Dr. Pulley Clutch Life

[davidh]

Anyone have experience with the life expectancy of the friction material on Dr. Pulley clutches? Here's what I have:

-- 2013 BMW C650 GT
-- 55,000 miles
-- Dr. Pulley HIT Clutch 302002 V4
-- Stock clutch bell
-- New belt and sliders (30G)

I replaced the BMW clutch at 40k miles and have been happy with the response. Starting last week, however, it was REALLY sluggish off the line but had good response above 15-20 MPH. I'd seen some wear on the leading edge of the clutch material last time when I replaced the belt late last fall and checked with Michael at Buggy Parts (always SUPER helpful!) and he advised the following:

Leading edge clutch wear is completely normal, as that is the part that most often comes in contact with the clutch bell. The shoes pivot out from one end, and the far end is always going to be the first thing to touch and get worn more. The good news is that as that front edge gets worn down, more of the rest of the pad will then come in contact with the clutch bell. You only need to worry when that leading edge of the clutch pad is completely gone or less than 1mm thick.

Seeing that I had enough material on the leading edge (closest to the pivot point) I put everything back together and got back on the road. Taking it apart today, however, discovered that the base metal now been contacting the clutch bell (likely explaining my poor off-the-line response) at the trailing edge (furthest from the pivot point) and I'm not sure what should be my next step. The clutch has only 15k miles on it and is significantly more worn than the OEM clutch with 2.5x the mileage (see pictures).

I'll be eMailing Michael to see if Dr. Pulley has re-engineered their friction material but I can't see replacing them ever 15k miles -- it's a big pain in the butt and I'm not sure the increased performance is really worth the effort.

Thoughts?

 

[TwoPort]

- Was my next planned purchase now that I got lights. But this is the first I've heard about Dr. P issues.