Thats a tall claim - if that were the case, the Quaife wouldn't see the need to even put in exclusions, but they have. But having said that, I agree Quaife makes great LSDs - obviously their reputation preceeds them. But I am also confident to say that MFactory's LSD are on par with Quaife at a competitive price. I have not heard of any MFactory LSDs breaking when installed and maintained correctly - and all our LSDs are driven hard and used in Racing, Rallying and Drag.
I'm typing this from memory at work :-p From your description above, it appears that you may not know the difference between the types of LSDs and why some are noisy and some not.
So, to understand the noise, you need to understand how the various LSDs work. There are typically 2 types of Mechanical LSDs.
A Torsen/Helical (also called ATB) or Clutch (Also called Metal Plate). Both work very differently and are designed to meet different purposes.
Torsen/Helical -
MFactory Helical / Quaife
Clutch/ Metal -
MFactory Metal / ATS
Torsen/Helical - These rely on a series of worm gears within the unit that lock or biase torque on acceleration (sensing torque) giving drive to both wheels. As these are just gears, they are quiet and relatively maintenance free (just the normal gearbox oil change required). They also don't need special oils and perform very well under majority of street driving conditions.
The disadvantage of these is that, in the event one wheel looses traction (i.e. especially with track driving where you ride kerbs and take short cuts through corners or could be as simple as one wheel loosing traction on a pool of water), the diff simply becomes an open diff with the power being transmitted to the wheel that has lost traction - No limited slip action. However, given that one typically does not drive 10/10s on the street, it is less of a concern.
So, summary:
1) Uses gears, so quiet and maintenance free
2) Fantastic for novice drivers and street use
3) Ok on track but will be out performed by the Metal LSDs
Clutch/Metal LSDs - These uses a series of clutches within the assembly to control slip. If slip is detected, the clutch within the unit will slip (hence the knocking noise) and enable the non slipping wheel to continue driving (instead of all power going into the slipping wheel). This mechanism will still allow the LSD to work when one wheel has lost grip althogether, unlike the helical, but the disadvantage is 1) Noise (from the slipping) 2) Wear (obviously - uses clutches) 3) Needs special oils.
As such, these tend to be used by more serious cars and drivers where performance outweighs any of the inconveniences.
So, Summary:
1) Clutch, Noisy
2) Requires maintenance - wear rate dependent on usage
3) Fantastic for hard core drivers where every little bit counts!
The Clutch/Metal LSD can further be divided in to 1 way, 1.5 Way and 2 Way. The best for a FWD is a 1.0, where being more understeer prone, no lock on decel allows better controllability of the car. 1.0 way is also good for someone who has never used a metal lsd before because the bit can be overwhelming.
In summary, I think all FWDs need an LSD - if you have never driven a car with an LSD, you should try - it makes the car heaps safer.
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