2nd Gen R56 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Clutch wear and driving habits

The only time a clutch wears is when it's slipping, especially as in starting from stop or if you rest your foot on the clutch....

Letting the engine compression braking slow the car down doesn't wear the clutch if it's fully engaged.

Starting off in 2nd doesn't hurt anything if you're not slipping the clutch excessively, I used to do it in my '03 all the time.

I think a number of the clutches that have failed early are due to faulty flywheels - I think there's even a thread here on M/A about it....

 

If you are that old, how can you still be playing hockey?

Jim

 

+1
Also our MINI's also have a not very robust throw out bearing.

 

So what about leaving the clutch in while sitting at a light? I was always told not to do this, but my partner always leaves it in. Drives me nuts!!:crazy: Any thoughts?

 

Nope, don't do it. Puts more stress on the throwout bearing which is already a weak point in the MINI.

 

Cause they needed a puck?





Sorry.....couldn't resist!
Now back to our regularly scheduled thread..........

 

I needed new brakes soon after I bought The Beast. During his inspection, Chad noticed a low grumble when the clutch pedal was pressed. Bad throw out bearing at 48k.

So now I am out of gear any time I am at a stop. The thing is, the throw out won't eat itself at a red light, it will be shifting from 4th to 5th out on 696.

Cheers!
Chris

safe

 

i have a 147k on the og clutch.. and its still strong. I'm in stop and go traffic on the 91 & 405 every day.

 

Something's wrong with your driving.

 

There were plenty of clutch issues with R50-R53 clutches too. I had a T.O.B. replaced along with my clutch at 30,000. Felt a bit crunchy when depressing the clutch. I'm at 86,000 & all is well.

 

Well if you are "NOT" at 86,000, then how many miles do you have on the car?
rrr:


Jim

 

I'm at 86,666..... rrr:

 

I never learned how to properly drive a manual. I learned how to make a manual car get me where I want to go, mostly through trial and error, but never learned whats right and whats unnecessarily hard on the vehicle. I had never owned one and only drove them on occasion. But I always have liked driving them, so decided to finally get one this time. That said....

A week after I got my MINI (used, manual, 22k miles), it died on my girlfriend in the middle of a road trip from Kansas to California. The shop that worked on it said he believed the flywheel caused the problems. The mechanic said he would have to replace it and the clutch, and if it was his car he would go ahead and replace the throw out bearings as well. At this point I figured, its better to be cautious than have it break down again on her and pay labor again for the something that could have been taken care of this time. Since the new parts, my girlfriend drove it on to Cali, drove around out there for a few weeks, Arizona for a few weeks, then finally back to Kansas with no issues. At which point I had her park it and drive my other car. I am debating selling the Mini when I go home, dont want her putting more miles on it. From what I could find online, the clutch going out on these cars prematurely is common, though there isnt a recall for it. Just the same, reading this thread I learned of quite a few mistakes I make. Im sure my clutch/flywheel/throw out bearing issue was going to happen prematurely anyway, and I would bet I contributed to it happening so quickly. But after a week? Oh well, part of the risk of buying used I guess. After reading through some of the threads on here, thinking it may be worth giving the ole gal another shot.

 

Perhaps you made some mistakes, but I'm guessing so did the first owner. I't is all new now, so go have fun with your MINI.

Jim

 

Here's and article on the subject from Promini....

MINI Cooper Performance by PROMINI: Mini Cooper Clutch Failure

 

Over 100K on my '06 R53 and I'm on all original equipment with no signs of needing work. But then, I usually get 150k or more out of a clutch in any manual transmission I've owned.

I'd be leery of buying a used manual transmission without an inspection for this failure, though. There's NO telling how well (or poorly) the previous owner(s) treated the clutch.

 

I've been under my manual transmission and I don't remember seeing an inspection access cover. If so, it could be pretty expensive for the mechanic to do a visual. If the mechanics inspection only amounted to driving the MINI, it might not tell you if it's been abused.