Replace or Resurface?

[lonestar22]

im replacing the clutch on my E90 330i. the guys on the newer bimmer boards dont know anything about cars besides KW coilovers and black kidney grills so id come here. the clutch is toasted to the point where the car doesnt move very much without excessive slippage. the car will pretty much go up to redline. im replacing the clutch on the car this week and my question is, do i need to replace the flywheel or just get it resurfaced. the car has a dual mass flywheel, i dont know if that matters but i thought i would point it out

[fartingfool]

There's specifications for how much the flywheel is allowed to wear before it's considered for replacement as defined by BMW. There's a few different machinist tools needed for proper measuring. Depending on who's doing the work, they may or may not have access to the technical numbers. I know I don't these numbers. Another cause for replacement is bad heat scoring or obvious gouging.

As far as resurfacing, it's mixed opinions. If it needs replacing, replace it. The dual mass makes it more complicated if not basically impossible to find someone who will machine it. The single mass flywheels seem to get away with it more.

If it were me, I'd just suck it up and replace it if absolutely necessary. I've been lucky enough to reuse half a dozen flywheels so far without any problems in e30s. Obviously, the tolerances are less in these vehicles.

[lonestar22]

it would be an easy choice if the flywheels werent 3 times the price of the clutch.

[fartingfool]

Basically, you won't know for sure until you get the tranny and pressure plate off the car. If you can't wait, you run a risk either way of spending more money than necessary or having to wait a few more days for another part.

Flywheels suck :(

[lonestar22]

so there isnt many places that can resurface a dual mass flywheel?

[fartingfool]

Call up your local machine shops, even though I still recommend reusing the old flywheel over milling it down. If you can find one, only then can you consider it an option lol

The reason finding someone to machine these things is because they're such a critical component that most don't want the responsibility of it failing (unlikely, but consider a lawsuit and 'unlikely' is still bad odds). It may be possible to mill it down and still be within the wear limits (just giving it a new surface like you want), but it's another thing finding someone actually willing to do it. It also all depends on how worn the surface is. Too worn and it's out of spec or totally unnecessary because it could be in great condition.

[lonestar22]

the car only has 70k on it so i dont THINK it could be that bad. then again the clutch is toast so it could very well be. the car doesnt even move. guess ill start looking around for shops that resurface flywheels