Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyrix2k
I installed the Valeo in my friend's E46 330i/5 and really liked the feel. The engagement was very smooth and there were no noticeable noises from the transmission. While I've been told you should always match a single mass flywheel with a sprung hub clutch (at least for the street), we're running a twin disc clutch in our LS-swapped E39 project and it also engages smoothly. By its nature, it's a solid hub and the flywheel is solid as well. And because we're running a GM transmission now, we eliminated the guibo too so it's about as direct as possible.
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Well, I kind of let black friday deals make my decision, and I ended up finding a Valeo kit on Amazon for about the cost of the Luk clutch kit alone (not black friday, but the amazon algorithms sometimes doe weird things on pricing to clear stuff out that's been sitting in their warehouses). So, it's good to know your friend's experience was good. Over on e46fanatics, where there is more experience with these kits, reviews seemed to be positive except when, in my estimation, there were installation problems.
Anyway, for anyone considering this option, here's some info:
Even though valeo does not list a kit for the X5, I used kit part number 52401210. Amazon says it fits, but no one else does. I believe any of the M54-targeted kits will work on the 5 speed X5 (52401220 and 52401225), and the differences are in the clutch disc size and/or pressure plate spring rates.
My kit included the following parts, and I weighed some for fun:
702453 throw-out bearing
702369 pressure plate (11.2 lbs)
702371 disc (3.7 lbs)
702372 (casting # 701794) flywheel (23.4 lbs)
Stock weights are: used flywheel (24.7 lbs), new clutch disc (2.4 lbs), and new pressure plate (11.5 lbs).
As you can see, the totals are very close at 38.3 for the Valeo kit and 38.6 for stock.
Here are some pics of old and new. I had some strange wear patterns on my old clutch, though I only occasionally got chatter. Incidentally, I couldn't find a part # in any of the catalogs for the E53 pressure plate. On my original pressure plate, it's 21 21 7 503 501, but I can't find anything online about this part #.