Resurface flywheel or buy new
 

A new exedy OEM flywheel is ~$140. Resurfacing is around $50.


I've seen people on here say resurfacing will take a lot of life out of a brand new clutch, that it's too risky if the shops screws it up and one person said Subaru recommends you replace the flywheel. I can't decide what to do.


My clutch didn't go out, but my engine is knocking so while I have the engine pulled I figure I might a well do the clutch since I'm at ~78k miles.

I just changed my clutch three months now with a South Bend Stage 1 Clutch. I resurfaced my flywheel and so far its going on good with no issues. It's up to you based on your budget I would say.

Toyota 86 in the building!

I had a place up the road ~45mins that would do it but with my schedule it was easier to just have everything in the garage ready and waiting so I went with the $140 new one.

What makes you think the flywheel needs to be resurfaced or replaced?

It has 78k miles on it and my understanding is that it's always something you need to do when replacing a clutch. Is that not always the case?

Inspect.
If minor wear leave alone (most probable unless abused)
If moderate wear resurface (would be abnormal wear at that mileage)
If major wear replace ("what the hell did you do to do that sort of damage?")

The flywheel is so cheap on these cars it makes no sense to take the chance, just get a new one IMO. Clutch job is major enough to warrant it.

Think about it this way: the pressure plate and flywheel both see the same pressure and wear. You always replace the pressure plate with the clutch. At $140 I think the flywheel is a no brainer.

It's been my experience that a flywheel is good to go, unless, it has been damaged by a worn out clutch disk (worn down to "the rivets".

Like ol Tcoat says, inspect and then decide.

I would HIGHLY recommend not resurfacing your flywheel. It feels really dumb that a large chunk of iron isn't resurfaceable, however I have found that to be the case.

I had 2 shops resurface my flywheel. The first gave it back with .014" runout. The second had .006" runout. Spec is <.004" installed on the car(this adds the crankshaft runout). I measured the new flywheel I installed on the car and it was .001-.002".

I really don't think there is enough money in resurfacing flywheels for anyone to be able to resurface them to the spec needed on our cars. That or all the good machinists are dead.

If it were me, I would inspect your current flywheel and use it if it's within spec. If not, buy a new one.

Resurface flywheel or buy new
 

It’s this. I deal with a lot of independent machine shops for work, and finding a shop that knows how to make parts that match the tolerances specified in the drawings is surprisingly difficult. Frustratingly difficult.

The two best machinists I know are 2 old dudes (like almost 80) that have a manual Bridgeport in their garage and just do it because they like it.

A good machinist is worth his/her weight in gold. I'd expect to pay the price of the new flywheel to get the original properly resurfaced.

Thanks all!


I think I'll inspect and go from there. Likely just buy a new one since I'll already be 5-6k deep on this...

I would recommend just going with a new Exedy flywheel. I recently installed a South Bend Clutch Daily Stage 2 and the documentation that came with it said that you must at least have the flywheel resurfaced if not replaced. I decided to have my OEM resurfaced, which cost me $75, but after the first reinstallation it ended up having a noticeable vibration around 2800 to 3000 rpm. In the end, I bit the bullet and just purchased a new Exedy OEM for about $150 shipped and regretted not having just done that from the start, but it was a learning experience. With the new OEM flywheel, the vibration was gone.

So perhaps its a matter of being able to find a good machine shop. Incidentally, I thought I had as the place I went to does performance engine rebuilds and balancing, etc., and I didn't ask, nor did they recommend rebalancing the resurfaced flywheel. Anyway, I can't really say one way or another whether they were responsible for the imbalance, but I just know that installing a new component fixed the problem.

Like @said, finding a machinist that will resurface it and keep the runout within originally manufactured spec would likely cost as much as buying a new one.