Mr Clutch

[sierraman]

A colleague mentioned they'd had a good price at the said garage, some £150 cheaper. Can't put my finger on where I'd got this info but I'd heard they were well dodge. Has anyone had any experience with them.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Not heard of them, but if they're an offshoot of this company, I'd stay well clear!

[Talbot]

Given the amount of work needed to remove the gearbox on most vehicles, I wouldn't trust an outfit that does clutches only.  Brakes, exhausts and batteries are one thing, as access is dead simple, but a clutch?? Unless it's on a Vauxhall-of-a-certain-age and hence simple, then no.

[purplebargeken]

Mr Clutch. Mate uses them when he can't sort them out himself due to other jobs in, no issues thus far tbh.

[sierraman]

I personally would avoid tackling a clutch. Its heavy, shit work, you also end up finding other stuff along the way that wants doing as well.

[Talbot]

you also end up finding other stuff along the way that wants doing as well.

But you would then do that work.  A Mr Clutch type outfit would not do it and just shove it all back together,  they may not even notice that other work is needed, or have the capability to do a smallish job that is a thousand times easier with the gearbox out.

[sierraman]

I doubt they'd turn down the opportunity of spotting more work if theyre anything like Kwik Fit.

[bub2006]

Local one to me quoted a bloody good price on a clutch. 200 ish cheaper. Reviews said they was fine and as they only did clutches nothing else no other work would be sought out. I can not speak for all though

[dollywobbler]

I worked for Mr Clutch for four days in 1996. It was an insight, that's for sure. I've never felt the slightest desire to subject one of my cars to such an establishment.

[steveo3002]

i got a quote and it was higher than the local one man band that does a decent so he got the work

[richardthestag]

own brand clutch plates, for me the quote didnt include pressure plate nor release bearing. 

 

they seem to get good reviews

[Talbot]

I doubt they'd turn down the opportunity of spotting more work if theyre anything like Kwik Fit.

They're not like Kwik-fit though.  Kwik-fit do more than just clutches.

[SiC]

They're not like Kwik-fit though.  Kwik-fit do more than just clutches.

So do Mr Clutch, I get my aircon regassed at my local one. They also do car servicing too.

 

I was watching them do a clutch job on a Ford Mondeo mk3. Looked to be doing a reasonable job. The guys were all older, experienced and been there a while at my local one. Like a lot of fast fits, I imagine it'll vary greatly from place to place and who they've got in the branch doing the work.

[Skut]

I worked for Mr Clutch for four days in 1996. It was an insight, that's for sure. I've never felt the slightest desire to subject one of my cars to such an establishment.

 

Sounds like there's a generous amount of dirt to be dished there.   Do tell

[sierraman]

Go on I'm fascinated!

 

I've read they use reconditioned clutches, they've got a 20,000 mile guarantee on them so can't be that bad. I'd just have this awful feeling it'd be one of those where once they've took it apart the price would go up and up!

[dozeydustman]

During my student days of the late 90's and early 2000's, Mr clutch Canterbury buggered up a clutch change when I owned the 205 by reusing the old pressure plate & release bearing because "it's got the old [104] engine and parts are no longer available". Total bollocks as I went to Chaucer Motor Factors in Canterbury, asked for a Peugeot XY engine clutch kit, ordered for next day, got a mobile mechanic to change it and asked Mr Clutch for my money back + cost of getting the job done properly. My housemate took his Volvo there for a service and the oil filter fell off on the way home and knackered his engine. Since then I've heard more bad reports than good, so I doubt I'll ever recommend them.

 

All the big chain garages will have a poke around and look for things which may need doing in the near future, Kwik-Fit just seem to look for things that might wear out soon and ask you book in to get it done while doing a half arsed job on what you went there for originally. It was the only place nearby I could get the correct 185HR14 tyres for my Scimitar, and they had the cheek to tell me the brand new stainless exhaust system from Graham Walker "needed replacing as it didn't meet emissions regulations". WT actual F‽‽‽‽‽‽‽‽‽

 

The only one (through my experience) that puts things down on the receipt as an advisory to be done before the next MoT but won't hamper you into booking the car back in is Formula 1, but even then I'd prefer to go to a decent independent or mobile mechanic who you trust. Rather pay a little extra for peace of mind.

[Eddie Honda]

I worked for Mr Clutch for four days in 1996.

You are Fat Bob AICMFP.

 

[egg]

I went to Chaucer Motor Factors in Canterbury

As an off topic aside, Chaucer's have moved to Broad Oak from their long term town centre location. Their old place is now a pizza takeaway, not surprising as they are in student land there.

[Split_Pin]

As a rule I would not put a wheelbarrow into any fast fit place.

[schnappi]

Never had any complaints about Mr. Clutch in Chelmsford.  I've always found them to be honest.  The last clutch I had done there was over 20 years ago, so a lot could have changed.

 

Way I see it, they're not a "fast fit" place as such - more like a place that specialises primarily in clutches.  Therefore the mechanics don't need a broad range of skills and have probably seen every type of clutch related problem and can do them with their eyes closed.  When needing a "big job" it often pays to seek out a garage that specialises in that particular type of work.

 

For example, I once needed a steering rack done on a Vectra which is a bit of a hassle as it's mounted above the subframe so the subframe needs to be lowered to get it out.  Got quotes from various places locally and they were quite expensive.  Found a steering specialist that was about an hour's drive away and they did a great job in half the time and were about 30% cheaper than the cheapest local garage.  The reason?  Steering racks is pretty much all they do.  If I'd asked them to do a clutch they'd probably quote a high figure as it's just not their thing.

[SiC]

As a rule I would not put a wheelbarrow into any fast fit place.

Same. But often the fast-fit places are by far the cheapest for regas. At least with a regas, the only things they need to do is hook it up to the machine, enter the model and hit go. When I got my Smart Roadster done, I did have to show where the pipes were - but to be fair, thats a bizarrely engineered car.

[dozeydustman]

As a rule I would not put a wheelbarrow into any fast fit place.

 

 

"Trackings well out on that, guv'nor"

[Talbot]

My one and only experience of a fast-fit place was over 20 years ago when my mother put her Talbot Horizon in for a new clutch.  Quite how the old one was dead at only 40k miles is not clear, but nevertheless in it went.  Come the day of the work, she wasn't able to take it in, so I (with about 3 weeks driving experience on a full license) took it in for her.

 

I didn't know it at the time, but thinking back, they made a complete mess of the job, including roughing-up the flywheel and pressure plate with coarse sandpaper, meaning the clutch bite was basically digital for the next couple of weeks.  They also tried to claim that there was a load of work needed to identify why the car pulled to one side.  When I refused to be interested in this, the mechanic then tried to demonstrate, as the NS driveshaft had more clearance on a particular part of the subframe than the OS.  At the time I had no idea, but a few years later I realised this was bollocks, as the Simca-engined Horizons used unequal-length driveshafts, so when it's up in the air with the suspension at full deflection, the angle of the shafts is quite significantly different.

 

The pull to one side turned out to be one M&S spec tyre and one summer tyre on the front axle.  Quite how that occured is anyones guess, but a £10 part-worn summer tyre fixed it instantly.  The fact that the garage were trying to get us to sign up to hundreds of pounds worth of "investigation" for the want of un-matched tyres has left a lasting impression on how much I trust the motor industry.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

A fucked clutch is weighbridge time for most old cars.

 

£500 or £280?

 

Tough choice.

[dollywobbler]

Problem with my dirt is that it relates to one branch, over 20 years ago. There were only two fitters plus me. One was technically a trainee, but the older chap told us he had no interest in training anyone up. A Peugeot 405 4x4 came in. This old chap's entire input into that job was to swear, and then smash the air filter housing deliberately with his air ratchet. 

 

So, me and the trainee were doing most of the work, even though we didn't really have much of a clue what we were doing. In my four days, two cars came back in for rectification work...

[richardthestag]

A fucked clutch is weighbridge time for most old modern cars with complex DMF arrangements.*

 

£500 or £280?

 

Tough choice.

 

ftfy

 

*almost certainly responsible for removing 99% of Mondeos from the road

[SierraMikeHotel]

As an off topic aside, Chaucer's have moved to Broad Oak from their long term town centre location. Their old place is now a pizza takeaway, not surprising as they are in student land there.

Dozydustman and I were students in Canterbury at about the same time, but we can't have known each other - he'd have seen me dribbling on his 205.

 

Really pleased to hear that Chaucer has moved and not shut down. I drove past there for the first time in years last weekend and shed a small tear to see it gone.

 

It was the sort of place that had a tin of Mexico Brown paint and parts on the shelf for my Rover P6 in about 2000.

 

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[Pillock]

They use own brand clutch components.

 

I would suggest these are not made to the highest of standards, as I can't see any other reason to go to a clutch manufacturer and ask for special stuff in your own box other than making it cheaper through being shitter. 

 

Would probably use if I wanted a clutch fitting to a car I was going to sell on. Would probably not use on a car I was going to keep for ten years.

[Cavcraft]

You are Fat Bob AICMFP.

 

 

That scene when he woke up after having broken down on the way to collect Paul in 'Get Calf' is still one the funniest things of ever.

[omegod]

I'm contemplating an 08 fiesta going ridiculously cheap with a fucked clutch, local clutch specialist is quoting 204 all in, I can get a 3 piece transmech kit from ECP for £35......done one before and don't recall much pain after so may have a crack to maximise profit