Mcleod RST or RXT for the 07-09GT500? Which is better for Daily Driving?

Blacksmoke

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Which of these clutches is better for daily driving on the 07-09GT500?
Also... I saw they sold kits for these.

Does Mcleod only make a lightweight steel flywheel or do they make two different flywheels for these clutches?
And do BOTH flywheels fit BOTH clutches or do you need a certain one with each?

If they both work with either clutch, which is better for daily driving as well?

I do not have any of the symptoms of the TSB, AND I bought the best ESP plan Ford has when we bought the GT500 since it is an 08 and the warranty was out. Hopefully they will do the TSB under the ESP warranty and I will use the new parts Ford has.

But if for some reason they deny it (I have heard of people where they did even under the best ESP warranty), I will go with a Mcleod setup because even though Mcleod is an expensive aftermarket setup, it actually costs less than the Ford parts still.

I just want to save up money just in case the day comes and worse comes to nightmare of it happening and them not covering it under the ESP.

Thanks!
 

GT500RedStripe

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The RXT is a great daily driver clutch. It has a much lighter pedal. If you might do any significant power upgrades, you push the limits of the RST. Break it in properly!! There are heavy and light flywheel options. Heavy is for serious drag racing. I found the best deal at Lethal as a package with the lightened steel flywheel. I could not be happier or more confident that my clutch won't burn again on a 2nd gear burnout. See this link: McLeod RXT with flywheel
 

70SCJ

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Just finished breaking in my RXT and it is awesome. Much lighter than stock feel and very smooth.
 

Posi

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I would personally do the RXT and not look back at all. As far as the flywheel that's just a personal preference pretty much and would have to be discussed a little more in depth here or at the time of purchase. They should have all choices in stock.
 

Seahorse

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Went with the RXT as well, very nice piece - easy to drive, light peddle feel and great holding power. Opted for the lightened steely flywheel for a primarily daily driver.
 

ViperBlueCobra

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RXT here, and daily drove it up until about a month ago.

Lighter clutch peddal feel, and grabs great. The best way to describe it in my experience was less "slipping" area on the peddal. Meaning once the clutch begins to ingauge there is very little movement on the peddal for it to be fully ingauaed. As the stock one you had a little more peddal play from the begging of ingauging and slipping the clutch, until you were fully released.

Does that make sense?
 

overtime

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Just order the RXT with lightened flywheel from Posi Performance. Just waiting for order confirmation and tracking info. Hopefully I made the right choice. Haven't heard anything negative concerning this clutch.

OT
 

Posi

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Problem with the RST is if you drag race and have a problem you're more than likely out of luck.
 

Blacksmoke

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I am looking at these due to the flywheel TSB.

I do not have a lot of money to spend and honestly I have a few mo. before we can afford it due to other things.

Here's a question. I have the Ford ESP plan. The best one they have.
I do not want to spend money if I don't have to.

Should I wait and not do this unless I have the TSB problem or should I just do it as soon as I can afford it and eat the cost despite having the ESP plan because of the possibility of it also messing up the tranny?

We only have one dealership here and rumor is that someone here just got denied the TSB under warranty and he had the same ESP plan (the best one), that I do.

Again I do NOT want to buy a clutch and flywheel due to performance modding reasons.
The only reason I am thinking about it is because of the TSB and the possibility of the problems happening. This car is the daily driver but we don't get a lot of traffic and I'd say we put a bit less than 12kmi. a year on our vehicles in the past.
 
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F8L SN8K

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First extended warranties are a waste of money except for about 2-3% of the people that purchase them so don't fall into that money making trap again and save the money for yourself.

2nd take everything you read on the Internet with a large grain of salt. If I believed everything some goof behind a keyboard typed I wouldn't ever leave the driveway. Put money back for repairs/maintenance like you would for any other vehicle. Stay calm and think things through logically. Be proactive on items but don't think you have to do what everyones opinion is of what is "needed" to be done. It's like watching the news. If you watched the news everyday all day long you would probably become insane.
 

Blacksmoke

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First extended warranties are a waste of money except for about 2-3% of the people that purchase them so don't fall into that money making trap again and save the money for yourself.

2nd take everything you read on the Internet with a large grain of salt. If I believed everything some goof behind a keyboard typed I wouldn't ever leave the driveway. Put money back for repairs/maintenance like you would for any other vehicle. Stay calm and think things through logically. Be proactive on items but don't think you have to do what everyones opinion is of what is "needed" to be done. It's like watching the news. If you watched the news everyday all day long you would probably become insane.

We already bought the warranty. We did so after having issues on our 06GT after warranty had expired that ended up costing us a lot of dough.

I am trying to do what your other advice said. But I am not sure whether being proactive on this one is a good idea as far as I am thinking about taking it (replacing the parts before a symptom occurs), or if I should save up the money like I currently am and keep it JUST in case I end up with the TSB problem and I go through a nightmare with the warranty.
 

F8L SN8K

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Save your money for when something actually fails or wears out. IF the clutch fails and IF the dealer refuses the TSB then you have the money. If they do perform the TSB you will still have the money for the next wear/fail item.
 
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itsafakinshelby

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I have the RXT with the heavy flywheel. Here's some points that I find valuable...

1. The RXT clutch is the same as the RST, except that it uses copper buttons at the clutch material. It is (as far as I know) the same clamping pressure, clutch material, etc. Therefore, you essential get the EXACT same streetability (which was leaps and bounds beyond stock in my case) with the RXT, you just get additional horsepower potential.

2. The heavier flywheel is 7lbs more than the stock flywheel. Honestly, this makes daily driving easier. You have more rotating inertia when at idle, so that the initial engagement of the clutch can be more sloppy (via the driver letting out too quickly, etc.) yet the result yields a smooth departure. As well, the heavy clutch does retain inertia during shifts, allowing power delivery to be more aggressive into the next gear.

You may lose something like 3-5hp due to the increased weight of the heavier flywheel, but to be honest, its unnoticeable in a 3800+ pound car with plenty of power at tap anyway.

Go RXT with the heavy flywheel and never look back. My only regret is that I waited so long to get away from the Ford junk.

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isxYiyYoqGk&feature=player_embedded"]RST Clutch Installation & The Science Behind Release - YouTube[/nomedia]
 

GT500RedStripe

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You might consider calling McLeod and asking them about flywheel selection. When I called, they suggested that with the amount of torque I have, and mostly street, I would not need the extra weight and would gain worthwhile HP with the lightened flywheel. If you had slicks and WOT, the extra weight will help launch.
 

F8L SN8K

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I have the RXT with the heavy flywheel. Here's some points that I find valuable...

1. The RXT clutch is the same as the RST, except that it uses copper buttons at the clutch material. It is (as far as I know) the same clamping pressure, clutch material, etc. Therefore, you essential get the EXACT same streetability (which was leaps and bounds beyond stock in my case) with the RXT, you just get additional horsepower potential.

2. The heavier flywheel is 7lbs more than the stock flywheel. Honestly, this makes daily driving easier. You have more rotating inertia when at idle, so that the initial engagement of the clutch can be more sloppy (via the driver letting out too quickly, etc.) yet the result yields a smooth departure. As well, the heavy clutch does retain inertia during shifts, allowing power delivery to be more aggressive into the next gear.

You may lose something like 3-5hp due to the increased weight of the heavier flywheel, but to be honest, its unnoticeable in a 3800+ pound car with plenty of power at tap anyway.

Does the RST and RXT both also use the same Marcel springs? Do they use the same belleville spring also? Two very BIG items on how the Clutch reacts. Clutch material is also a huge item item in chatter when combined with for instance no Marcel spring.

Newtons 3rd law-An object in motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless acted upon by an outside force.
Flywheels lighter is better. The only good thing about a heavier flywheel is lower required revs for equivalent kinetic energy and decreased NVH. That is why the manufactures(Ford/GM etc) use heavier nodular iron flywheels and to survive the tremendous heat from all types of drivers. A flywheel with a higher moment of inertia only makes it harder to accelerate. The increased Kinetic energy from a heavier FW only helps until the clutch is fully engaged. That can be overcome by just a few more RPM to drastically turn the tables. Inbetween shifts with a lower moment of inertia will accelerate faster and will actually hit harder on WOT gear changes. It is a myth that old school racers used to swear by the use of heavy flywheels but has been disproven time and time again.
 
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CompO_Eric

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I should have my RXT going in at the end of this month along with the McLeod adjustable throw out...

Will let you fellas know how it turns out.

As far as flywheels go, just remember, light car/light flywheel, heavy car/heavy flywheel.

This said, I would not put an aluminum flywheel in, you'll burn out clutches quicker because you're playing with the clutch on engagement and slipping it more since its a tank of a car.
 
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F8L SN8K

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As far as flywheels go, just remember, light car/light flywheel, heavy car/heavy flywheel.

This said, I would not put an aluminum flywheel in, you'll burn out clutches quicker because you're playing with the clutch on engagement and slipping it more since its a tank of a car.

Sitting in freshman orientation at Rose-Hulman with my brother and friends always made a lasting impression on me has the instructor demonstrated for all the families Moment of Interia.

The reason why I'm using Moment of Inertia is because that is what is important. 2 flywheels with the same weight and same diameter can have different MOI as the mass can be distributed differently(closer or further from the center. Also do not assume that a lighter flywheel as a lower MOI as it's not always the case and vise versa. This is where pressure plates/flywheels make or break you in the performance world. And choosing the proper one for your car is important when extracting all out performance. Not as big of a deal for DD street cars but still has an effect on performance and drivability.
Remember acceleration is the change of speed and/or direction. So "deceleration" of a flywheel is also slower with a higher moment of inertia. Meaning it is harder for the FW to slow down to match the speed of clutch disc actually making it harder on the clutch without aggressive clutch materials or higher pressure plate force. So IF the RPM was the same between the two was the same a lighter FW would actually be able to match the speed quicker causing less wear. However as mentioned earlier it takes about 200-300 more RPM to match or overcome the higher MOI flywheel/pressure plate kinetic energy so the difference in speed between the flywheel/pressure plate and the clutch disc/transmission will be greater so it's ALMOST a catch 22 depending on other factors. So another downside of a lower MOI is the car will have the RPMs pulled down faster. However the engine will also recover faster with the lower MOI flywheel. Remember there should be no slip in a clutch system(except for clutchless transmissions clutch system) so once the clutch is engaged all preceived benefits of a higher MOI flywheel are lost.
 
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