The OEM dual-mass flywheel that comes stock on your Genesis Coupe 6MT - is - beyond a shadow of a doubt, the single biggest obstacle immediately blocking the path to you enjoying actual sports driving with your BK. Aside from excelling at being a dung-encrusted boat anchor, your OEM DMF is designed to make the car easy to drive, very forgiving to novice manual drivers (or people who just suck) as well as get good/more consistent fuel mileage.
With regards to sports driving, the DMF does one very bad thing - when coupled with a soft (low clamping force) pressure plate (like the stock one) you cannot feel where/when you clutch engages the flywheel. There is no feedback. Its like kicking an unconscious Weight Watchers customer you found in a Dunkin Donuts bathroom.
Because there is no "driveline talk" to your left foot, your driving is going to be typically inconsistent and not nearly as sharp as it could be with a proper clutch & flywheel. If you plan to autocross, track, or just haul ass in your car with any sort of real transmission feel, you need a clutch & flywheel kit.
Clutch kits are typically sold all in one - e.g., flywheel, clutch disc & pressure plate altogether. Some, like SPEC, sell the flywheel separately. Be aware of this while you shop.
DO NOT USE AFTERMARKET CLUTCHES WITH YOUR OEM FLYWHEEL. It is unwise. To use the OEM flywheel with a different clutch means you'll have to have your OEM clutch resurfaced; Hyundai specifically prohibits this in their shop manual. Also, putting an aftermarket clutch on your OEM bubblegum flywheel is like slapping a bandaid on a severed leg; you haven't actually addressed the real problem.
NOTE: You must purchase new flywheel bolts (Hyundai dealer parts dept) when installing a new flywheel or simply removing/reinstalling a flywheel. Those little bastards get torqued to 79ft-lbs and then ritually abused like a Mississippi hooker. They do NOT work very well after they've already been torqued and gone a little plastic.
BALANCING is not required when you install a new clutch/flywheel but if you happen to have a few bucks, checking the flywheel and pressure plate assembly for balance will do nothing but help your motor; the more balanced the rotating assemblies are, the more power gets out to the tires, sooner.
Once again, shop with the distributor/reseller of your choice, here are your best options, the worst first -
- Clutchmasters Kits - are garbage, and we will not speak of them here. ever.
- DTMSPEED Stage IV Clutch Kit - ($1600-2000)
Strongly advised not to use this product. Not only a bit on the heavy side as flywheels go, but the ~$2000 asking price is holy mother of Moses steep, especially considering the incredibly finicky and difficult to operate clutch (even though its sprung) and the fact that at least one of these flywheels has failed - ergo, a chunk of it came off and flew around inside the pressure plate for a while due to a design defect. Once again, be wary of stuff that shows up on boats from Korea.
- SPEC Clutch Kits - ($500-700, + $570 flywheel)
SPEC burst onto the Genesis Coupe scene with immediate failures ocurring with more than one car. Design revisions showed up supposedly but their reputation on the car is shaky at best. The fact that you purchase their flywheel and clutch separately for a minimum price of over a grand is a little disconcerting but not really that out of hte ordinary for cost comparison. Use this brand if it's all thats on the menu; it will probably work alright but...
- ACT Clutch Kits - ($439-479, + $475 Fidanza flywheel)
ACT's clutch kits are the clutches/flywheels that this car should have come with from the factory. Nearly OEM pedal feel & engagement, but you can aftually feel where the clutch bites, and it's predictable. This is the most important feature of a clutch/fw kit. For the prices ACT typically goes for, these kits cannot be beaten. With exception to their un-sprung four-puck, these kits are not hugely aggressive in terms of engagement or short throw; they will hold alot of extra torque but if you are going for a seriously large and aggressive build - or you prefer a clutch that is shorter throw and more aggresive - these may not be for you.
- Competition Clutch Kits - ($880-1000)
Comp Clutches are arguably the finest clutch/flywheel product available for this car, in terms of price and engineering. Comp's kits all include a flywheel so you pay for one box to show up at your door. These kits are very in demand for the Genesis and can be hard to get; thats a good sign. Certainly not a stock pedal feel, and a much shorter engagement throw - these clutches still are extremely easy to handle even at high stages, and are of top quality. Use Comp for serious builds; better yet, for the hardcore - their Stage 5, four-puck un-sprung Man Clutch(TM) is also their cheapest.
- Exedy Twin Plate Stage 4 Kit - (~$1800)
Exedy is a name that bears no introduciton; this twin plate kit is for el serioso builds that still want maintain the smoothest and most drivable engagement, even up to completely stupid horsepower numbers. The more plates/discs in a clutch basket/stack, the more smooth the engagement is, easier it is to manage, and more power it can hold overall. While a Comp or ACT single disc will hold monster power quite well and operate very well, Exedy twin discs will hold all that power and operate exceptionally well. Flywheel is included.
- PHC Valeo - (~$700-1800)
An option for those looking to keep the quiet and easy drivability of a DMF is to upgrade to the 2013+ version which is a significant improvement over the complete and utter piece of shit that came on all pre-facelifted Genesis Coupes. The DMF is purchasable either from your dealership (at a considerable price) or from various direct importers or eBay. The factory clutch and pressure plate is different for this flywheel and you can't simply reuse your old one (not that you'd want to) and isknown to handle reliably up to 300wtq. PHC Valeo also makes an "HD" version of their Genesis Coupe clutch/pressure plate, what it can handle is currently unknown however, hopefully ACT gets off their ass and makes a 2013 clutch kit.
