Transmech clutches - cheap but any good?

martyp

Hi all,
My clutch has started juddering and making squealing noises so I'm considering two different replacements.
Being very low on funds a Transmech one is favourable at £50 but the garage prefers QA (I think?) which is £87 as they advise they have fitted them for 26 years with only 2 problems. They both have 2 year warranties and my car is 20 years old and rattly etc. Has anyone had any experience with either to be able to comment?
Also I saw clutch release bearings for sale saying these should always be changed along with the clutch? I assume they're not part of the clutch kit then?
Many thanks in advance...

mikey72

martyp wrote: »

Hi all,
My clutch has started juddering and making squealing noises so I'm considering two different replacements.
Being very low on funds a Transmech one is favourable at £50 but the garage prefers QA (I think?) which is £87 as they advise they have fitted them for 26 years with only 2 problems. They both have 2 year warranties and my car is 20 years old and rattly etc. Has anyone had any experience with either to be able to comment?
Also I saw clutch release bearings for sale saying these should always be changed along with the clutch? I assume they're not part of the clutch kit then?
Many thanks in advance...

Let the garage sort it.
If you get a cheap one, and they fit it, if it goes wrong you're be paying to have it taken out again.
If they supply one they like, it's all down to them for the two years.

martyp

mikey72 wrote: »

Let the garage sort it.
If you get a cheap one, and they fit it, if it goes wrong you're be paying to have it taken out again.
If they supply one they like, it's all down to them for the two years.

Thanks mikey72, I did wonder about that side. I asked the shop selling the £50 clutch what the warranty covered and they said something like it could be sent away for 6 weeks and if tested and found to be faulty they would refund parts and labour. Or there was a no quibble swap out in the shop policy.

Rossy.

martyp wrote: »

Thanks mikey72, I did wonder about that side. I asked the shop selling the £50 clutch what the warranty covered and they said something like it could be sent away for 6 weeks and if tested and found to be faulty they would refund parts and labour. Or there was a no quibble swap out in the shop policy.

All well and good but you'd have to pay for it to be removed firstly if it turned out faulty

Could be 2-3hrs labour

martyp

I think I agree with that, in that it would be better to let the garage do it rather than trying to save £37 by getting the part elsewhere. Last week I had the alternator replaced but they quoted me £155 for a new guaranteed part (excluding labour) and I bought one on ebay for £35 which they fitted for £30, so it was about a £100 saving to have it fitted from just the part price itself. The alternator taken off can be reconditioned now I supposed and even resold...
I think an alternator might be far easier to change compared to a clutch though...

mikey72

martyp wrote: »

I think I agree with that, in that it would be better to let the garage do it rather than trying to save £37 by getting the part elsewhere. Last week I had the alternator replaced but they quoted me £155 for a new guaranteed part (excluding labour) and I bought one on ebay for £35 which they fitted for £30, so it was about a £100 saving to have it fitted from just the part price itself. The alternator taken off can be reconditioned now I supposed and even resold...
I think an alternator might be far easier to change compared to a clutch though...

Fitting an alternator it's worth the saving, you can fit a few for the £120 you saved.
Clutch though could be £150+ labour, so the £37 wouldn't be a bad investment to avoid any arguement over warranty.

Hammyman

In addition, you may find that the QH one comes with the clutch release bearing whereas the other one doesn't. ALWAYS get the release bearing changed at the same time.

epninety

martyp wrote: »

Hi all,
My clutch has started juddering and making squealing noises so I'm considering two different replacements.
Being very low on funds a Transmech one is favourable at £50 but the garage prefers QA (I think?) which is £87 as they advise they have fitted them for 26 years with only 2 problems. They both have 2 year warranties and my car is 20 years old and rattly etc. Has anyone had any experience with either to be able to comment?
Also I saw clutch release bearings for sale saying these should always be changed along with the clutch? I assume they're not part of the clutch kit then?
Many thanks in advance...

A quick google will show you the general opinion of Transmech
QH parts are generally 'ok' quality in my experience, though I've never used one of their clutches.

Release bearing is a good idea to change generally, but sometimes the quality of available replacements is so poor I've left the original one in instead.

You might get more specific advice if you say what make and model car you're talking about. All us petrolheads are always interested anyway, even if it isn't relevant

atrixblue.-MFR-.

i nver used QH or the other you talk about, i used to use valeo. in cases of hydrolic clutch release bearings their nearly always sold seperate.