Performance Clutches and Flywheels for Mazdaspeed 3 and 6

When most Mazdaspeed owners talk about modding their cars, the typical mods that come up are usually Intakes, HPFP, Downpipes, Turbo upgrades, Exhaust Systems, just to name a few. But one upgrade that is often overlooked is the Clutch and Flywheel. Often it’s seen as just a wear and tear item that needs to be replaced when it starts to slip, but by keeping your stock clutch and flywheel setup could you be leaving some power on the table? Will upgrading the clutch and flywheel affect the drivability of your Mazdaspeed?

Why Upgrade Your Mazdaspeed 3/6 Clutch and Flywheel

Using a performance clutch and flywheel can net you a drastic improvement on your Mazdaspeed. The reason you can gain so much is because the stock clutch and dual mass flywheel are not the best to start with. By upgrading to a performance clutch and flywheel you’ll gain a much better driving dynamic with your Mazdaspeed, the gear changes will be a lot crisper plus changing gears quickly won’t result in the car jerking forward. Throttle response will be greatly improved, which is always a nice thing on turbo cars. With an upgraded clutch you’ll also get more feedback while driving the car. In the long term, switching the factory dual mass flywheel to a single mass one can help longevity of the drivetrain system, since a lot of dual mass over time fails with their complex design.

Choosing the Right Clutch for Your Driving Style

As we mentioned above, upgrading your clutch and flywheel can have many benefits. Much like different brake pads can be had for track only, spirited driving or daily driving, there’s many options available for clutches. There’s organic and ceramic clutches, sprung and unsprung clutches. In the end it all comes down to what your usage is for your Mazdaspeed, and your power/torque output. Are you planning on dailying the car? Building a track monster? Or maybe a daily that you can bring at the track on weekends?

Best Clutches for Daily Drivers

You drive your Mazdaspeed pretty much every day and you need something reliable that is along the lines of the OEM clutch, just with an extra edge to it. Your Speed is pretty much stock or has some minor mods done to it, but isn’t heavily modified. The best clutches for daily driving tend to be sprung as they offer smoother engagement and better drivability. A sprung clutch has more damping power against NVH (Noise Vibration & Harshness). Similarly organic clutches are often better suited for daily driving and some occasional track driving as they offer a smooth engagement and release. A good example of this are the Stage 1 XClutch, or the ACT Street Sprung Clutch kit.

(Here on the left you can see an ACT Organic Sprung Performance Street Clutch Disc and on the right an ACT Ceramic 6-Pad Rigid Race Clutch Disc)

Street Organic Full Disc Clutches with their Torque Capacity

Performance Clutches for Track Cars

You drive your Mazdaspeed at the drag or at the track, and you need something that can put the power to the wheels even if everyday drivability might be compromised. Your Speed is heavily modified and sees lots of abuse, and needs additional clamping force to compensate for the additional torque it’s producing. The best clutches for track performance driving are typically ceramic sprung, or for cars that need to put the most amount of power down with less drivability ceramic unsprung clutches. A good example of this is the Stage 3 XClutch we offer here at Damond Motorsports.

Why use ceramic and not organic? Because after repeated abuse an organic clutch will overheat, while a ceramic clutch can withstand more abuse without overheating or wearing out as much. 4 or 6 puck (pad)? The less amount of pucks the clutch disc has, the “harder it is to drive” the car, as the engagement will be more aggressive. But since the disc with fewer puck is lighter, that means you can change gear faster. Discs from the same manufacturer with less pucks do not hold more power, so don’t buy a 4 puck just because of that.

There are some drawbacks to ceramic clutches, hence they are more typically seen in high horsepower application or constant track use. The clutch pedal tends to be 10-15% plus stiffer than an organic clutch which can make drivability a bit more challenging, especially if you happen to find yourself in stop and go traffic. They tend to be more noisy and you’ll hear the chatter from the transmission, and an increase in NVH.

In today’s day and age, there’s been significant leaps in technology when it comes to clutches, that’s why there's also the option of a twin plate clutch for high torque cars. No I’m not talking about DSG automatic transmissions, these types of clutch contain 2 discs inside of them which double the surface area helping greatly with drivability in high torque applications. Clutch Masters even has a triple plate clutch available for the Mazdaspeed, but it’s intended for serious drag race cars. But it’s not without its drawbacks, it tends to be nosier since it has more moving parts and the cost is higher than a single plate clutch. Here’s an example of this type of clutch by Clutch Masters for the Mazdaspeed.

But even with these drawbacks mentioned above some still choose more aggressive clutches for their daily, and learn to live with a more aggressive clutch. The same way some might enjoy a louder exhaust every day and others won’t, it really comes down to what you want for your Mazdaspeed!

(Here on the left you can see an ACT Sprung Ceramic 6-Pad Race Clutch Disc, and on the right an ACT Ceramic 4-Pad Rigid Race Clutch Disc)

High Power Single Plate Clutches with their Torque Capacity

High Power Twin or Triple Plate Clutches with their Torque Capacity

Performance Single Mass Flywheels

From the factory the Mazdaspeed 3 and 6 have dual mass flywheels. A lot of manual cars are equipped with this type of flywheel, the main reason for it is to lower the NVH (Noise Vibration & Harshness). Less NVH is essentially less feedback, yet having more feedback makes you more connected to the car, especially in performance cars like the Speed’s. Not only that but dual mass flywheels are so heavy compared to a single mass flywheel, that means your engine needs to work more to rotate the flywheel and send power to the wheels. To put it in perspective the stock Mazdaspeed 3 dual mass flywheel is about 30 lb, while aftermarket single mass are around the 10-12 lb mark, that means the stock flywheel is almost 3 times the weight of an aftermarket one. Dual mass flywheel also creates rev hang, that’s when you’re accelerating and then you quickly up shift to the next gear but your RPM’s didn’t come down fast enough to be in sync with the next gear and the car jerks a bit, which can really hinder the driving experience.

By upgrading the flywheel you will notice a substantial gain in throttle response, and a bit quicker acceleration. You should be able to reduce parasitic losses and gain a few hp at the wheels, plus your Mazdaspeed will shift faster and smoother. If you decide to upgrade your flywheel, it’s important to mention the Fidanza (or any aluminum flywheel) will have the most chatter of all due to being exceptionally lightweight, even when paired with a stock clutch.

Really for the little NVH gain from installing a single mass flywheel it's definitely worth it, paired with an organic sprung clutch, I would arguably say it has little to no drawbacks, and all the gains from doing so. It’s also important to make a note that you cannot combine flywheels from one manufacturer to another, with the exception of the Fidanza flywheel fitting the stock clutch. To top it off single mass flywheels are quite a bit cheaper to purchase than the OEM dual mass since they are so much simpler to make. If you look on the Damond Motorsports website you’ll see options like prolite and streetlite flywheels. Prolite flywheels are lighter and designed more for track use while streetlite flywheels give you a nice weight reduction while keeping a good daily drivability.

(Here on the left you can see the Heavy factory Mazdaspeed dual mass flywheel and on the right an Fidanza Single Mass Lightweight Aluminum Flywheel)

Regardless of what flywheel and clutch upgrade you go with, we strongly recommend the ARP Flywheel Bolts and Nord-Lock Washers kit we now offer. This is the same combo we run on all of our shop cars with upgraded clutch kits, along with many other high horsepower high revving Mazdaspeeds. It's common that the flywheel bolts can potentially work themselves loose, which in turn and wreak havoc on your crankshaft, flywheel, and clutch disc. 

Now after all we just went over here are some of the frequently asked questions:

Does it increase power? No. But having a lighter clutch disc and flywheel frees up your current power, your engine has to work less hard to rotate the clutch and flywheel and can send that power to the wheels instead.

Like many things in life, price can vary. But typically you can get a clutch disc, pressure plate and flywheel combo starting under $1,400.00 before installation. At that price an OEM dual mass flywheel alone costs more, an upgrade that is cheaper than the factory part is always a good thing in my book! Click here to check out our full catalog for the Mazdaspeeds.

No! If you’re running a stock dual mass on a high powered car you're gonna have a bad time. Even on a stock powered Mazdaspeed the dual mass has a tendency to fail over time because of its complexity. Or running an organic clutch on a heavily modded car will overheat the clutch disc and cause slippage. Choosing the correct clutch for the intended usage will grant you the best durability and longevity. 

Not at all, you can upgrade to an great organic clutch with a single mass flywheel on a completely stock Mazdaspeed, here is a great example of that

Always? No, but it really depends what clutch you get. If you get a 4 puck or 6 puck ceramic clutch disc because your car makes significantly more power, then yes the clutch pedal will be stiffer and the drivetrain will chatter. But if you opt for an performance organic sprung clutch, the pedal stiffness should be on par with OEM feel and noise kept still pretty low.

Upgrading the flywheel is one of those few mods that has little to no drawbacks and all benefits from upgrading. Upgrading the flywheel makes the car more responsive, better throttle response, revs easier, all will keep the drivability smooth if paired with an organic clutch disc.

(On the left you can see an ACT Street Sprung Clutch Kit with Streetlite Flywheel and on the right an XClutch XKMZ24530-1P Stage 3 Clutch Kit)

In the end, should you upgrade your clutch and flywheel? It’s definitely worth considering, this is often an overlooked mod that can have a drastic impact on the driving feel of your Mazdaspeed. Even for a stock Mazdaspeed, an ACT Street Sprung Clutch Kit with Streetlite Flywheel can make it more enjoyable on the daily commute, or an XClutch XKMZ24530-1P Stage 3 Clutch Kit can give you that edge at the Race Track. Regardless of what you choose, Damond Motorsport has the clutch and flywheel option to suit your driving needs!

Blog written by J.P. Gour and edited by Matthew Davey and Farhan Devani