So after 93,000 miles it was finally time for a new clutch. I wanted to save some of my tax return so I looked for an independent mechanic. After talking to my father-in-law and the internet (2 year warantee on repairs!)I decided on VFC Engineering. They quoted me $2000 for a new clutch, throw out bearing and flywheel refinishing. They also gave my car a through once over and found out my crank shaft position sensor was leaking which is funny because the dealer told me a year a go that it was my oil pan gasket making that leak. Along with the crank shaft sensor leak, I had a slight head gasket leak. Another thing they did was they serviced my supercharger. For $500, which is a lot cheaper than a new supercharger install, they unbolt it, check the vanes, replace the oil, and put a sealant around the edges to keep it from leaking again. When it was all said and done I was extremely satisfied with the service and would most defenately use them again. I have not seen anything about them on NAM yet so I wanted to make sure that they got their recommendation

Also I had no idea how high my grab point on my clutch was until I had it replaced. Now I barely let it out and I'm GONE!

 

That supercharger service they did for $500 was a bit steep since they already had the car all disassembled for the clutch. The shop I use charges $275 for that service which includes ripping the bumper off etc. to get to it. It is what it is though, if you are happy with the work and the price all is well.

 

I'm also paying city of Chicago labor prices. Not as steep as dealer rates but still pretty high.

 

I can't tell from the post the year of your car, but I'm hoping that you don't have a R53, and other year minis are different. You can't resurface the stock flywheel on R53s without risk (it isn't recommended). With luck it will be fine, but new flywheel would be the recommended procedure.

They have silicone inside and it gets really ugly when the let go.

Just some info for others.

 

I always wondered why people said you can't resurface our flywheels. Well I didn't have mine done because they said that it was in perfect shape, no hotspots, no fractures so whole clutch job cost me $1,800 ($200 would have been for the resurfacing). Do all dual mass have the silicone or is it just the R53?

 

Holy cow, that's expensive. I know it's a labor intensive job, and people have other expenses like overhead, but damn ...

I'm in the same predicament as of the moment, both my supercharger and clutch/flywheel need to be serviced.

HRM, WTF is all THAT inside the bellhousing?! I'm getting a fluid leak coming from the bellhousing, but I've concluded that it was either my rear main seal or the transmission input shaft seal. I thought the dual-mass flywheels were spring, but I didn't know they contained silicone as well.

 

Leaving a flywheel alone during a clutch service is a PPPPOOOOOR DECISION! Flywheel to clutch material surface mating is CRITICAL!

 

That is the innards of the DMF. There was a recent thread on another site, but I found similar picks on an old thread here too.

Having just done the clutch myself, I can say it is a lot of work, but those who do it for a living can do it so much faster and easier since they learned all the tricks and shortcuts to make life easy. For me I had to figure out how to take things out, what to take out and I ended up fighting things I should have removed and taking things out I could have left in.

$1800 is no bargain, but it is perfectly fair for folks to make a profit. Also a guy in the woods may literally pay 20% for the shop rent compared to big city rent. He might make less money at that price than others can make for hundreds less because of the cost of doing business in a big city.