Beware Mr Clutch

[salmon]

My car is now on its third clutch in three weeks from them and when the clutch is released it rattles loudly (as well as a blowing exhaust first time round).

Does anyone know if this is doing any damage to the car, as I can't see it doing it any good being taken to bits all the time, and they are now claiming the bearings in the grearbox are broken.

[S2central.net]

'Mr Clutch' ?

Never 'erd of them - is that some kind of quick fit / bodge fast place? Not the kind of place I would trust an S2 into for a clutch change if that is the case. It is an awful job to be fair and not for the average mechanic or garage in my opinion.

Failing bearings make a grinding noise - not a rattle.

Clearly there is something drastically wrong with their work, their parts or there is an underlying problem with the clutch release mechanish that is causing it to fail repeatedly. They need to find the root cause of the problem.

Ask what parts they are using - any old clutch for an Audi Coupe will not do the job - it has to be pukka original one for 3B or ABY engine.

Get them to sort it out at their cost, or offer to have it taken to a main dealer for them to repair and forward the bill to 'Mr Clutch'.

Paul

[sps-si]

i heard from an ex mr.clutch employee that all the clutches they use are relined ones. well that wouldn't be my first chioce. i did a vectra not to long ago that had a mr.clutch job done and all the rivits holding to friction plate were all snapped but the clutch wasn't even close to worn out!

[S2 Ant]

I've heard nothing but bad things about this company from everyone i know thats used them!!!

They are a chain like Kwik Fit etc as far as i know and i wouldnt go near them with any car let alone my S2!!!

Stay clear in my opinion

[salmon]

Mr clutch (I thought) were a reputible national company, but admittedly it was the £350 bill against £600 from audi that twisted my arm.

First two clutches were from a local supplier, latest one is SACHS

The clutch did die completely in the first place, since then its developed this rattle which goes away when the clutch is down.

My concern now is that they are going to have caused further damage by taking it apart repeatedly...

[sps-si]

its developed this rattle which goes away when the clutch is down.

sounds a bit like release bearing but wouldn't like to say for sure. hope its not too bad good luck and kick ***!

[S2central.net]

sounds a bit like release bearing but wouldn't like to say for sure. hope its not too bad good luck and kick ***!

Agreed with SPS on this. Its normal practice to replace any and all release bearing components when renewing a clutch. Failure to do so is false economy.


Paul

[salmon]

Think you're right lads just been on the phone to them and they mentioned somthing about release/spiggot bearing, but at least they have agrred to pay for it....

Just means more taxi service from the girlfriend, as I can't have it back until tomorrow..

Well at least youn learn from your mistakes...not be using them again.

[SteveH]

Yup, the spiggot and release bearing should be replaced if you have the box out. If they've had trouble getting the box back in they may have damaged the old spiggot bearing in the process. The bearing is less than £20 from memory.

Think you're right lads just been on the phone to them and they mentioned somthing about release/spiggot bearing, but at least they have agrred to pay for it....

Just means more taxi service from the girlfriend, as I can't have it back until tomorrow..

Well at least youn learn from your mistakes...not be using them again.

[Stick Insect]

My car is now on its third clutch in three weeks from them and when the clutch is released it rattles loudly (as well as a blowing exhaust first time round).

Does anyone know if this is doing any damage to the car, as I can't see it doing it any good being taken to bits all the time, and they are now claiming the bearings in the grearbox are broken.

Input shaft bearings can 'rattle' if there is a lot of backlash. This is a very common problem with Mini and metro gearboxes and the gears have to be shimmed to get rid of this. It is callled input shaft chatter. This noise goes away when the clutch is depressed. This is due to the input shaft no longer spinning as it is detatched from the drive.

If it wasn't there before it should not just 'appear' with a new clutch.

I hope that you get it sorted.

David

[salmon]

Well for Future referance, is anyone aware of any decent Audi specialists in North East England?

[audiman]

MR CLutch!!!!!!!! Oh my god!!! I cant beleive you took it there. There is a reason why the quote was so cheap. A good quality clutch retail would cost you about 180+VAT...

Gearbox bearings, if very worn, can make a rattling type noise but if it was not there in the first place then there is something wrong. Go to Citizens Advise and they can tell you your options, dont let them touch it again, get it sorted by a decent garage. Any garage worth its salt would do this job just fine.

I can honestly say that im shocked someone took their car to Mr Clutch. LMAO, sorry to be harsh but i would love to see that sort of place go bust. There work is soo bad and yet because they are a national company ppl think that there work is good. WRONG.

I have done my S2 box 4 times now(clutch slipping probs plus gearbox failures), but its not a nice job. I would think that it would be done for about 6-7 hours labour plus a clutch kit, which in most cases come complete with release bearing, unless its a cheap crapy kit.

[salmon]

Now onto clutch number 4 (SACHS), they have changed the spiggot and release bearing and it still rattles. To justify even further what a joke they are, when I was collecting the car, i was speaking to some young chava, who had his max-power corsa in, apparently they had try to fix his car 6 times, and this time the bolts between the gearbox and engine where loose as well!!

They now think its some bearing in the middle of the gearbox, (which apparently you can damage when taking it apart according to a local garage). Now they have decided that its nowt to do with them, and aren't going to do anything more..

Trading standards aren't prepared to do anything, and citizens advice are useless. Now having to try and recover my money through the credit card company.

I don't mean this lightly, no matter how desparate you are DON'T TAKE YOUR CAR ANYWHERE NEAR THESE BANDITS!!!!!!!!!!!!

At least you can learn from your mistakes I suppose, and I'm not going to be a cheap skate where repairs are concerned...