, as far as subaru i would not know im in that debate as well but when i had thier clutch in my honda it was awsome but not sure on wrx
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Old 09-22-2009, 12:13 AM   #4
newsubydude
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i have about 10k on the f1 clutch with no problems i also installed a fidenza light weight flywheel at the same time

up pipe and 3 inch stainless exhaust no cats and no tune at this point.

stan
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Old 09-22-2009, 06:44 AM   #5
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The PUSH clutches they sell for the RS are junk. There are many examples of improper plate actuation and pedal travel issues. Maybe they have decent PULL clutches....as they are just Exedy plates that have been painted blue.

The discs used seem to hold up pretty well as advertised, but I cannot give F1 a thumbs up. Grip-Force is most definately a company I would avoid. Clueless salespeople who hold very little priority on customer satisfaction.

A search of F1, Grip-Force, or Grip-Farce would bring up more 1sthand accounts.


Jay
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Old 09-22-2009, 01:04 PM   #6
darrius024
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Storm View Post
The PUSH clutches they sell for the RS are junk. There are many examples of improper plate actuation and pedal travel issues. Maybe they have decent PULL clutches....as they are just Exedy plates that have been painted blue.

The discs used seem to hold up pretty well as advertised, but I cannot give F1 a thumbs up. Grip-Force is most definately a company I would avoid. Clueless salespeople who hold very little priority on customer satisfaction.

A search of F1, Grip-Force, or Grip-Farce would bring up more 1sthand accounts.


Jay

SWEET THANKS, THAT WILL HELP OUT!
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Old 10-30-2009, 06:44 PM   #7
Wrx.CHRIS.Wrx
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hey im looking at the stage 3 f1 clutch and wondering if it would be good?
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Old 10-30-2009, 06:53 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wrx.CHRIS.Wrx View Post
hey im looking at the stage 3 f1 clutch and wondering if it would be good?
depends on the amount of hp and tq, check the website and if your numbers fall into what a stage 3 is rated for then i would say yeah, pretty much what i noticed is the stage 1 looks almost the same as the stock clutch in that it uses the same exedy friction disc from what it looks like. i will have my clutch and tranny back in this weekend and will drive around a bit to see how it is compared to what the stockewr felt like. i will check back in...
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Old 10-30-2009, 07:07 PM   #9
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Remember that the torque rating for clutches is measured at the crank, not the wheel. So if you have 377 wtq and you order a clutch with capacity to hold 420 ft lbs of torque, you will not be happy a little further down the road. In case you didn't know.
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Old 10-30-2009, 07:16 PM   #10
Wrx.CHRIS.Wrx
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ok well im at 390 torq or close 2 it and the clutch is
Horsepower Rating: 579 HP / Torque Capacity: 565 ft/lbs
think it will work fine?
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Old 10-30-2009, 07:33 PM   #11
darrius024
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wrx.CHRIS.Wrx View Post
ok well im at 390 torq or close 2 it and the clutch is
Horsepower Rating: 579 HP / Torque Capacity: 565 ft/lbs
think it will work fine?
well, if it were me i would go stg 2 b ut i am not an expert, i just have the numbers and basic research to go off of. i have been told you want proper gripping pressure and you dont want to lean too far either way from what specified for your vehicle, so if your runing 400 tq stg2 if you get up to 500tq+ stg3. you could potentially bun up friction discs or break stuff if not chosen properly. the choice is ultimatly yours but do some research man. read around. example, my buddy put a highly rated pressure plate on his car when it didnt need it, i would lock up instantly but would nose dive once it did, he got worse launches then with stock under rated clutch. every situation is different though.

you = ??hp/390tq
stg2=445hp/439tq
stg3=579hp/565tq
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Old 10-30-2009, 07:54 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wrx.CHRIS.Wrx View Post
ok well im at 390 torq or close 2 it and the clutch is
Horsepower Rating: 579 HP / Torque Capacity: 565 ft/lbs
think it will work fine?
If it's a daily driver I wouldn't go with a crazy clutch. I would much rather replace a clutch disk twice a year vs live with a brutal race style clutch everyday. You can baby a clutch by not hitting it with full torque right off the bat too.
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Old 10-30-2009, 09:29 PM   #13
Wrx.CHRIS.Wrx
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aha thank you very much darrius024 that was helpful but idk about the f1 clutch i think ima go with stage to Competition Clutch oh and my hp is 320 and im doing a turbo soon andppl were sugesting a six pung good for about 515 torq
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Old 11-01-2009, 01:55 PM   #14
Wrx.CHRIS.Wrx
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how are the Competition Clutch good or bad.... maybe better then the f1 clutch
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Old 11-01-2009, 01:59 PM   #15
polish man
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dont get f1 i tried the stage 2 in my stage 4 wrx went through break in off 700 miles laid in hard made it to 4th gear and it was slip central lost all my pedal till it cooled down. so i put in an exedy stage 1 and there nice but very grabby and shakey the 1st couple 1000 miles and till it gets warmed up but im pleased with the perfomance.
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Old 11-01-2009, 02:08 PM   #16
Wrx.CHRIS.Wrx
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yea for sure im glad im not getting the f1 then i gues i will have 2 try out the Competition Clutch stage 4 clutch
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Old 11-01-2009, 02:19 PM   #17
polish man
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stage 4 any clutch wouldnt be nice for normal driving but it depends on what you puttin down and doin with the car. its alot of work thats why i just went with the exedy the 2time around and most people say its to much for what im puttin down but doin it twice was enough for me, i can shift alittle cautiously
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Old 11-01-2009, 02:29 PM   #18
Wrx.CHRIS.Wrx
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yea well im around 370- 380 torq and 314 to 320 hp and i really dont want to get somthing that wont hold as well and idk i just need it to hold up good for atleast the winter time untell i go back 2 work next summer
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Old 11-01-2009, 02:40 PM   #19
polish man
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with that i wouldnt go over stage one on exedy or i hear good things about act but there alittle more money most people on here would say stock for your power but im a fan of alittle extra than stock. if you over shoot it with a all out race clutch for a daily driver youll hate it. im no expert but thats just from info ive gatherd
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Old 11-01-2009, 02:47 PM   #20
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Competition Clutch 15020-1620 395/350 well this is the clutch im looking at and the numbers are rated to the wheels i still dont think it would do good actully ahahah
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Old 11-01-2009, 02:47 PM   #21
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but then again im sure i will be driving in snow all winter so no point in buying a bad ass 700 doller clutch kit i gues
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Old 11-05-2009, 04:21 PM   #22
darrius024
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alright, i am about 200 miles on my f1 stage 1 clutch. i am fairly satisfied, but i have heard negatives about the higher stage clutches. with the stage 1 clutch there is slight chatter and rumble if you downshift and dont speed match as with the stock clutch, the car would just slow smoothly for the most part and force the engine to rev being in a lower gear. take note though, i am not past the recommended break in period of 700 miles, so until the 700 mark i will shift more cautiously and baby it, then i will progressivly drive harder and see how she handles some aggressive driving. i hope to give a good review because it is a fairly priced clutch. my recommendation is if you have the money to make power in your vehicle increasing the hp and torque then dont skimp on the clutch and although the most expensive clutch may be overkill and sacrifice drivability, you may want to stear clear of the cheap-o clutch. i only went cheap due to being at the end of my funds which is a bad exuse but i wanted to get it done before winter so i bought something that didnt have bad nore good reviews. havent really heard nothing bad or good so i thought i would try and let everyone know what i think from first hand experience. if this clutch just plain out sucks i will let you all know.
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Old 11-05-2009, 04:48 PM   #23
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i coulda sold you the one i tried in my car its a stage 2, i kid. do you have soft pedal syndrom
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Old 11-05-2009, 06:42 PM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by polish man View Post
i coulda sold you the one i tried in my car its a stage 2, i kid. do you have soft pedal syndrom
i think so, if your talking about the clutch being super easy to press in, when i got done with the car and i pressed the clutch in, i thought for sure i did something wrong because the clutch was super easy. i dunno, i was thinking of selling my old OEM clutch because it was basically near new, i think only 15-20k on it max, and 90% of those miles it was babied cause i though a gear was broke in tranny. i just get replacement happy i guess, if im going deep into a project, i find out as much as i can about what i can replace on the way out putting it back together lol. the clutch was one of those things. maybe their friction discs are ok, but their pressure plates suck balls. the clutch i got had an exedy friction disc like stock, but some funky blue stock look alike pressure plate. i thought maybe if they could, it might be a rebuilt pressure plate, repainted, with new friction disc. hope she hangs in there or i will be kicking myself in the ass for selling the stock clutch.
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Old 11-05-2009, 07:41 PM   #25
polish man
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yea the discs look good my problem was the pressure plate. as soon as i laid on it i got to 4th and that was it started slippin and when i went to push the pedal in it dropped to the floor. i had to coast and let it cool so i could drive it, but it seemed like a good deal and it was my labor but its alot of labor. im on the exedy stage 1 now and it takes a beatin and still feels the same on gear change so im happy. also im stage 4 modded not sure what your at but you may get lucky.
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