Project:  Dual Plate Clutch & Ride / Handling Upgrade

The lockdown of 2020 provided plenty of opportunity to read the posts on Pistonheads and ponder why all the smart folks had stopped following my lead with simply upgrading the clutch friction plate material to a later generation material, but were now focusing on installing the AMR Twin Plate clutch set.

I read one post where the individual had upgraded to the genuine Aston AMR Twin Plate and stated that it gave gear changes as slickly as his BMW 3 Series daily driver. This was a great comparison for me as my daily driver is a BMW 3 series and the gearchange is truly excellent in every way, also, with 100K on the clock its still on its original 2012 clutch.

Every input from the folk that knew said that this upgrade was beyond excellent, so the decision was made - upgrade it was !

I had a chat with Adie at AHM who for me is the ultimate expert and advised that the very best is brought out of the Twin Plate with its flywheel changed out, some software tweaks, a slight increase in tick over speed and a transaxle oil chage.

As ever his guidance was spot on and the step change in moving to the AMR clutch was completed in Feb 2021 and exceeded all expectations !!! 

The other thing I was reading about was the brilliant new Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres, which while being absolute top performance tyres also deliver superb ride quality characteristics. Many folk had confirmed this for me but a ride in a 2007 Vantage with the PS4S tyres newly fitted proved the improvements beyond question.

I had already been thinking of a tyre change as the rears were replaced by the seller as a condition of me purchasing back in 2013 but the fronts were older, dated 2010, while there was still adequate tread there, they really were but just too old to be in the best possible health.

I fitted 4 x PS4S and had the full chassis alignment to get the very best of the new set up.

This proved to be totally the right thing to do, its like I had fitted adaptive suspension as well as having a top spec tyre upgrade.

These two elements now move the Vantage on from being a good drive to being a really excellent drive. 

I pondered long and hard before embarking on these two improvements, now I only wish I had done this earlier !    

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                                     Transforation Complete - March 2021