Wanted to share this good comparison between the Quaife (Gear) LSD and Carbonetic (Clutch) LSD. Here is some information I gathered from each manufacture.
CARBONETIC is a clutch type LSD which means it locks up 100% both of the axle shaft. If both axles do not lock up 100%. The car can not deliver power to the tires evenly. Which means loosing power and you can not use all your power at tires as intended.
Porsche for example, actually has a factory LSD that is a clutch type with very low initialization. So if you went to a gear type LSD, there is no advantage for performance. The only advantage to a gear type LSD is no maintanence or failure due to never locking up 100%.
Quaife for example is a gear type that works very smooth due to the gears which do not stop. There is almost no sound emitted.
Carbonetic’s clutch type has metal disks and high initial torque which makes alot of noise and engaging is very harsh. For delivering power, this is better where the Quaife is nicer for street or track use. Usually people say the Carbonetic is working ON or OFF. This is the only negative for clutch type LSD systems. If you set up the LSD with low initial like the OEM LSD, it will work smooth but the performance is very weak.
The maintenance of the Quaife gear LSD is simple as it almost never breaks. Clutch type LSD’s require oil maintanence and usually metal type LSD’s require the oil to be changed every 3-5K miles even on street driven after the break-in period. The CARBON LSD version requires maintenance more often after initial break-in period. Generally required to change the oil every 2000 miles due to the carbon disks getting dirty faster. So to keep the best performance, you always need to change oil often.
The Quaife gear system rarily break so you do not need to rebuild them. The Carbonetic metal disk LSD needs to be rebuilt every 8-10K miles. Once you lose initial torque, the disk won’t hold well. When they begin to slip, the disks ware out really fast and eventually it will become like a open diff.
The Quaife cannot be set up to different ratio’s like the Carbonetic. A Quaife has just one setting. Clutch type LSD’s can be set up as the customers like, depend on how strong, fast, timing etc. Metal LSD’s are very picky to set up precisely and require a special skill for the set up as you like.
CARBON LSD does not need to set up precisely, the LSD has wide control with acceleration, working very linear. so no make too pick just bolt on and working as you like for most of customer. only have some racer might prefer to have metal one and set up precisely.
For customers who are looking for performance on the street to track, the CARBON LSD is best choice unless you are not interested in dealing with the maintenance.
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