Would resurfacing the stock fw make the engagement point w/ the pedal even higher than what it is already? Do brand new stock clutches/fw still engage high? Or do they gradually get to that point?

 

I don't think so, its self adjusting.

 

just out of curiosity, what is the brand new stock flywheel contact area thickness? you only shave a few thousandths of an inch off during resurfacing correct?

i could see that point of increasing heat if you were taking a substantial amount of metal off of the flywheel, with 50% less metal to heat up, it would get heat-soaked in 50% less time. also if the surface was substantially thinner, it would theoreticly be more prone to warping, thicker metal is stronger. but i cant understand how taking less then 0.5% of the mass off and machining the surface flat could be harmful to the car.

i suppose it might have something to do with the dual mass flywheel specifly. heres a quick basic explanation of the differences dual vs single mass

http://www.high-impact.net/DualMassvsSolidFW.htm

perhaps if you machine a dual mass FW you would unbalance it? causing excess vibration and maybe excess disk wear? i would assume both sides of the dual mass part need to be the same weight. if anyone has a definite answer i would be interested to know before i need to install my clutch.

 

From what i remember most dual mass flywheels shouldn't be re-surfaced, replacement is recommended.
On audi's having such a soft material means you would have to take more off to make the surface true again, causing more harm than good. The best course of action is to always replace the flywheel.
The weight issue does ring a bell, but i can't remember exactly what that crazy german guy said. It might throw it off balance, but im not sure about that.
Im sure if you search long enough we can find the answer, im gonna take a look on the net and maybe ask some questions from my old buddies at the dealer.

 

Here we go, this should help.
http://www.aftermarketnews.com/defau...Text&item=5202

 

when I got my sb stg4, i did not resurface the fw and worked just fine.

Are you sure you'll not go BT later on? consider maybe stage 3 or 4 I say.

My clutch is just grate for dd. wanna test it?

 

LOL, thats has nothing to do with the flywheel, thats 100% user issues right there. Plus if the pedal drops to the floor it is the hydrolics system or pressure plate that has failed.


They are going to tell you what they want to tell you so that you follow their guide lines, doesn't have anything to do with "right or wrong". When you have actual real world experiance with resurfacing flywheels then you might know what is true.



But you are just going by what Audi tells you not from your experiance with the stuff over a very long period of time. People have been resurfacing the flywheels on the B5 for almost 13 years and the dbw dual mass flywheels for almost 8 years without any problems. SouthBend even offers resurfacing for the stock A4 flywheels for customers that cant find someone to do it. The front to back balance isn't going to make all that much of a difference, now if you were removing too much weight in one spot making it unbalanced while it is spinning at a very high rate then yes that would be an issue.

Yes, because now you have slightly changed the amount of space between the flywheel and pressure plate.

When the stock disk starts to wear down the engagement point moves up in the pedal.

I have even seen clutch setups that got to hot causing them the clutch to swell and end up causing the car to move forward even though the clutch pedal was to the floor. Once the disk cooled down it would go back to normal.

Not all flywheels are cut the same, so if you put a flywheel that is cut different then what the clutch setup is designed for then the engagement point will be different.


You can not resurface the back side of the flywheel. Resurfacing it is not going to cause it to be so unbalanced (front to back) to the point that it causes an issue. Now if you were to cut it so bad that one end of the flywheel was now much lighter then the other it would become an issue since that is going to cause a balance issue while it is spinning, basically just like a unbalanced wheel.


But it isn't like people haven't been resurfacing the flywheels on the A4 seeing that the car has been around for 13 years and the 2000 dbw dual mass flywheel has been around for nearly 9 years.

I mean come on guys, even Southbend offers resurfacing service for A4 1.8t dual mass flywheels.

That link didn't help much seeing that nearly all of the issues they brought up were on POS Fords and Chevy's.

In 8 years of being in the Audi community I have never heard of a dual mass flywheel failing on an A4 1.8t.

That link also said that dual mass flywheels are expensive to replace at over $800, but yet it isn't hard to find a brand new one for $500 when it comes to the A4.

Boy and you guys wonder why people call the car companies "stealerships".

 

The pedal going to the floor isn't just a hydraulic/pressure plate failure, it also applies to cars that completely lose their friction disc. I used to see it every day at the dealer, one side of the friction disc completely falls off from excessive heat, replaced the clutch and DIDN'T replace the slave cylinder and it drove fine.
That link i have does have audi listed in there, but since you have much more experience in the aftermarket world i will take your word for it. I personally would just buy a new flywheel though.

 

It's nice to see oppinions from two differently experienced view points. Both you guys bring up valid points and have helped me a lot in my decision making. I'm leaning towards replace just because of the miles and debateable affects of resurfacing. This engine has 170k on it so I'm only trying to make the remainder of it's life as reliable and smooth as possible asside from whatever the affects of a chip are.... When the engine is ready to be built again, I bet I will have gotten my $450-$500 worth of flywheel/clutch. I am can't stand chatter, so I'll probably always have the stock dmfw anyways.

 

Also, what is the verdict on chromoly?