SPEC clutch blown master?

Hi guys.
I just put my SPEC clutch in, the stage 2+ with steel single mass flywheel. When I first put it in it was decently heavier maybe around stock STi feel, and the bite was about 2in from the floor. I adjusted the bite up to mid travel about a week ago. I put maybe 300 miles on it since then and just today the pedal got lighter and the bite moved up near the top. The weight now is similar to stock maybe just slightly heavier. I adjusted the bite point back down to mid travel a few minutes ago since I don't want the clutch to not engage and start slipping and burn up my brand new clutch.

Has anyone had this problem with the heavier pressure plates in this car? Did my clutch master cylinder just blow up? I checked the fluid and it looks like it is still at the same level. It doesn't make an airy sound or anything.

Also a side question, when I first put everything in it was pretty hard to get into 1st gear and reverse, I pretty much had to force it into gear. The throw out bearing would make a rattle sound when I pushed the pedal in and when I let the pedal out it would go away. Now it's easy to get into 1st and reverse and it makes a very faint gear rattle sound if you listen very closely when the clutch is out which I know is normal with single mass flywheels.

Sorry for the very long post just seeing if anyone else has experienced this stuff, I know I am one of the first with the SPEC kit in my car, otherwise it is an amazing upgrade over stock and has zero slip at 26psi.

In my experience, as an aftermarket clutch breaks in, I've had to re-adjust the pedal (master cylinder rod behind pedal). This was true with both the Clutchmasters and SPEC clutches I have had experience with. From what I understand from your post, you've already done what I would've recommended: adjusting the pedal again and lowering your engagement point a bit closer to the floor. Does the car drive and shift fine now?

360glitch said:

In my experience, as an aftermarket clutch breaks in, I've had to re-adjust the pedal (master cylinder rod behind pedal). This was true with both the Clutchmasters and SPEC clutches I have had experience with. From what I understand from your post, you've already done what I would've recommended: adjusting the pedal again and lowering your engagement point a bit closer to the floor. Does the car drive and shift fine now?

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Yeah everything is working fine and shifting good. I was just worried because I’ve never felt a new clutch get lighter like that

SiYa said:

Yeah everything is working fine and shifting good. I was just worried because I’ve never felt a new clutch get lighter like that

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I will say I have not experienced it on other vehicles, but did both times on a 10th gen. The movement of the engagement point is more about the disk contact surface wearing even and making full contact. Any feelings of it being "lighter" are likely due to you just getting used to the extra weight. My stock WRX clutch pedal felt incredibly heavy after driving the Civic for a while on the stock clutch. The WRX pedal was no heavier than before, my perception had just changed because I was no longer used to it.

It's been a couple of weeks and my Spec Inc Stage 3 is on the way. I was curious if you've had any issues since?

Only issue I have is not being able to shift fast at redline unless I “no lift shift”. I have a spare slave master cylinder that I will be taking out the CDV and installing when I have time

Ok, cool. I'll just make sure they pull the CDV out when installing the new clutch. Thanks for the response!

I've had two spec clutches in two vehicles and both failed prematurely unfortunately never buying again one was a stage 2 my nx2000 with bluebird swap and then it was a stage one on a scion tc both failed same way springs disintegrated made it seem like slave and master cylinder was going bad after replacing both those came to realization that it was clutch

I find this news disappointing in that my long range plan is that when I replace my clutch that I'm also going to install the single mass steel flywheel.

I suspect that if I buy the SPEC flywheel that I'm stuck with their clutch plate.

I'm Looking forward to other peoples reports who put on the single mass flywheel to check the reliability.

Sorry for the late response. The clutch holds power great, the pedal feels great, and there is almost no rev hang but obviously not as little as there would be with the aluminum flywheel. It doesn’t make the noise with the clutch in anymore but it does have some very faint gear rattle with the clutch out. However, there is this really strange noise it makes almost every single time I let the clutch out in 1st gear it’s like a loud chirp or barking sound. There also is some chatter in 1st and reverse with 2000 miles on the clutch. I have not tried other clutches in this car so I have nothing to compare it to with this car but if I was going to do it over again I’d probably wait till someone else came out with a clutch+smf.

Added update; I've installed my Stage 3 with Steel SMF and the pedal is super stiff. I was told by TSP and my Installer that after a while, the stiffness will go away and I will need to re-adjust the pedal. Unlike @SiYa, I haven't noticed any sounds.

Late to the party but I had this issue at the same time, winter of 19. Long story short the wilwood CMC leaked and they replaced it for free. They said they had a problem with a whole batch leaking, don't know how big a batch is but it sounded like a lot.

Got the 19 before new years, put the spec 2+ on in the spring and followed up with the wilwood CMC two weeks later as I had high rpm lockout. Half a year and 15k miles later the wilwood CMC leaked out on the way home. I laid half in the street under the dash and adjusted maxed it out just enough to grab 1st and ran stoplights home. The second wilwood CMC has 10k miles on it now.

The second wilwood feels maybe a little different then the first wilwood. Both feel better than OEM. A little stiffer but more springy and bouncy. Good engagement and feel.