DMF - what's it like with a solid one?

[bonesX]

Looking to find out what it's like with a solid steel flywheel, rather than the Dual mass.

I have a Fabia VRS with a mild map, and while the clutch is OK at the mo, am just thinking down the line a bit...

Cheers

[redgriff500]

I looked into it and the answer is : do you feel lucky ?

Some have no problem and some have vibration / gearbox issues

[bonesX]

make my day?

[bonesX]

How many folk make the change?

[MX7]

It'll be fine. I know a few people who have ditched their DMF and all of them work well.

[Defcon5]

Do they feel and different to operate? My Cooper S has a DMF, and like the OP its best to plan in advance!

[Triumph Man]

The thought has crossed my mind too, the 5 speed box on my Passat is supposed to be pretty strong, so hopefully an SMF wouldn't kill it...

[MX7]

Defcon5 said:

Do they feel and different to operate? My Cooper S has a DMF, and like the OP its best to plan in advance!

Personally I think they are great for people who can't drive. If you have reasonable clutch control, then a solid one is fine.

They are there to stop judder, but I've noticed no difference in the cars I've been in with a SMF.

[fangio]

I thought they were to damp the engines' power stroke?

[HustleRussell]

Why not just fit another DMF? They've gotten better since they started being widely used in normal cars about 10 years ago, and now a decent quality replacement unit should be good for 100k+ miles if you don't drive like a loon.
If you've got a basic understanding of what they are and what they do, you'll understand that fitting a solid flywheel in it's place will inevitably transmit greater shock and harshness into the drivetrain which may or may not be detectable by the driver and may of may not increase the likelihood of crankshaft/gearbox component failure.

Edited by HustleRussell on Tuesday 3rd July 18:45

[All that jazz]

bonesX said:

Looking to find out what it's like with a solid steel flywheel, rather than the Dual mass.

I have a Fabia VRS with a mild map, and while the clutch is OK at the mo, am just thinking down the line a bit...

Cheers

Just.....

DON'T.

[mad4amanda]

Garage I use all the time will now not replace a dmf with solid after having issues with gearbox damage to bearings blamed on the undamped vibration from the engines powerstroke.
LUK make good replacement DMF .

[mybrainhurts]

When this came up before, someone mentioned a fleet operator who put them on Octavias, some of which suffered crankshaft failure thereafter.

[mjb1]

If you change to a solid flywheel, then you need to change the clutch to a torsion damped one to compensate.

I do wonder why dual mass flywheels are not servicable though??

[EDLT]

All that jazz said:

bonesX said:

Looking to find out what it's like with a solid steel flywheel, rather than the Dual mass.

I have a Fabia VRS with a mild map, and while the clutch is OK at the mo, am just thinking down the line a bit...

Cheers

Just.....

DON'T.

Did he fit it properly? Old cars with SMFs were never noisy, I can't see how making the change should result in that.

[paulrussell]

Max Torque would be the best person to ask, as he's in the industry.

[All that jazz]

EDLT said:

Did he fit it properly? Old cars with SMFs were never noisy, I can't see how making the change should result in that.

See mjb's comment above.

And here's a Golf TDI with a SMF too, just to illustrate that the Fabia isn't broken!

[scorcher]

The original clutch was replaced at about 160k on our Fabia VRS.We replaced the DMF with a SMF ............for all of about 10 miles.The whole car vibrated like a pig as it accelerated through its torque band. All right pulling away,and once it was settled,but fecking horrible otherwise. The garage agreed it was unacceptable and replaced with a new DMF for nothing.

[Mastodon2]

All that jazz said:

Just.....

DON'T.

Look how dirty the back of the car is, all that soot coming from those smokestacks at the back there!

[bonesX]

Some full horror show stuff there. What about the kits I've seen which have a sprung clutch plate, which forms the damping the DMF gives...?