Hi all. I have an 03 R50 with 82k miles. The clutch is still working perfectly, but the throw out bearing has been rattling for about 15k miles and has recently gotten worse (it doesn't go away once warmed up anymore)

I'm quite happy with my mechanic. He's a very detail oriented and caring German car specialist who has been working on my car for the entire 18 months/40k miles that I've had it. He stated a ballpark figure of $2,500 with a new flywheel. (gulp!). Sound about right to you? He always uses OEM parts.

Anything i should consider going into this? Is it true that the stock flywheel is dual mass? Would there be durability a benefit to going with a solid flywheel and a sprung clutch?

Anything else i should have him do or expect him to suggest while he's in there?

Thanks.

 

The R50 flywheel is single mass and can't be damaged other that the friction surface, which can be repaired if it's not ok. Get a standard Valeo clutch kit, just like the OEM. Take a look at the shifter cables while you are at this, they wear.

 

I recently spoke with an independent Mini mechanic who left a dealership after many years. One day he raced a fellow mechanic to see how quickly each could do a complete clutch job. Each was less than one hour.

 

One hour for a clutch change on a MINI which needs the subframe to be dropped ? It's hard to believe..

 

I agree, but I believe him . . .

 

And were the cars drivable after?

 

Yes they were . . .

 

be prepared for a possible tranny replacement. i relpaced my clutch in a r50 03 and the tranny died a few miles later. seems the new clutch/flywheel provide way to much torqe on the tranny and final killed it. now i am thinking of doing the 6spd swap.

 

This isn't the case... it was just on it's way out and happened at the wrong timing...

 

Nick is right.

About the 1 hour clutch job: For the sake of argument, I'll pretend to believe that. If these guys could pull that off, they are extremely talented. I think the reference to this story is to imply that places are overcharging. Well let me ask you. If a mechanic can do it in an hour, is the job worth any less than a hack doing it in 6 (FWIW, it took me a bit longer than that)? For those who say it's not worth it, put on your coveralls, and get to work :-)

 

$2500 is way too much, you can drive it to our shop in Atlanta and we'll save you at least a $1000.

It can't be done in an Hour. My guy has done a hundred of them and I think the fastest he has done it was around 2.5-3hrs, which was moving. We do the Cooper clutch while people wait.

 

Damn..if it wasn't a 20 hour drive.....



Anyone know what Greasy's in Worcester might charge?


As for my regular mech, i believe he charges book rate no matter how long it actually takes.

 

Ok. I got the work done at Greasy's. They beat my regular mechanic's quote by a thousand dollars!

Nice guys. Very pleasant and affordable. And the car feels much better too!.

 

Hi all. i bought my 02 Mini R50 5 speed last Feb. The clutch started to feel hard to depress few weeks ago then i couldn't shift to any gear or out from any gear. The previous owner got the clutch changed about 2 years ago, but i think the mech. didn't do the good job.
i bought to the dealer, they charged $1800 with 24 months warranty. Now my Mini likes new to drive.