My 05 cooper S is at 60,000 miles and off warranty. The dealer told me the car needs a new clutch and flywheel. whats frustrating is that I brought the car into Mini at around 18,500 when the car was still under warranty for the same issue, the car makes a rattling noise when the clutch is released and the car is in neutral. The only difference is now the sound is much louder. I'm currently trying to get mini to pay for the repair. If they don't I will have to bring it to a mechanic. One mechanic has told me that he can replace the dual mass flywheel with a thinner single flywheel. It would be less expensive and might make the car faster. Does anyone know if this type of modification is safe for the car? Has anyone had a similar issue with their car?

one more thing, if you release the clutch slowly into neutral, there is usually no rattling noise.

I switched out my OEM dual mass flywheel for a light weight Clutchmasters single mass fly wheel. It wont necessarily make the car faster, but makes the able to rev faster as the motor has less weight to rotate. The only problem with switching to an aftermarket single mass flywheel is that you'll get a chattering noise when the car is idling. Every car is different as to how much chattering noise it makes tho. Mine is terribly loud, but to me its worth it and doesnt bother me at all. Some cars you can barely hear the chatter, so I guess it's up to you if you can deal with the extra noise or not

Interesting. I assume the reason mini used a dual mass flywheel was to eliminate the chatter that is caused when using a single flywheel? I hate the noise.

I just installed a ClutchMasters FX200 w/alum flywheel last weekend.04 MCS with 65K miles. Pedal was getting much harder to push,intermittant engagment,hard to shift a times,but no noticable slippage.With the dual-mass flywheel my trans rattled in neutral with pedal disengaged for years but at no other time! Now with the new setup, trans rattle in neutral is a bit louder and with the A/C on its a LOT louder. Also rattles when deaccelarating in 2nd or 3rd between 3-4000 RPM's. I changed gear oil to RedLine MTL when clutch was done.I'am reading up on a BWW site where they use differant gear oil to help reduce or eliminate gear rattle after switching from dualmass to single flywheel. And, YES, the new setup feels much better, I'am still in the break-in stage,but it engages more positive,smoother and engine responce much quicker.Makes the car feel much lighter on its feet

The whole point behind the dual-mass flywheel is to reduce vibration and noise. The single-mass flywheel will engage a lot quicker and depending on the clutch it should be able to handle a bit more torque.

Correct. Many track junkies will go to single mass flywheels and live with the chatter. If you are only drive on the street and don't like nvh, you may consider staying with dual mass.

the vast majority of stick shift cars out there use a normal solid flywheel, chatter is really more of an exception or a by product of overly aggressive clutch discs. The dual mass is basically a giant sprung-hub, except instead of just having a small amount of movement in the clutch disc, there's a large amount of movement in the flywheel, so engagement can be smoother, combined with the larger mass, it makes shifting easier for novices.

Of course, none of the manufacturers have bothered making a lightweight/solid flywheel for the R56 yet, which sucks, but there are a number of options for the R53. If you're worried about chatter, just get a normal street disc, organic, like most of the "stage 1" kits.

My car makes this noise too - when you are at idle with the clutch disengaged there is a rattle from within the bonnet. A few people have commented on it, and I am aware that it is a lot louder outside the car than inside.
Does this mean that my flywheel may be on its way out?
Car has only done 20,000 miles....

Judging by the power output you claim in your sig + 20k miles, it's possible you've worn the clutch out or damaged the dual mass flywheel. Dual mass flywheels are generally 'tuned' or sprung to match the cars output, significantly increasing the power can kill them pretty quick. I replaced a lot of them when I was working at a Porsche performance shop. Hopefully the aftermarket guys will hurry up and bring us a solid/lightweight flywheel to go with the clutch kits they're already selling.

DMF FTW!

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but did it sound like this?

Valeo makes a single mass flywheel kit for $350 at Rock Auto. I researched it on several sites and everyone who has it is happy, Valeo is a OEM manufacturer and the price and quality cant be beat.


http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/more...811&cc=1430887

Are you sure its your clutch ? is clutch slipping ? or making noise when changing gears ? I ask because I had a similar noise and I thought it was clutch but it turned out to be belt tensioner. Also might try a stethoscope on the supercharger/waterpump to rule them out.