So I decided to invest :) New AMR Twin plate clutch and ...
Discussion
Well gents,
I had a wobble with the AMV8 and wanted to replace her, however after much thinking I have decided to cancel my sale advert on the old girl. The ideal of spending the difference on a Fezza just did not sit that comfortable. Its seems everything has appreciate in that category by 50% over recent years which feels like your buying near the top and not much off its original new list price, who knows could be more growth to come in that sector! Either way she staying a bit longer and thought I would carry out some improvements and invest a little for the next few years to enjoy.
- New AMR Twin plate and GT4 flywheel package.
- New AP springs and full Geo
- Upgrade to the forged lightweight V12s wheels
Am not sure if anyone has had this fitted yet , but my current clutch has done 33k on it now and I feel its nearing the end of its life soon. So the ideal of a new clutch is something i feel make sense, be interesting to see how much she has left once removed.
I let you all know what my thoughts are on the upgrades especially the new AMR clutch package
, looking to have it all done by the end of the month.
Cheers
I had a wobble with the AMV8 and wanted to replace her, however after much thinking I have decided to cancel my sale advert on the old girl. The ideal of spending the difference on a Fezza just did not sit that comfortable. Its seems everything has appreciate in that category by 50% over recent years which feels like your buying near the top and not much off its original new list price, who knows could be more growth to come in that sector! Either way she staying a bit longer and thought I would carry out some improvements and invest a little for the next few years to enjoy.
- New AMR Twin plate and GT4 flywheel package.
- New AP springs and full Geo
- Upgrade to the forged lightweight V12s wheels
Am not sure if anyone has had this fitted yet , but my current clutch has done 33k on it now and I feel its nearing the end of its life soon. So the ideal of a new clutch is something i feel make sense, be interesting to see how much she has left once removed.
I let you all know what my thoughts are on the upgrades especially the new AMR clutch package
, looking to have it all done by the end of the month.Cheers
Edited by Paza3 on Monday 12th June 16:20
Am pretty sure its own the verge on slipping almost a delay in revs picking up like she's clinging on, its not "felt" like that before so a recent development in the last 1000 miles or so. No actual slipping however knowing the car as I do am pretty convinced its can't be far away this was most noticeable on the way back from the Nurburgring after prolonged periods of driving. Most original spec AMV8 clutches tend to be replaced around the 35-40k mark, appreciate there will be a some that last longer.
Its an opportunity to get a lighten flywheel fitted as well , as the this will improve the engine response which I found she lacks a little in this department.
Its an opportunity to get a lighten flywheel fitted as well , as the this will improve the engine response which I found she lacks a little in this department.
Edited by Paza3 on Monday 12th June 17:13
Yeah of course , Cheltenham AM wanted with a little discount £3550 I think it was just £110 I got off the price. They quote 7 hours labour at 135/145 per hour, really lovely bunch to deal with just could not help with the suspension side of things.
The clutch kit itself complete so (clutch , bearing , flywheel etc ) is £2400 inclusive of VAT.
I spoke with DAE as they service the car and to see what they could offer as I wanted to sort out the suspension a little as well , and they quote the same parts cost and the normal 11 hours labour at 60 per + vat, so its £3190 if my memory recalls. Which is about £400 cheaper than there own AP version. Both use the v12s clutch I believe however its down to the flywheel, but am happy using the AMR GT4 Flywheel.
We are still waiting on stock to be confirmed, AM said it should be ready in the next week or so ... nearing the end of the month.
The clutch kit itself complete so (clutch , bearing , flywheel etc ) is £2400 inclusive of VAT.
I spoke with DAE as they service the car and to see what they could offer as I wanted to sort out the suspension a little as well , and they quote the same parts cost and the normal 11 hours labour at 60 per + vat, so its £3190 if my memory recalls. Which is about £400 cheaper than there own AP version. Both use the v12s clutch I believe however its down to the flywheel, but am happy using the AMR GT4 Flywheel.
We are still waiting on stock to be confirmed, AM said it should be ready in the next week or so ... nearing the end of the month.
Hi its not fitted yet, AMR have a slight delay currently i believe on delivery of the items as advised by AM Cheltenham. Its expected near the end of the month so hopefully I be able to update it once its fitted
Am proceeding with the Aston Martin Racing package the new one offered by the dealer network
Am proceeding with the Aston Martin Racing package the new one offered by the dealer network
Edited by Paza3 on Tuesday 13th June 08:32
Hello
I am looking at doing a similar thing, but as yet have not purchased a V8 :-)
I would be looking to do exactly what you are doing, PLUS putting a supercharger in it. Has anyone had experience of doing this? Can the manual gear box on a V8 cope with the extra power? I will also be looking to upgrade the brakes and suspension.
My reasons for doing the above, I would really like the V12 manual convertable, but cant really stretch to the prices being asked, plus I am wanting this car as a driver, so will be doing plenty of miles on it. I was looking at spending about £40-£50k on the car, then a further £10-£15k on the works.
By doing the above, I would hope to have a car that has the performance of a V12, but a car that I wont be afraid of putting on the miles on it.
I am looking at doing a similar thing, but as yet have not purchased a V8 :-)
I would be looking to do exactly what you are doing, PLUS putting a supercharger in it. Has anyone had experience of doing this? Can the manual gear box on a V8 cope with the extra power? I will also be looking to upgrade the brakes and suspension.
My reasons for doing the above, I would really like the V12 manual convertable, but cant really stretch to the prices being asked, plus I am wanting this car as a driver, so will be doing plenty of miles on it. I was looking at spending about £40-£50k on the car, then a further £10-£15k on the works.
By doing the above, I would hope to have a car that has the performance of a V12, but a car that I wont be afraid of putting on the miles on it.
qwick69 said:
Hello
I am looking at doing a similar thing, but as yet have not purchased a V8 :-)
I would be looking to do exactly what you are doing, PLUS putting a supercharger in it. Has anyone had experience of doing this? Can the manual gear box on a V8 cope with the extra power? I will also be looking to upgrade the brakes and suspension.
My reasons for doing the above, I would really like the V12 manual convertable, but cant really stretch to the prices being asked, plus I am wanting this car as a driver, so will be doing plenty of miles on it. I was looking at spending about £40-£50k on the car, then a further £10-£15k on the works.
By doing the above, I would hope to have a car that has the performance of a V12, but a car that I wont be afraid of putting on the miles on it.
I would be very cautious about just buying a V8 and throwing in a supercharger for extra power. My personal thoughts would be to buy a good V8 4.7l and get the Power upgrades/up-rated clutch etc etc and you'll be far nearer V12 performance and still keep good retail value.I am looking at doing a similar thing, but as yet have not purchased a V8 :-)
I would be looking to do exactly what you are doing, PLUS putting a supercharger in it. Has anyone had experience of doing this? Can the manual gear box on a V8 cope with the extra power? I will also be looking to upgrade the brakes and suspension.
My reasons for doing the above, I would really like the V12 manual convertable, but cant really stretch to the prices being asked, plus I am wanting this car as a driver, so will be doing plenty of miles on it. I was looking at spending about £40-£50k on the car, then a further £10-£15k on the works.
By doing the above, I would hope to have a car that has the performance of a V12, but a car that I wont be afraid of putting on the miles on it.
There are a few thread on here regarding superchargers, and although a supercharger is available, sticking it in an Aston Martin just doesn't sit right with me and you should be able to get similar performance in other ways as mentioned above.
I'd do some more research and there's more than enough information on PH to make your mind up.
Good luck whichever way you go !!
Paza3 said:
. . . than their own AP version. Both use the v12s clutch I believe however its down to the flywheel, but am happy using the AMR GT4 Flywheel.
There are presumably only a few manufacturers of a Vantage clutch.
AP is obviously a long-standing clutch maker.
Which company is the twin-plate supplier to Aston Martin?
Could the OE product and the Indie products perhaps be identical?
V8V Pete said:
Are you prepared to share with us what you've been quoted for the clutch/flywheel, parts & labour?
I have had a kit on order for about a year, but im told parts might finally be available at end of June with very limited supply - why supply would be limited on a part known to come to market for a year now and has basically been in existence since 2006 - I'm not quite sure??I have been quoted 2000+VAT on manual cars (kit not available for SportShift) pre 2014 build, and 2300+VAT on cars built post 2014. The book time for a clutch is near enough 9hrs, assuming mean franchised hourly charge out rate of 200 p/h and in total inc VAT that's about 4500 by my reckoning.
It will be interesting to weigh side-by-side the factory light weight flywheel with a sample from aftermarket. It will be interesting to side-by-side picture a V12V road car clutch and the 'AMR' part. A factory clutch kit for V12V (flywheel, twinplate clutch and slave cylinder) is 2050+VAT, so the AMR kit, an accessories section upgrade part is actually cheaper than a std road car part, an interesting strategy! But this clutch kit is simply a branding activity, because the flywheel is unlikely to be as lightweight as GT4, and the clutch plate isn't sintered like GT4, yet whilst branded so, in reality it has little resemblance to 'AMR GT4' and closer resemblance to a stock V12V road car with adjusted flywheel to mate the assembly - which is why I guess the kit is bizarrely cheaper than V12V road car yet the marketing is AMR accessory.
The post 2014 2300+VAT kit Vs pre 2014 2000+VAT kit is quite a saga and is no doubt reason for long delay to market - it's a left hand not telling right hand kinda thing.
When V8 was in prototype it had the same twinplate clutch as 2004 DB9 manual. Pre production, probably, a bean counter decided to pull the twinplate for a cheaper single disc clutch. DB9 manual and V8 shared a common torque tube internal design which meant the V8 with its now shorter stack height using the single plate clutch needed a spacer to fill the gap and mate with torque tube. So in 2005 DB9 manual was flywheel / clutch / slave cylinder / torque tube, and V8 was flywheel / clutch / slave cylinder / spacer / torque tube.
They have made, what?? About 30,000?? V8's since then and made and fitted 30,000 spacers. In 2005 they should of cast the spacer into V8 torque tube and made the cost saving. But no, they waited 10 years until 2014 - when in sight of model run out to cast the spacer in. Go figure!
The problem a cast-in spacer causes is that the width a flywheel / a twinplate clutch and a slave cylinder has to fit into is now insufficiently too short, and whilst cost down engineering finally got around to casting the spacer into the torque tube, whilst that's fine for a single plate clutch, in doing so they shoot in the foot their brothers in aftermarket sales because a twinplate clutch now won't fit.
Machining the cast in spacer away is very tricky process so pretty much the only alternative is the factory supply an exchange torque tube for cars with cast in spacer, what a mess, and in doing so they charge 300+vat for that privilege / charging customers for the swap out process of their own causing.
If the flywheel is indeed light weight (I doubt it, I reckon it's like-for-like weight of std part because a lightweight Flywheel should mean emissions legislation re testing and ideally ECU reflash), at 2000+VAT it's a friggin bargain and will no doubt become the default fit option across the market and the only difference between this kit fitted at dealer or indie will be the labour price. But that being the case just for manual cars. The only reason the kit can't be applied to SportShift is that the factory would certainly need to re program trans and engine controller which would certainly mean new legislation testing which would cost more than the revenue from sales of the kit.
The world of aftermarket has about a 7 year head start on the factory concerning this upgrade, so the factory has to beat that somehow and the bargain, unsustainable imho low price is obvious way. But like any other factory part it will be subject to annual price inflation (across the board all parts prices are becoming a bit eye watering these days compared to years ago) and it won't be long before the 2000 / 2300+VAT is bordering 3000 - that's if the AMR branding idea survives long at all before quietly burning out faster than a single plate clutch - I can't see scope for it when product turns Merc derived because the entry point should be AMG to start with, so how can an AMR brand improve on that?
As the torque tube issue has shown - leave upgrading to the pro's you Gaydon novice boys!
BamfordMike said:
V8V Pete said:
Are you prepared to share with us what you've been quoted for the clutch/flywheel, parts & labour?
I have had a kit on order for about a year, but im told parts might finally be available at end of June with very limited supply - why supply would be limited on a part known to come to market for a year now and has basically been in existence since 2006 - I'm not quite sure??I have been quoted 2000+VAT on manual cars (kit not available for SportShift) pre 2014 build, and 2300+VAT on cars built post 2014. The book time for a clutch is near enough 9hrs, assuming mean franchised hourly charge out rate of 200 p/h and in total inc VAT that's about 4500 by my reckoning.
It will be interesting to weigh side-by-side the factory light weight flywheel with a sample from aftermarket. It will be interesting to side-by-side picture a V12V road car clutch and the 'AMR' part. A factory clutch kit for V12V (flywheel, twinplate clutch and slave cylinder) is 2050+VAT, so the AMR kit, an accessories section upgrade part is actually cheaper than a std road car part, an interesting strategy! But this clutch kit is simply a branding activity, because the flywheel is unlikely to be as lightweight as GT4, and the clutch plate isn't sintered like GT4, yet whilst branded so, in reality it has little resemblance to 'AMR GT4' and closer resemblance to a stock V12V road car with adjusted flywheel to mate the assembly - which is why I guess the kit is bizarrely cheaper than V12V road car yet the marketing is AMR accessory.
The post 2014 2300+VAT kit Vs pre 2014 2000+VAT kit is quite a saga and is no doubt reason for long delay to market - it's a left hand not telling right hand kinda thing.
When V8 was in prototype it had the same twinplate clutch as 2004 DB9 manual. Pre production, probably, a bean counter decided to pull the twinplate for a cheaper single disc clutch. DB9 manual and V8 shared a common torque tube internal design which meant the V8 with its now shorter stack height using the single plate clutch needed a spacer to fill the gap and mate with torque tube. So in 2005 DB9 manual was flywheel / clutch / slave cylinder / torque tube, and V8 was flywheel / clutch / slave cylinder / spacer / torque tube.
They have made, what?? About 30,000?? V8's since then and made and fitted 30,000 spacers. In 2005 they should of cast the spacer into V8 torque tube and made the cost saving. But no, they waited 10 years until 2014 - when in sight of model run out to cast the spacer in. Go figure!
The problem a cast-in spacer causes is that the width a flywheel / a twinplate clutch and a slave cylinder has to fit into is now insufficiently too short, and whilst cost down engineering finally got around to casting the spacer into the torque tube, whilst that's fine for a single plate clutch, in doing so they shoot in the foot their brothers in aftermarket sales because a twinplate clutch now won't fit.
Machining the cast in spacer away is very tricky process so pretty much the only alternative is the factory supply an exchange torque tube for cars with cast in spacer, what a mess, and in doing so they charge 300+vat for that privilege / charging customers for the swap out process of their own causing.
If the flywheel is indeed light weight (I doubt it, I reckon it's like-for-like weight of std part because a lightweight Flywheel should mean emissions legislation re testing and ideally ECU reflash), at 2000+VAT it's a friggin bargain and will no doubt become the default fit option across the market and the only difference between this kit fitted at dealer or indie will be the labour price. But that being the case just for manual cars. The only reason the kit can't be applied to SportShift is that the factory would certainly need to re program trans and engine controller which would certainly mean new legislation testing which would cost more than the revenue from sales of the kit.
The world of aftermarket has about a 7 year head start on the factory concerning this upgrade, so the factory has to beat that somehow and the bargain, unsustainable imho low price is obvious way. But like any other factory part it will be subject to annual price inflation (across the board all parts prices are becoming a bit eye watering these days compared to years ago) and it won't be long before the 2000 / 2300+VAT is bordering 3000 - that's if the AMR branding idea survives long at all before quietly burning out faster than a single plate clutch - I can't see scope for it when product turns Merc derived because the entry point should be AMG to start with, so how can an AMR brand improve on that?
As the torque tube issue has shown - leave upgrading to the pro's you Gaydon novice boys!
A few small points. The first is that AMR accessories by & large, are only for dealer fit. Presumably that has an impact on the potential emissions problem you mention ? That's certainly why you cannot (and could not) order the V12 performance pack to be a factory fit, even if you ordered it at the same time as the car it was to be fitted to
The second is re AMR branding. They may well be over playing the connection i.e. how connected the parts are to Aston motorsport parts. I have no view on that either way, it's not my area. You may well be correct. But AMR as a brand/sub-brand is here to stay - AMR accessories will officially launch soon, to include performance parts, cosmetic parts and general accessories. No doubt some items previously not branded AMR may well now come under that umbrella in time - it is as you know, just branding/marketing after all
Thirdly, re Merc, are you assuming Astons will have Merc/AMG derived gearboxes ? I don't believe that will be the case. On DB11, other than the engine and engine management, how many of the car's components that link to performance/handling are merc/AMG derived ?
Well I can only go on the information AM provided, I think they can produce much larger qualities and in turn reducing the price of the raw materials, making ten or 10,000 is going to make a significant difference in the manufacturing cost.
Hopefully it will be available at the end of the month this is what I was advised, and make sense following there own marketing campaign on this. Its pretty clear this shape Vantage is at the end of the road , hence the change in direction I reckon ... there is no way in gods green earth if cost Aston 2k to make the kit probably half that so still a fair bit of fat in it for them still.
Screen print of the price offered by Aston Martin themselves, in case of any doubt.
Am actually using DAE on fitting as am getting the suspension done at the same time. Hopefully be able to update as i go along with pictures etc ... so everybody knows all the facts about it.
Hopefully it will be available at the end of the month this is what I was advised, and make sense following there own marketing campaign on this. Its pretty clear this shape Vantage is at the end of the road , hence the change in direction I reckon ... there is no way in gods green earth if cost Aston 2k to make the kit probably half that so still a fair bit of fat in it for them still.
Screen print of the price offered by Aston Martin themselves, in case of any doubt.
Am actually using DAE on fitting as am getting the suspension done at the same time. Hopefully be able to update as i go along with pictures etc ... so everybody knows all the facts about it.
Edited by Paza3 on Tuesday 13th June 12:31
jonby said:
Lots of interesting stuff there Mike. Explains the conflicting price I mentioned info perfectly
A few small points. The first is that AMR accessories by & large, are only for dealer fit. Presumably that has an impact on the potential emissions problem you mention ? That's certainly why you cannot (and could not) order the V12 performance pack to be a factory fit, even if you ordered it at the same time as the car it was to be fitted to
The second is re AMR branding. They may well be over playing the connection i.e. how connected the parts are to Aston motorsport parts. I have no view on that either way, it's not my area. You may well be correct. But AMR as a brand/sub-brand is here to stay - AMR accessories will officially launch soon, to include performance parts, cosmetic parts and general accessories. No doubt some items previously not branded AMR may well now come under that umbrella in time - it is as you know, just branding/marketing after all
Thirdly, re Merc, are you assuming Astons will have Merc/AMG derived gearboxes ? I don't believe that will be the case. On DB11, other than the engine and engine management, how many of the car's components that link to performance/handling are merc/AMG derived ?
GT8 / GT12 were built on the line with secondary cat delete, so a factory fit of the V12 upgrade kit if GT12 passes legislation it needs to (secondary cats needed for final hill of emissions test and deterioration factors as far as I recall) should be no issue I can think of other than marketing strategy, so I have no real clue why in principal the kit could not be a line fit. But this is dicey ground for automakers offering upgrade kit which is not at arms length of its own supply network. If the upgrade kit deviates from original specification and significantly increases performance, it must effect emissions and noise, an automaker would be unwise to sell that kit via its dealer network, but the world of aftermarket could sell the same kit because it doesn't have restrictive laws preventing it from doing so. The rules are there to stop automakers selling an upgraded specification that would not pass emissions laws ordinarily, the rules prevent a non compliant product via the back door. In the case of AMG, M sport and JCW, whilst they are all tuning arms, they pass normal legislation so is reason why products are available within each dealer network. The dicey ground is an upgraded part that has not been tested / emissions approved which is available from within any automakers dealer network.A few small points. The first is that AMR accessories by & large, are only for dealer fit. Presumably that has an impact on the potential emissions problem you mention ? That's certainly why you cannot (and could not) order the V12 performance pack to be a factory fit, even if you ordered it at the same time as the car it was to be fitted to
The second is re AMR branding. They may well be over playing the connection i.e. how connected the parts are to Aston motorsport parts. I have no view on that either way, it's not my area. You may well be correct. But AMR as a brand/sub-brand is here to stay - AMR accessories will officially launch soon, to include performance parts, cosmetic parts and general accessories. No doubt some items previously not branded AMR may well now come under that umbrella in time - it is as you know, just branding/marketing after all
Thirdly, re Merc, are you assuming Astons will have Merc/AMG derived gearboxes ? I don't believe that will be the case. On DB11, other than the engine and engine management, how many of the car's components that link to performance/handling are merc/AMG derived ?
The current AMR performance parts - wheels which I'm told are heavier than std road car, this clutch kit, race suits, crash helmets, 1/4 cages which won't gain entry to a race circuit, I'm told all can be bought by anyone - no dealer only restriction?
They might plan brand AMR is here to stay, they plan to sell a DBX!!! but you only need one hand to count the years Prodrive (Aston Martin Racing) were around upgrading the V8 first time around. If the gen2 Gaydon cars are successful in racing it's possible to spin a brand out of it I guess, but at this moment the answer to that question is a big IF, if not AMR will be as relevant as Q - only means something to the Aston enclave and doesn't have tangible kudos in the outside world.
I'm not assuming future cars are any particular Merc spec, they must be AMG to retain credibility though, I can't see a copy / paste base Merc spec in an Aston, otherwise that would be quite pants? My comment is that for AMR to survive as a brand, the products must be internally developed and tested like AMG / Msport and JCW. Piece that thread together means AMR must be a tested upgrade on top of AMG which is already an upgrade - which will be pretty darn tough if not impossible. Given that unlikelihood, AMR will be trinkets instead of fundamental engineering and that is recipe for novelty / short lived branding.
BamfordMike said:
The current AMR performance parts - wheels which I'm told are heavier than std road car, this clutch kit, race suits, crash helmets, 1/4 cages which won't gain entry to a race circuit, I'm told all can be bought by anyone - no dealer only restriction?
To clarify, by 'dealer fit' I mean not factory fit, not that it has to be an approved Aston dealer fitting themincidentally roll cage has been dropped from earlier plans if I understand correctly - agree it looked daft as an option for the reason you state
V12 AMR wheels are a little heavier than lightweight option V12 wheel (c. 1kg per wheel), so I assume lighter or no heavier than standard V12 wheel but I don't know the weight of the standard V12 wheel
No question many of these items are more 'for show'. I can only tell you what I've been told directly - the factory will not fit these items on new cars and they state the reason is homologation
jonby said:
To clarify, by 'dealer fit' I mean not factory fit, not that it has to be an approved Aston dealer fitting them
incidentally roll cage has been dropped from earlier plans if I understand correctly - agree it looked daft as an option for the reason you state
V12 AMR wheels are a little Life expectancy of AMR? I have heard of racing wheel options heavier than road car (but look great) and roll cages that don't pass any safety regs or proven benefit to crash protection but give the car a race look, together with race suits and crash helmets eavier than lightweight option V12 wheel (c. 1kg per wheel), so I assume lighter or no heavier than standard V12 wheel but I don't know the weight of the standard V12 wheel
No question many of these items are more 'for show'. I can only tell you what I've been told directly - the factory will not fit these items on new cars and they state the reason is homologation
So they won't fit some parts on new cars because of that niggling thing called homologation but will sell parts at dealer - that's rewriting the homologation rule book as far as I'm concerned, therefore I'm sure you must be wrong. More like they have done an internal test to prove parts are so negligible as to be indistinguishable from the original - as you say, means a show trinket.incidentally roll cage has been dropped from earlier plans if I understand correctly - agree it looked daft as an option for the reason you state
V12 AMR wheels are a little Life expectancy of AMR? I have heard of racing wheel options heavier than road car (but look great) and roll cages that don't pass any safety regs or proven benefit to crash protection but give the car a race look, together with race suits and crash helmets eavier than lightweight option V12 wheel (c. 1kg per wheel), so I assume lighter or no heavier than standard V12 wheel but I don't know the weight of the standard V12 wheel
No question many of these items are more 'for show'. I can only tell you what I've been told directly - the factory will not fit these items on new cars and they state the reason is homologation
BamfordMike said:
jonby said:
To clarify, by 'dealer fit' I mean not factory fit, not that it has to be an approved Aston dealer fitting them
incidentally roll cage has been dropped from earlier plans if I understand correctly - agree it looked daft as an option for the reason you state
V12 AMR wheels are a little Life expectancy of AMR? I have heard of racing wheel options heavier than road car (but look great) and roll cages that don't pass any safety regs or proven benefit to crash protection but give the car a race look, together with race suits and crash helmets eavier than lightweight option V12 wheel (c. 1kg per wheel), so I assume lighter or no heavier than standard V12 wheel but I don't know the weight of the standard V12 wheel
No question many of these items are more 'for show'. I can only tell you what I've been told directly - the factory will not fit these items on new cars and they state the reason is homologation
So they won't fit some parts on new cars because of that niggling thing called homologation but will sell parts at dealer - that's rewriting the homologation rule book as far as I'm concerned, therefore I'm sure you must be wrong. More like they have done an internal test to prove parts are so negligible as to be indistinguishable from the original - as you say, means a show trinket.incidentally roll cage has been dropped from earlier plans if I understand correctly - agree it looked daft as an option for the reason you state
V12 AMR wheels are a little Life expectancy of AMR? I have heard of racing wheel options heavier than road car (but look great) and roll cages that don't pass any safety regs or proven benefit to crash protection but give the car a race look, together with race suits and crash helmets eavier than lightweight option V12 wheel (c. 1kg per wheel), so I assume lighter or no heavier than standard V12 wheel but I don't know the weight of the standard V12 wheel
No question many of these items are more 'for show'. I can only tell you what I've been told directly - the factory will not fit these items on new cars and they state the reason is homologation
Incidentally on your point about GT8/12, I don't know if it makes a difference, but of course they use a different backbox to the one in performance kit for V12VS - the pipes exit differently. Also the majority of performance kits they will expect to sell will be for cars already made/delivered, as it came out so late in the life cycle of V12S. There may well also be political reasons for that particular part not being factory fit (so there is no 'official' V12VS with 600hp from factory). But again, official line is very clear that's it's homologation.
Same with the new wheels. So if you are ordering/taking one of these last MY17 slots and ask for the AMR wheels, they will sell them to you, but only via the dealer fit route, with your car being delivered to the dealer on the standard or lightweight option wheel choices that have been around for a while now
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