After 3 Clutch purchases, terrible customer service, and wasted money I have decided to make a post about Spec Clutches. I have 3 examples of failure on Spec's part.

1- I put a spec stage 4 in a 1995 Corvette. It was absolutely the worst driving clutch I have ever drove. It chattered terribly and you had to rev the engine to take off. I was informed by a spec technician that the clutch would drive good.

2- I called spec about the problem and they said it was because it was a rigid disk (no springs). I was offered a wonderful deal... buy a spec stage 3 disk and pay shipping. Ok, well at this point thats all I could do.

3- At the same time I ordered this clutch I ordered a Stage 1 for my brothers 2000 corvette. 6 months after the install of the stage 1 it is out. Makes a terrible noise when you take off and stinks to high heaven. I could not even park this car in my garage.

4- My 99 (509RWHP on a mustang dyno) had a spec stage 3 in it. I recently took the tranny out to pull the engine and the disk has ate into the flywheel in some spots. On top of that there was a hole missing where it mounts up and was drilled out to make it work.

So to all of you thinking about buying a Spec to save money please spend a little more and buy a quality piece from someone who will stand behind it. In the end you will have saved money... for my 95 a $450 clutch turned into a $650 clutch. In the 2000 a $300 clutch is turning into a $668 clutch (replacing with GM Z06 clutch). In my 99's case I will also have to replace the flywheel.

Ok well rant off! Sorry guys, I dont mean to run anyone in the ground but I dont want this happening to all of you.

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

I have a spec stage 3 in my LT1 powered Firebird with 460 rwhp and it has worked great. The Vette is a different application so I can't really comment on that.

 

Specs really do seem to be hit or miss. I've seen many many horror stories of Spec clutches gone bad, including pulling a friends Stage 3 in his 95 Z28 have having parts of it drop out of the bellhousing at only about 5K miles. Then again, I installed a stage 2 into our 93 Trans Am (345/360 RWHP/TQ) and it's driven wonderfully since day one (over 10k miles at this point) and our 99 Turbo Celica (250 WHP 260 WTQ) also has a stage 2 with no problems. Then there's the pics of that one Vette where it essentially exploded and totaled the car. Things that make you go "hmmmm."