So I had my clutch replaced about 4 months ago. I had some chatter in my flywheel beforehand and since then it seems like it even worst. The flywheel was the only part not replaced but I did however have the mechanic send it out to be machined down. When they put it back together they used a shim that they said equaled the amount they took off. So what can be causing this chatter? Should my flywheel just have been replaced also or did the mechanic probably screw something up?

 

I cant say about a camaro, but... I have an old 87 ford pu that the clutch went out in. So I took the flywheel and had it resurfaced ( ground finish ). Looked new and clean, put it back in with new clutch and almost immediately, it shimmyed. Had to take it back out and put in another clutch and a new flywheel. When they resurfaced it by "grinding" , you could not see the hard-spots on the surface, that were still there on the surface. Not sure about a Camaro clutch, someone with experience will be along shortly.

 

There no reason there should be any differences in a resurfaced wheel and a new one but like rotor or drums there is a min thickness. I have never seen a machine shop over machine a flywheel. They are normally very cautious about it and some even will not approach the limits. They will just tell you need a new one.

An oil or coolant leak can cause chatter, even if the “inspection plate” was left off water can splash up there can cause chatter after or during a rain.

One common issue I have seen to many times in the last few years is crappy china made clutches. I have seen dozens of people have to replace clutches in a matter of months after installing defective clutches. Even some of “Stage 2” clutches are junk. If that is your case you want to search around and find a clutch with good reviews before you replace it again. It will not be cheap.

 

As Gorn said, bad cluch disk or pressure plate (even if new) is usually the cause.

 

So would it really make a difference if I just put up with it? Can it cause any real damage?

 

You may want to have it looked at. I had one customer that brought his car in complaining about real bad chatter a few months after an install and I found the one side of the transmission had come loose and it was not chatter at all, it was the tranny moving side to side. I tighten it up and the problem went away 4 week later it was back in on a flat bed. The front bearing failed on the tranny. This would be very rare.

How much it would hurt your car depends on how bad it is. If its just a defective clutch and what I call normal anoying chatter then it will only hurt the flywheel. If they already had to shim the flywheel it is most likely shot anyway.

 

Gorn, what is a good clutch? Even the AC Delco clutches are made in china now.

And I remember seeing somewhere that the 3.8 flywheel is never supposed to be surfaced. Not sure about the 3.4 and 5.7.

 

You can service them you just have to add the shim. If the flywheel needs just a dusting you can get away with no shim but I think it needs to clean up with less then .015 remove. If you call autozone the price they give you is a recut wheel. They also want your old one as a core.

My research lead me to the centerforce duel friction. I found no negitive reviews on it and I saw a couple guys that went from a "stage 2" to the centerforce and liked it better. The centerforce pressure plate has the stock force but because of the disk it has 90% increased holding pressure with a stock feel. If you go with any known preformance clutch maker you will be fine. I even heard that the China stage 3 clutchs are not to bad I just did not want the headaches of a hvy racing clutch.

 

I knew about the Autozone flywheels, which is why I was suspicious when I read that the flywheels should not be resurfaced. The shop I had my car at used an autozone flywheel when I had my clutch replaced and behold, I have chattering.

 

The reason they say you can not machine the fly wheel is because this system has an internal non adjustable release bearing. The distance from the front of the transmission to the fly wheel is fixed and should not vary unlike most other systems that have an external hydraulic cylinder which can be shifted or shimmed. If you machine the flywheel off to much you will not be able to push the clutch in far enough to make it disengage. If you machine .03 off the fly wheel and add a .03 shim between the fly wheel and the crank your right back where you started. You could do the same thing with spray welding and a lath operation, at least that is how I would do under real volume.

If you have chatter there is very little chance it was caused by the flywheels machining. It is generally caused by the pressure plate and fly wheel being glazed which is caused by slippage. That is unless there is another factor like oil.