Italian clutches? Any experience?

mountainmanUK · Post by **mountainmanUK** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 10:30 am

Hi!
Has anyone heard of, or had any experience of using, one of these Italian-made clutches?

http://www.mecarm.it

I found this make whilst browsing eBay for a clutch for my TXD. Price seems very reasonable, but it may be false economy if the brand is cr*p!

The eBay ad is here...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... &rd=1&rd=1

Yes, I know Valeo are the best, but I've never heard of MecArm, and you never know...they might be OK!

Cheers
Dave

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 12:57 pm

No idea, but i wouldnt risk it unless anyone else knows about them.

All the advice appears to be to just fit a valeo because they are the best. It's a false economy fitting other makes as they can give up the ghost & then you've got the extra expense of having to fit another, which then ends up costing a packet more than just having the valeo fitted in the 1st place....

So the message of today is, "fit a valeo", because its not just for xmas

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 5:23 pm

The 'might' part of might be ok would be enough to convince me not to buy one. If you're keeping the car long term I'd suggest fitting the best you can, anything else is false economy.

mountainmanUK · Post by **mountainmanUK** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 6:44 pm

Whilst I am in 100% agreement with your thoughts, with regard to ONLY using Valeo.......my inquisitive streak is what is making my wonder!
We all know just how reliable Valeo are, and I can well understand the sentiment of not wanting to have to re-do the job again in a pretty short time, but it would be interesting to discover IF another make could be just as good as Valeo!
If Valeo clutches suddenly became unavailable, what would everyone use then?
Somewhere down the line, there must be someone who has actually fitted a MecArm clutch and used it for a time. My original query was to ask if any members here HAD tried it.
If a Valeo clutch kit costs say, £70, and gives minimum 4 years use, and a MecArm clutch kit costs £35, and gives miinimum 3 years use, and a XYZ clutch kit costs £20, but only gives 1 years minimum use.....it's very simple mathematics to eliminate the XYZ kit as far less economical than the others. The difference between the other two kits is much less easy to differentiate.

I guess it's a case of "trust what you know", but I'd love to hear from a MecArm "user" to make a fairer judgement!

There's always the chance that they MAY turn out to be even more reliable than Valeo!!

Cheers

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 7:24 pm

If it were sparking plugs you were talking about there would be no problem as the worst you would have to do is change them which is generally easy.

With a clutch its really a question of how much you enjoy changing it rather than the cost of the bits.

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 9:39 pm

4 years for a clutch, that sounds very poor, fair enough if your trailering things, but for normal driving i would have thought double that or even triple? What does everyone else think?

Sorry mountainman, i knew what you meant about whether anyone else had used them before, didnt mean to come across the wrong way. In all honesty i've never heard of them, so perhaps that in itself may answer any questions (not that i'm a clutch expert).

If they are Italian, is there an equivalent bx club in Italy that you could ask, failing that perhaps a lancia or alfa club may use them???

Let us know if you find anything out, always good to find a cheaper alternative to valeo if they are as good.....

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 11:57 pm

I cant see why a clutch doesnt last 100000 miles these days as long as you drive it correctly. My Xantias on its original at 132000 miles and althought a little stiff is fine.

Post by **docchevron** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 1:10 am

Never heard of them, which for me is enough to tell me it's crap.

I've always used Valeo, and saw 250000miles in the RD without a clutch change. I've no doubt that clutch would have gone on, and on ad nasuem had I not broke the gearbox.

To be fair, doing a clutch in a BX is not a difficult task, but either way, I'd never use anything other than valeo.

If valeo become unobtainable (unlikely in the near future) then I'd have to use whatever I could get, but until that day Valeo for me!

Stewart (oily!) · Post by **Stewart (oily!)** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 8:53 am

Theres too much work involved to risk doing it again inside 100, 000 miles, i have seen anonymous clutches fail inside a year, not worth it for a £35 quid saving
Stewart

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 8:54 pm

I used to work for a clutch manufacturer - these were one of our competitors and to be honest, they didn't have the best reputation - bit 'cheap and cheerful'.

I haven't actually used them so can't be sure whether the reputation is deserved, but if it was my money I'd stick to a Valeo or Luk clutch.

mountainmanUK · Post by **mountainmanUK** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 9:05 pm

mat_fenwick wrote:I used to work for a clutch manufacturer - these were one of our competitors and to be honest, they didn't have the best reputation - bit 'cheap and cheerful'.

I haven't actually used them so can't be sure whether the reputation is deserved, but if it was my money I'd stick to a Valeo or Luk clutch.

Thanks Matt! It's good to hear from someone who HAS actually heard of them! So...Valeo (or LUK) it is!
Might be worth considering the MecArm for someone who needs to shove a quick clutch into a car to unload!

(Not that anyone on here would do such a thing....at least not to another member!)

Cheers
Dave