The clutch on my 1098 is very noisy, both rattling and a horrible noise when trying to move from a standstill, I took it apart last night and there is 2mm of play between tabs on friction plates and outer basket instead of the 0.6mm specified, that would explain the noise! Anyway, what are my options for new friction plates? Am I better sticking with OEM or are there any good value spurious suppliers out there?
The rattling noise is caused by the tang gap, as he says (2mm measured vs 0.6mm max gap in service manual) and not the plate order! Where to buy plates? At this point you'll get a load of people telling you to buy Suzuki plates, bake them in grease and it'll save you loads... If you don't want that hassle you can buy sets on ebay for about £85-100 for aftermarket plates. I've used these and quality has been variable. If you go with Ducati oem then you know you'll get the right spec but it'll cost you more.
Some people have had success with, and even swear by, pattern Suzuki clutch plates for a GS650. However, others have had problems with them because the tangs are very tight in the basket and can bind, causing horrendous drag. I had this problem and I am currently running two Suzuki friction plates at the bottom of the stack with the plates above that being the old plates. As the new plates wear in, I will replace the old plates with new, progressively and always putting the newest plates at the bottom of the stack. Alternatively, you could just file the tangs to fit.
Currently using these in my 1198S. NEWFREN F.1535 DISCHI FRIZIONE PZ.8 AD ALTE PRESTAZIONI PER DUCATI 1098 S 2007 | eBay Arrived in 5 days from order.
Re-ordering the plates will work. It's a variation on the standard 'quiet clutch mod'. Instead of adding a plate you simply re-order the existing ones. It's not ideal to do it on worn plates though, I have to admit, as it might reduce the stack height to the level where it could cause slip, so it's best done with newish plates. I put an extra plate in mine but a mate just re-ordered his and it works perfectly, honestly.
Bargain... At least the Suzuki plates only cost me 20 quid, slightly secondhand from Nelson. I might have cried if I'd paid full wack... lol
Ordered a set for my 999. NEWFREN F.1545 DISCHI FRIZIONE AD ALTE PRESTAZIONI PER DUCATI 999 (998cc) 2003 | eBay Did a search on 1545 on their website. 1545 is the code for that style of plate, ie the semi-universal Ducati dry-clutch plate. The 1535 style that the link takes you to appears to be quite different. Be warned though, the postage is quite dear...
Just finished fitting a set to my 999. The stack height was quite high so substituted 2 of the old friction plates for now. Will switch out as the new plates wear. The seller uses a courier so you should have them in under a week.
Thanks for the many replies, my plates have very little friction material left on them (I'm surprised the clutch isn't slipping) so I don't think re-ordering would work as mentioned above, thanks for tip though, is it worth starting with a friction plate with my new plates to reduce noise? my clutch basket is also showing some notching to the inside of the basket, how much wear is acceptable, is there any way of measuring? Is it worth filing the notches in the basket flat? I have to say as my first Ducati (I've had loads of V twins, various RSVR's and SP1) I'm struggling to adapt to the noisy clutch, specially since mine came with an open basket, at the moment it sounds like a tractor on idle!
Aren't the plates for these dry clutches supposed to be the same (in the two listings its 999 vs 1098)?
How odd. Why give a different number for the same plates?? You'd think it'd be cheaper to put them all in the same packaging and list all the models they fit. Or is this a retailer rather than manufacturer thing...
If you want a quiet clutch that lasts a long time, put one of your old clutch plates in first, followed by the rest as designed but if the stack height ends up beyond 38mm, adjust accordingly by taking steel plates out where doubled up or by doing what ChrisW has done and put some thin old plates in at the top and substitute with more of the new ones as the friction material wears down. Derek, who is one of the more knowledgeable people on here, has been doing this for some time and reckons to get 30,000 miles out of a clutch in this way because the noise you are hearing is also causing wear. Cut down the noise and you also cut down the wear. I have notches like yours and the clutch works just fine.
