It's a simple remove and replace procedure. No custom work is done. Dealer charges 14 hours for install.

 

WHAT? I will have to talk to UPS about that...

 

Now is the Sachs 2.5 the same as the Sachs 764 PP? Does the 2.5 use the pressure plate from the 3? I find this pretty confusing.
Any help would be great.

Thanks!

Greg

 

It's not that tough. Trust me.

Email me directly and I will explain the differences! Easy stuff...

Mike@awe-tuning.com

 

email sent!

 

I have been driving Porsches as my daily driver since 1991 when I purchased a ’88 944S. I have had several daily driver Porsches since that time, after the 944, they were all 911s. I am very familiar with the product, how to drive and maintain it, and I have a long history of service on all of my vehicles from Porsche direct only.

I had one issue with my 2001 996 Cabriolet when I undertook replacement of the clutch; a minor rear main seal leak only. I purchased my car from Porsche as a lease return from a Porsche employee with 50,000 km on it. My car had more than 160,000 km on the original clutch, and it was operating flawlessly when I undertook this upgrade. I elected to upgrade my clutch and flywheel as I wanted the minor leak rectified, and I attempting to be proactive to save myself future labour to disassemble the same portion of the drivetrain to replace the clutch in the future and to increase my car’s performance. My dealer is a Premier Porsche dealer, the Sachs clutch and lightweight flywheel were supplied by AWE Tuning.

The work was completed in the spring of this year, and the car returned to me. Very soon after its return, it became clear that the clutch was not operating properly, and within approximately 2000 km the clutch began to slip and fail. The car was returned to Porsche, who disassembled the clutch to diagnose an repair.

At that time, AWE refused to replace the part without inspection. I waited with my vehicle disassembled for more than 2 months for the parts to be sent away, inspected, tested etc. The Porsche dealer's ability to install the part correctly was brought into question by AWE (I find it extremely unlikely that a dealership of this calibre and reputation could install a clutch incorrectly), my driving style and ability was questioned (clearly, with 160,000 km+ on the original clutch and very little wear it was not my driving style), so by the process of elimination, I do not see how the issue can by anything other than a defective part and/or supply of the incorrect parts. After all of this, it was discovered that AWE had indeed supplied incorrect parts for my vehicle. In the end, the part was replaced and reinstalled.

The problem did appear to be solved, and the clutch did operate properly for several months; then the same symptoms reappeared, and the clutch began to slip again with less than 4000 additional km. That is a total of approximately 6000 km to burn-out two brand new clutches. I don’t that believe that the worst driver could be responsible for that level of wear, so once again it’s not the driver. If it is extremely unlikely that a Premier Porsche dealer installed a clutch incorrectly once, then it is practically impossible that they did so twice, so it’s not the installer.

I returned the car once again. Inspection of the parts shows unusual wear and heat damage. The flywheel is scored and worn as well. I am not a mechanic, but clearly there was something wrong with these parts individually, in combination or with some part that is incorporated in their installation.

I told my service advisor that I did not want to go through the same nightmare again (the dealer was amazing and extremely helpful throughout the entire matter). I instructed him to replace the Sachs clutch with a factory part and to get a refund on the Sachs clutch as it clearly never operated properly. Once again, I was buying a new factory replacement clutch when I didn’t need one in the first place! In addition, the lightweight flywheel is damaged and of no use to me. Luckily, I kept the original flywheel to reinstall, but I had still paid for a flywheel that is either defective of incorrect and was now clearly damaged.

AWE Tuning refused to do anything further to mitigate my damages, simply saying that their parts dont fail.

I was without my vehicle on two separate occasions for extended periods of time, I was forced to purchase a new factory clutch when I didn’t require one, I purchased a flywheel that was unusable and I am out tens of thousands of dollars as a direct cause of my purchase of AWE Tuning supplied Sachs parts.

Its only one person's experience, but after more than 20 years of owning, servicing and modifying Porsches, buying Sachs parts from AWE Tuning was the worst experience I have had.

 

sounds like a weird experience. this problem was likely caused by hydraulics either failing or incorrect for the clutch. the only way the clutch could burn out that fast is if it never fully disengaged, this is known as dragging. this would cause heat, flywheel damage and premature wear. the sachs 2.5 is a VERY good kit and even being not a huge fan of AWE I will say that they are a reputable supplier of this product.

 

PM sent!

 

You may well be correct about the cause, however their response to my parts failure being "our parts never fail, so you figure it out", especially when all the work was done at a premier Porsche Dealer, is anything but the response expected from a reputable supplier. I have seen the AWE name a million times in Excellence magazine and in online forums, and I truly believed that they were a trusted source, until Mike simply washed his hands of the parts supplied to my dealer.

In the end, my Porsche dealer replaced the AWE clutch and flywheel with original parts AT NO CHARGE! They also apologized for dealing with AWE Tuning, and stated that they would never do so again. THAT is a reputable company!

 

AWE doesnt make the clutches or the flywheels, period.

Sachs Germany makes Porsche Original clutches. Sachs makes the clutch and pressure plate used in this "2.5" kit. This kit is very simple and consists of an OEM GT2 disc ( which is made by sachs for Porsche) and a Sachs performance pressure plate which is where most of the increase in torque holding capacity comes from.

The fact that this failed twice, there is obviously something going on and something else not right.

What car are you installing these on?

 

In this case AWE is merely a reseller of the parts. They don't make the parts.

It does sound like a hydraulic issue the second time which they shouldn't be responsible for...on the first clutch, shame on you and the installer for not verifying the parts are correct. Sometimes shipping mistakes are made. Not defending AWE but it sounds like you want to have them replace parts when other parts are causing the issue

 

I appreciate that AWE Tuning does not manufacture the parts, just as you pointed out that Porsche does not manufacture all of their own parts; the difference is that Porsche stood by their parts and their service and did everything they could to make it right while AWE Tuning did nothing.

The parts were removed, inspected and tested by both Porsche and Sachs (sent to AWE Tuning); no one could explain to me why they failed. There was evidence of excessive heat and wear, but no explanation. I am not a mechanic, and clearly not as knowledgable as you are as to exactly how this system functions. I cannot explain why it failed, however the experts at Porsche and AWE Tuning couldn't either. When AWE Tuning had no explanation, they simply refused to cooperate. When Porsche had no explanation and AWE Tuning refused to cooperate, Porsche replaced everything with OEM parts free of charge to make it right. The clutch functioned perfectly before I had the AWE Tuning parts installed, and the clutch now functions perfectly again, so I do not see how it could have been anything but the AWE Tuning supplied parts, and my Porsche dealer agrees. Depite this, Porsche is the one who "took the hit" to make it right.

As I stated, I am not a mechanic, but as the customer I shouldn't have to be. When I pay Porsche for service or upgrades, I rely on their expertise, and they never let me down. The moment I included AWE Tuning in the equation, I had serious failures, no answers, and no support from AWE Tuning.

 

I think you have a good point there.
With two failures, of Sachs components but no failure of the OEM it is unlikely to be the hydraulics.
I too will be needing a new clutch in the not so distant future. The last thing I need, is to have to do two or three installs, no matter what parts I buy. So if I buy OEM parts and they fail prematurely, Porsche stands behind them. If I buy Sachs and they fail prematurely, then Sachs or who ever provides them needs to have an explanation.
The difference is, Porsche who has billions of dollars of resources behind them, will absorb the costs. The dinky little tuning shops will turn there backs on the customers, since they need to put food on their tables. That is the reason this happens, dishonesty and probably because the tuners don't really have a good enough background like the engineers in Porsche to solve such an issue. The tuners and advertisers here really don't have the resources to help if something goes badly wrong like this.
Every one can say it's probably this or that, but the bottom line is that Awe should have taken responsibility here and done some research.
I for one will not buy my clutch there. And now I'm questioning if Sachs is really a good choice.
Anyone here use a Sachs 2.5 for more than a year or two? 30000, or 40000 miles? Just how reliable are they? And would you buy something from Awe with this experience?
Sorry, they should have come clean, gone the extra mile. Then people have confidence.

 

what car do you have?

 

He has a 2001 cab according to his first post.