quiet_storm98

iTrader: (48)

I just ordered a lt1-s and was told i can use the tick master and just to make sure it isn't overadjusted but is a stock master preferred?

redbird555

iTrader: (14)

it wont make a bit of difference if adjusted so the tick will flow the same amount of fluid as a stock master. A stock master should never be "preferred" lol

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

Being adjustable the Tick can over extend any pressure plate if not setup properly. Some people prefer the stock master because the Tick can shrink the engagement window, and make the pedal stiffer. Either one works just fine with the LT1-XX series.

quiet_storm98

iTrader: (48)

I agree the tick does make the pedal stiffer and engagement window smaller, i was just asking cuz i still have my stock master which was working fine when removed, only got a tick to make my mcleod rst disengage properly that being said im just gonna leave the tick in since it's already in there

slow ride 02

Let us know how you like that LT1-S, coming from the RST.

Cross

iTrader: (10)

I am SERIOUSLY disappointed with Monster and have been meaning to post a review for some time.

We put the Stage 2 in my Corvette before a local shop closed, in that time the clutch had issues from the start it chattered and was horrible during the break in. After 500 miles it seemed better but not longer after it started slipping. (This car was not driven often, it was a weekend toy and unfortunately the motor went down more than once for rebuild under warranty)

When I contacted Monster they asked us to send them the clutch and said they would take care of it. I even bought another Monster Stage 2 so the new shop could just get the car back on the road as Monster swore the clutch would hold.
After waiting for some time Monster finally got back to me saying the clutch was bad but they refused to warranty it. This is with the new one holding just fine showing that the issue was that clutch specifically. This reply took forever to get from them, and half the time they forgot who I was when I would finally get someone.

This kind of Customer Service and a clear showing that the issue was a bad clutch form my opinion of Monster, I will never use them again and I have recommended the same to locals around me after all this.
It doesn't matter how good you are normally if when your product has issues you treat the customer as I was treated. I believed I was going to be taken care of to the point I bought another Monster Stage 2 so my car would be back together and Monster could handle things after they had the time they needed. Little did I know the time they needed was really just them forgetting all about me repeatedly and finally returning the answer of to bad the new one works this one doesn't but we are not warranting it.

dr_whigham

iTrader: (49)

Ok I'll be honest. The last part of your post was pretty incoherent.

Secondly, I find it IMPOSSIBLE to believe that you had an issue and they didn't take care of it. This is where "two sides to every story" kicks in.

What you're stating simply makes no sense at all. There's no way in HELL Steve would receive a product back that was in ill form from the get-go, and not take care of you. Have you read the thread where he took care of someone a YEAR after the fact?

I call complete BS on this post. But please, EMPLORE us on who gave you the discount to post such garbage on here.

I'll be waiting

Cross

iTrader: (10)

Sorry this comes from no one, I still have the second Monster Stage 2 on the 408 sitting here in the Garage as the Vette was totaled in a hit and run on the 4th of Dec.

I do not find it surprising you think this sounds odd, I talked to them on the phone and in emails which I will now go look for and screen shot. I bought another clutch because I was made to feel they would stand behind this. I paid a shop to pull the clutch because I wanted to be fair and have an outside professional doing the work not myself.
I also still have the pictures of the clutch taken at the shop when the clutch was removed.

I will not claim it to be "Steve" I am saying Monster at this time, as I have to check the emails to 100% say who and that's what I will do since you asked.

As for not understanding the last part I will see if I can change it to make it clearer for those reading.

I now know who I was talking to according to the email name, Jacob. I am gathering the screen shots now.

Emails I have found so far, this seems to be after originally talking I know we spoke on the phone the first time and I asked them if we could handle this given the fact the car had been through two builds because of an issue. I was upfront and wanted to make sure I didn't waste my time. This is after sending the clutch in and installing the new one so I know there has to be more correspondence before this I just have to find it.


























The Larger Pictures of the Clutch, notice the untouched material in a ring at the top and no markings on the pressure plate or flywheel showing groves for why that new material would still be there yet worn elsewhere.

dr_whigham

iTrader: (49)

I stand corrected...

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

You conveniently left out the rest of the emails that state why we didn't warranty the clutch. Just because you believe it should be warrantied doesn't mean it's going to happen.

Here is the email strand from where you left off -

From Jacob -

This is where I'm at in the evaluation of what you sent us.

• Plate load, lift, and release all check out. This is what determines the condition of the pressure plate. Plate load is the ability of the pressure plate to clamp the disc, this was within spec. Lift is how much travel/movement the pressure plate has when you depress the clutch, this was within spec. Release is how much bearing travel is required to achieve maximum release of the disc, this was within spec.

Suffice it to say the pressure plate checked out with the above information. With this we move to evaluating the disc/friction to see if an issue was occurring there.

• The disc was below minimum discard thickness. The disc, in it's new form, is ~.315" thick, the disc you sent back is between .280-.287" thick, discard is .285". What this tells me is the pressure plate was not within it's working range. This occurs as a disc wears and the pressure plate internal fulcrums move to a point that less plate load is being applied to the friction.

If you look at the friction you can see that it is very dark. When Kevlar gets dark like this it is because it's been HOT. This is backed up by the fact that both the pressure plate and the flywheel surfaces are excessively hot spotted. This is caused by numerous things, namely slippage in a clutch or someone who utilizes the clutch quite a bit.

You can see that the friction does have some signs of what looks like fluid contamination. This may have been a contributing factor with the slippage and the chatter but we can't get an accurate reading because the material has gotten too hot. So hot, it's actually cracked the friction in multiple places.

My evaluation, based on what I've seen, is that there was either a release issue with the hydraulic system that was causing an issue (as the pressure plate checked out healthy) or the clutch was overpowered. Of course there is some human error involved in this equation but I sincerely doubt you did this to your own clutch. The friction has gotten so hot it's cracked, the pressure plate checks out but it's severely hot spotted, the flywheel is hot spotted as well. I'm not trying to evade you or give you the run around, I'm simply trying to make sure that I've covered all my basis so when I tell you that the clutch is ruined but nothing is pointing to a manufacturer defect I can fully explain why and how I reached that conclusion.

As far as the parts that appear to not be worn, that is actually where something has scraped off the glaze. The disc is relatively uniform in thickness from inside to outside, those are where glazing has been removed and not where it's not been wearing.

I apologize for the way I've handled this and for you feeling like I'm giving you the run around. Hopefully this email clears up the confusion and helps make the point I was attempting to earlier.

Your response -

Here is my issue with that the flywheel was reused, the clutch exactly the same as is the motor yet it's holding. Dyno gave us a result under 490 at the wheels well within range.

So at this point what we are liking at is a clutch package that didn't work the first time but works the second. With nothing else changed but the clutch and pressure plate asking with a fly wheel resurface and new pilot bearing.

For the results to be such pillar opposites with no changes outside of disk and pressure plate it really doesn't leave any other possibilities.

From Jacob -

And if the pressure plate was defective or giving us bad readings I could see that it would be a manufacturer defect, because the disc is so worn and destroyed it doesn't surprise that the clutch didn't hold.

What exactly did the car put down?

Your response -

461 on 91 at 110 degrees outside. E85 it did 485.

God I hate auto correct sometimes looking back it made some wonderful corrections for me... Sorry.

From Jacob -

Ya got to love auto correct. What gears are you running?

Your response -

3.90's in a DTE stage two diff

From Jacob -

With 3.90’s in your setup the level 2 should work well for you. As far as the old unit goes, from the parts that I have I can not find any manufacturing or mechanical defects. Having said that there is the possibility of other factors that may have attributed to the premature wear I.E. improper install, fluid contamination, and so forth but; I’m glad to hear that the new unit is working well and does not have any issues that you experienced with the old one. I hope to hear good things about your vehicle in the future, and I hope you have a much better experience with your new clutch unit. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you

Your response -

So basically nothing changed between that clutch and this one but I don't get a replacement due to defect, am I understanding that correctly?

To be clear what I was expecting was a replacement pressure plate and clutch disc and I am being told tough luck basically.

From Jacob -

Not at all, let me clarify the explanation a bit better.

• You have a clutch you sent back that checks out within our build tolerance.
• The clutch has been evaluated and you've been given the information based on that evaluation.
• The clutch is excessively worn and was slipping, the reason behind that slipping was not found to be because of a manufacturer defect.

Beyond all of this you are not the original purchaser of the clutch, not to mention the clutch is out of its 1 year warranty from the original purchase date (depending on the flywheel, the last lightweight Level 2 they purchased was July 2012 and the last standard weight Level 2 they purchased was December 2012).


If there is something else I'm missing in all of this please let me know.

Your response -

I would not have gone through all this with you if I knew my time would be wasted esp. shipping it back to you.

The proof is apparent but I have a better idea I will just drop this information, pictures and experience with corvette forums and ls1tech and see if those in the community agree this is the customer service they expect from your company.
It's clearly shown that a vehicle that put less than 5-6k miles on a clutch that gave nothing but issues, failed. The same model replace it and nothing else changed yet suddenly it works correctly... yet the response from Monster (After how many times of forgetting who I was, what was going on and why I sent you pictures, then why I sent you a clutch) is, "Tough Luck it looks like ****, slipped like **** but it's not defective even though the new one fixed the problem".

I can say I nor anyone I know will be purchasing or hearing favorably about Monster Clutches again. Great way to handle a situation where you clearly had a defective clutch.

From Jacob -

I would like to clarify that all I am doing is providing you technical data on the clutch that you sent us. I am one of the salesmen here at Monster Clutch Co., if you would like you can email the owner with your complaint as I am limited on what I can do as far warranty goes.

Thank you

-------

You've had plenty of time to voice your complaint as these emails were from August of last year, though I understand things get busy.

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

We pride ourselves on customer service and taking care of guys. That said, we don't give things away and there are no warranties when there isn't a manufacturers defect present.

I appreciate all the kind words and support in this thread, if anyone has any questions on how we address things feel free to give me a shout directly at steve@monsterclutches.com.

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

Read on my friend.

Cross

iTrader: (10)

Actually I did not I just finished uploading those to Photobucket and the pictures of the clutch which you can only seen the small ones I sent you.

Jacob did try and make a claim why, yet as the pictures show there is still untouched factory material and the clutch was not excessively worn. With new material still showing and no grooves in the pressure plate or flywheel for where it is worn it's clear this clutch was not used very long.
This along with the pure simple logic that one Stage 2 failed and the next one worked just fine makes it so simple anyone could see clearly that this is an issue of a bad clutch and nothing more.
You notice you don't claim the disk was contaminated or any other issues you just say worn where I say it was slipping excessively.

Frankly what you have done is shown you refused to handle a situation that was clearly just a bad clutch and the customer showed they believed you would take care of them. You obviously did not and some how think that with one bad one and one good one nothing was wrong.

You choose to waste my time, forget about me on multiple occasions making me come back to you repeatedly to get answers only to turn around and refuse to stand up and say obviously this was an issue with the clutch because the new one works just fine.

But don't let those blatant facts get in the way.

Let's be clear you could have said, hey given the situation and time frame we could only give you a discount anything to show you appreciated me as a customer and the fact that I obviously got a bad clutch but instead you choose to tell me tough luck and I choose to finally say something.

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

So to clarify...

You can tell a clutch is defective by it's looks while ignoring all technical data we gave you? Just want to make sure I'm on the same page here.

If you do not set up a clutch properly it will fail, what caused your original level 2 to prematurely fail wasn't a manufacturer defect, the pressure plate that you sent back was within the same tolerances your new setup was. The disc was severely worn, we gave you some of the reasons this happens. You chose to ignore that because you want what you feel you deserve so you threw the technical data out the window.

I'm glad to hear you're new level 2 is holding, sorry to hear you wrecked your car though.

Cross

iTrader: (10)

I was Hit by a hit and run driver on the interstate, thanks though for the attempt at sentiment.

I am saying clearly that when you have a disc that has as much material as mine does in the following pictures which are now above as I said would be, that it's very clear this was not an excessively worn disk. This had plenty of meat on it still it just would not hold. The new stage 2 did hints the obvious conclusion it was defective.

So tell me again, if the old one fails like mine did and had the issues from the start mine did and that with a replacement of the exact same clutch all issues disappeared what would be the logical conclusion you came to?
Do most excessively worn disks that have hardly any mileage on them still have rings of new material?

Perhaps this technical data could explain those two facts and lack of any groves found in the pressure plate or flywheel which was reused? Or are you going to blame the Performance Shop which then is nothing more than a blame game?

Cross

iTrader: (10)

Looking back on all this in hindsight, I wish I had asked the shop to measure the disk thickness at both the worn and untouched portions but honestly they (Monster) just asked for pictures originally and I asked the shop to provide me with them.

That would end this debate completely but that is why they say hindsight is 20/20. Now that it's clear what the claim is and I only have pictures that I feel show my side clearly the only true way would have been to measure before I sent it and even compare it to the new Monster Stage 2 we put in.

But alas here we are, I disagree as does Monster. In the end you cannot please everyone so I may be one of those as that is the way business goes. I will not be using them again and those around me hear the same from me, in the end we all make our own choice and the reason for mine comes from my direct use here.

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

It wasn't an attempt at sentiment, I truly am sorry the car was wrecked. Even though we may not agree with each other we're still gear heads and it sucks to see someone lose something they put time, money, and passion into.

As far as the disc having plenty of meat on it, we discussed the disc thickness with you in the emails from August. The disc was excessively worn and severely over-heated, this is the cause of the issue. We gave you a few reasons why this could happen, but, without the car here it's impossible for us to say. This is also why we say that, when a healthy/new disc was installed with your pressure plate, all was well. The disc was the issue, why it was so severely worn is in the air as I stated before.

I appreciate the latest post from you, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

Fry_

Plenty of thickness left LOL. Those clutch disk have grooves in them and are tan when they're new, that thing is worn smooth and almost black.

Cross

iTrader: (10)

Oh really

Fry_

You can clearly see the faint lines on your failed clutch disc, it looked like this when new.