Clutch and flywheel recommendations

[DimrBimmer]

Howdy folks. I drive 2001 M Roadster with 57K miles on it (2k are mine) and lately started to notice clutch slipping under heavy acceleration in 4th and 5th gears. I had another thread on this and got one decent recommendation for aftermarket clutch, but that thread took a bit of a detour. Wanted to get more options to choose from. I am planning to take my car on the track few times per year. But for the most of the time it’s just spirited joy rides to an ice cream parlor (I love that question on insurance form) and back, only fast.
While replacing clutch was thinking of lightening up the flywheel to have more fun with the throttle. Not planning on too light of a flywheel, but something reasonable and slightly lighter then OE. Single mass or dual mass flywheel? I know that bunch of folks here track their cars and even more people use them for joy rides only. If you replaced your clutch and flywheel, or just the clutch, please share your experience with it. Also, besides the clutch and possibly flywheel and all the gaskets, SS clutch line from the slave, anything else I should be replacing down there? Thank you in advance.

[raubritter]

My experience with my 3.0... I went with Bimmerworld JB Racing lightweight flywheel / Clutchmasters organic sprung clutch to get quicker engine response.

First, the bad: gear rattle was horrible once car warmed up (this flywheel is very light). This isn't chatter as you apply/release the clutch pedal, but a rattly noise that happens while the car is in gear, especially when car is warm with AC on, idling in Neutral. But it's also noticeable sometimes in low gears at lower speeds.

First time I drove the car after install and it warmed up and I heard the rattle, I thought something was broken and pulled off the road it was so bad! Since then I've done a few things that have helped a lot with this issue: thicker trans. fluid (might not be an option if you live in a cold climate; I use Redline MT-90).

Another thing that helped was a tune modification to bump up idle RPMs (the rattle is worst at stock idle RPM). As a pleasant side effect, this also helped make maneuvering easier coming off from a complete stop, countering the shuddering issues that happen with a really light flywheel at really low RPM.

I was very unhappy at first with the rattle noise and regretted my decision. Very embarrassing stopped at a light with car loudly rattling like it's a diesel tractor or broken... I would keep the clutch pedal pushed in at lights just to avoid the noise. If things had remained like that, I would have recommended against a lightweight flywheel, and in fact I was thinking about changing my setup out for something else. But the changes have solved my problems almost completely.

So now it's pretty great... The noise isn't too noticeable most of the time, and it's not an annoyance maneuvering from a stop like it was at first.

On the plus side, improved engine response is great (a lot can be done with electronic throttle tuning on M54 and S54 too).

[DimrBimmer]

My experience with my 3.0... I went with Bimmerworld JB Racing lightweight flywheel / Clutchmasters ...

Thank you for sharing. I was looking at few lighter flywheels, but nothing smaller then 19-16LBs. I do live in NE and colder season gets pretty brutal. I might just leave OE, but wanted to weight in other options. Clutch must be replaced with something that supports 285-325 ft-lbs. Not that my S54 would ever put that out. But maybe next tax return LOL. I am not holding my breath. I usually end up owning them.

[Tim95M3]

I have an 8.5lb aluminum flywheel from UUC, and I don't recommend it. I plan on swapping to a ~15lb steel flywheel at some point. "Gripforce" or "F1" clutches on eBay are pretty good bang for the buck.

[zellamay]

Some info on rattling: http://store.uucmotorwerks.com/articles/gear_rattle.htm

[Wrench Turner]

so I'm guessing an OEM replacement is simply too cost prohibitive?

[DimrBimmer]

OE is still on the table. Just “weighting” our my options. Since I don’t have a capacity to interchange those on the fly, I want to do it once, I want to do it right. Hell, if I knew more about transmissions and cars in general and had insulated garage with a lift, I would have gotten few and compared them myself. It would still be nice if I could get quicker throttle response with something lighter and reliable, while saving few bucks that would go right towards installing it. Then again, saw few high-end race kits for double the OE price. Not that I will EVER need something like this. It’s all for good fun without turning it into a rice burner.

[s8ilver]

It’s all for good fun without turning it into a rice burner.

My rice burner runs a 9lb Chromoly flywheel, and it's awesome!

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The wheels do class it up a bit though.

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