I do understand the word "wings" what do you mean exactly. Regards Peter

Possible meaning is the pressure plate fingers are worn through, where the bearing either partly siezed or was coming apart, some people replace centre plate and pressure plate without the release/slave cylinder

But thats my guess and probably wrong??

Sorry for my choice of words - by "wings" I mean the 6 or 8 tabs that hold the outer ring of the clutch to the inner ring where the drive shaft goes.

Hopefully I have now chosen well - if not I will ask my garage for the exact term. Thanks for your thoughts

Cyheers Alan

As a matter of interest, did you have the dual mass flywheel replaced with the clutch, if not, that may be the problem?

Sorry for my choice of words - by "wings" I mean the 6 or 8 tabs that hold the outer ring of the clutch to the inner ring where the drive shaft goes.

Hopefully I have now chosen well - if not I will ask my garage for the exact term. Thanks for your thoughts

Cyheers Alan

These sound like the 'fingers' of the diaphragm spring which actually provides the clamping force.

I think the part you are referring to is the edge of the centre plate to the friciton material, better known as the segments. This kind of damage is usually a result of what is known as hanging the gearbox. Basically, when the gearbox is reinstalled into the vehicle, it is left ot hang on the clutch at an angle, rather than in line with the crank. This causes the outer metal segments to bend slightly, over time, with repeated operation of the clutch, fatigue sets in and they then fail in the way you have described

Why would you hang gearbox on clutch plate, hanging on driveshaft yes we used to do that to save time replacing a clutch but not on clutch centre plate

I think the part you are referring to is the edge of the centre plate to the friciton material, better known as the segments. This kind of damage is usually a result of what is known as hanging the gearbox. Basically, when the gearbox is reinstalled into the vehicle, it is left ot hang on the clutch at an angle, rather than in line with the crank. This causes the outer metal segments to bend slightly, over time, with repeated operation of the clutch, fatigue sets in and they then fail in the way you have described

THe entire function in life of the segments of the diaphragm spring is to bend whenever the clutch is used, so the grade of steel and its heat treatment are chosen to be suitable for this and resistant to fatigue.

Metal fatigue of steel will only lead to fracture if the loads and movement exceed a certain limit; fatigue limits are fairly well known for most steels so if repeated failures occur on the OP's clutch either it was badly designed, or the replacements were poor quality or there is another fault which overstresses the clutch.