zszabo

The surface is pretty clean now, but it has a few spots here and there that are slightly discolored. In particular, when I rough up the surface with an orbital sander, those spots appear darker than the rest.

Does the surface have to have the exact same color everywhere? What exactly am I looking for?

CardinalFlyer

Mind you, I only took metallurgy as part of my engineering degree, I am not a deep expert in this. You may learn more with a call to an auto machine shop, although they may also err on the side of bringing in business.

I'd be looking for a consistant color, hopefully a nice bright steel color. If you have bluing or splotches, then *something* changed in that material and there is risk of a stress point and possible surface crack, or a variation in wear or friction. Mine 'cleaned up' to a consistant shine.

It may actually be just fine even with a few splotches. But while you're this close, it should be pretty inexpensive to just get it turned, then you'll be sure. Your only challenge is getting it off.

If you can hold the flywheel, try a breaker bar instead of the impact wrench. For some reason that works better for me on some bolts. A good 6 point socket, perhaps with the end ground off slightly to get a good bite.. some flywheel bolts have shorter heads, not sure if yours does.

After all this, depending on what you're doing, if you simply can't get the flywheel off you might notice a little drift in your opinion of whether that flywheel looks 'good enough.' Your mileage may vary. ;-)

By the way I would not be sanding with an abrasive disk, only a scotch brite that won't take off material. Otherwise you stand a chance of changing the flatness of the surface... a bad thing. If you're already into the abrasives that would add motivation to turn it.

Keith

j31izzle

how many times is it permissible to resurface the stock flywheel? at 60k the car needs third clutch and i think that the flywheel is stock (but not sure if it has been resurfaced the first time). is it ok to resurface and reuse it with say, a stage 3 southbend clutch kit?

and the stock FWs are dual mass, right?

this is on a 00 1.8tq.

alen

zszabo

when I look more closely, I notice a few slight discolorations here and there. The surface essentially looks a different shade.

I would get it resurfaced if I could get it off. The problem is, Audi once again used one of those 12 point "star" socket bolts (?), I have the right bit for it but I noticed it's already starting to strip. I'm worried that if I try too hard, it will strip completely, then the bolt will strip, and then I'm in a world of trouble.

Ritz

Rule of thumb: resurface the flywheel EVERY time you change the clutch (or install new one)

zszabo

If so, what happened? Also, how badly was it worn - and did you at least sand off the top layer?

Ritz

Now ask me again with a straight face if it makes sense to save $30 to resurface the flywheel. Just do it.

And NO, I haven't just put one back on because it's foolish. If it chatters you've got to take the whole mess apart AGAIN and resurface it anyway. Just do it the right way the first time and spare yourself the grief.

Cheers,

Ritz

pain in the *** to redo the job when it chatters later.

I'm always amazed when people spend so much time trying to "get away" with doing something the wrong way only to have to spend 2-3 times the amount of money or time to get the same results had they just done it correctly the first time.

Cheers,

Yippers®

a breaker to pull the wheel. I don't think he is trying to cheap out.

Ritz

doing it again anyway. If I was him, I'd try to borrow an impact gun. That will work a lot better than a breaker bar.

Cheers,