chiming in again. experiencing some slipping on my mini with only 19,000 miles on it. took it into the dealer, told them about the slipping and how my clutch was "clicking" everytime i engaged it. they said as courtesy gesture they would replace it for me under warranty

 

I would be wary about signing paper work stating "good will replacement". To me its a legal way of them getting you to admit it was your fault. If it was defective, they should have to fix it 100 times if thats what it takes to get it right under warranty.

 

Oh, no doubt. I haven't signed anything yet. In words this is simply what my service manager told me. But I specifically mentioned that I do not beat on my car nor have I ever tracked it. I think he just saw all the mods on my car and figured it "must have" been the mods causing the clutch to slip but I could care less what HE personally thinks. If the new clutch fails again, I will not hold back to take it back in for them to fix.

 

I just hit 14k on mine. I notice randomly that in stop and go traffic and going up hill it howls or groans when I let the clutch out slowly. I'm not sure if this is a serious issue, but I havent noticed anything else.

 

Tht's how mine started!! It would slip a little and make a little noise, and I wasn't sure it was even happening and then in about 4-6 days it left me stranded!!

 

Wifes 09 JCW clubbie going fine at 23k. My 2010 JCW going fine at 20k. Never had a clutch issue with either car or our earlier 06 S.

I have had to replace two clutches in my life. Ford Ranger with 160k and Subaru Sti at 40k (slightly modified usage of 30k). Both of these were fully expected. I would expect a stock clutch in the JCW to last over 50k and up to 100k depending on usage.

 

15.5K on the clock of my '09...going in within the week. Noticed it first on the highway in 6th and lower RPMs and when getting on the gas to pass, RPM's would rev up, but the car wouldn't go at first. First I thought maybe it was heat soak on the turbo's and they were in turn spinning up. The last week, in daily traffic in 4th and 5th gear same thing now...hope they claim there is "even" wear clutch and covered under warranty/maintenance. I don't abuse her and have never tracked her. Absent someone drag racing, a clutch should not be gone at 15K....From what I understand MINI has changed the compound of the original clutch which tells me they know there is an issue. Just hope I can get it in b/f I have to call for a tow on the side of the road...

 

I posted this reply on another thread so I thought I would add the link here as well:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...4-post158.html

 

Since this thread was brought up, I’ll agree with the poster that said you only hear about the bad stuff.

My 2009 JCW has about 38K miles on it. Right now I’m running an OS Giken clutch assy. When I totalled the car I had about 30K miles on it which included MANY track days. I had no problem with the clutch at all.

I only installed the OS unit because I had the engine out repairing the car anyways and figured it was a good time to put in a clutch and LSD.

Mark

 

I have a 2008 JCW and the clutch has been repaired twice. The clutch
moaned at 17000 miles and then again a little more than a year later
at 30,000. miles. At the same time the throttle was replaced.

 

Note that this thread is in the Factory JCW Forum. There were no factory JCW's in 2008 as they started in the 2009 model year.

 

Just turned over 40k miles on my '09 JCW with no problems despite mods, an aggressive tune, and LOTS of track miles.

 

My clutch and flywheel failed with about 25k on the clock after 1 year. Dealer begrudgingly replaced it under warrantee - would have been a 3k fix otherwise. YMMV

2nd clutch and flywheel at 36k, going ok so far.

Started to slip and then failed, dealer said the jcw wasn't made for driving on the hills of San Francisco... I asked him why it had "hill assist". Been driving manual all my life, blah blah blah. I don't thrash my car (too much

 

I work with a woman who has a 12 year old M3. She lives in San Francisco. She has 150,00 miles on her car and she has the original clutch. These dealers make stuff up as they go.

They will never be able to repair their reputation as thieves and liars.

 

Exactly - I'm pretty sure I'm competent enough driver to not burn through a clutch so quickly. The dealer made me feel like a total driving moron. Probably because a girl was coming to him driving a JCW (and no, I don't burn my clutch, or slip it).

Either way, that wasn't the extent of how the SA tried to make it out as my fault. "The JCW clutch is a high performance component, like a Porsche clutch. They don't last long, it isn't like you are driving a Honda." Needless to say, he didn't get a glowing review.

Regardless, they did replace the clutch; I believe it was faulty, although they never really told me what failed, exactly.

That is an early production 2010.

 

"The JCW clutch is a high performance component, like a Porsche clutch. They don't last long, it isn't like you are driving a Honda."

I've been enjoying this thread, but this was the highlight. I mean is the SA serious? I have an old hot rodded 911, lots of miles, orginal clutch. I can only hope the JCW clutch measures up. The 911 clutch is pretty robust. Mine does not get babied and although I have been taught that the smoothest line is the fastest line the clutch still takes a beating.

I have an 09, just purchased, with 14,000 miles and the clutch feels pretty good to me,...but at 14,000 miles, the clutch is kinda the last thing I'd be worried about,....until I read through this thread. Love the internet.

 

Yeah, you have no idea how far that went towards the trust relationship with my dealer...

Either way, I don't think it really is a problem - I just happened to have one that went "poof"

 

 

about 6 months ago my clutch slipped, but the dealership couldn't reproduce the problem.

since then, it has slipped about a half dozen times. always in first gear when taking off from a complete stop at a light or stopsign.

it happened so sporadically that I had pretty much convinced myself that it was my driving not the car. I was leaning towards blaming it on putting my foot differently on the clutch petal in high heels than in flip flops or boots.

Saturday evening it seemed to be slipping every time I put it in first on the 17 mile drive home from work and I smelled burnt clutch when I got home.

Yesterday when we went for a 5 mile test drive it was not engaging properly in any gear and slipping in all.

This morning the <20 mile drive to the dealership was a very scary adventure with the clutch randomly refusing to engage and when it did, it made a sound that can best be described as a metallic version of a tire chirping.

I have been driving cars with manual transmissions for 30 years and this is the first one I have managed to kill -- and I have been babying this car ridiculously

What is the point of having a high performance car that wont even stand up to boring commuter driving, much less anything more fun

 

I think aftermarket will have to step up and produce a clutch that will last for these cars. I know my JCW clutch is not going to last long with all the feathering that is needed to launch the car from a dead stop. Poor design. I think the only way to resolve it will be with a stiffer pressure plate and harder compound clutch material.

 

So I'm not the only person who has to "feather" the gas to get this damn thing to move from a stop? I have owned many manual cars and this is the first one where I have had to do this. No matter how I let the clutch pedal out, it doesn't strongly engage without a little gas to get moving. This is really annoying at times and I'm sure it is wearing my clutch out quicker.

Is this a known issue (my first Mini) that can be addressed?

 

I too have only needed to feather the clutch on this car. Been driving manual trans cars for 20+ years and this one is the first. I know the factory unit will not last long due to this characteristic. Gonna need to get really good at R&R the trans in this car to be a longtime owner.

 

Got the wonderful service that I have come to expect from MINI of Sterling again with this issue!

Once they took it apart they were able to see that the clutch failed due to the known defect and everything is covered under warranty.

My SA assured me that once they install the improved clutch I should not have to worry about this recurring or have to baby the car out of fear that it is too "fragile" for normal driving!

Galen, the tech who works on my car and Shawn, my SA once again demonstrated the 110% effort that almost everyone at that dealership exerts to take great care of their customers

 

I'm not overly thrilled with this car to begin with - Having a car with a known (from what it seems) clutch issue is not making me happy. Car is a few weeks old, has 700 miles and seems like it needs an adjustment or a new clutch already. Third gear is really hard to get into at times, kinda sloppy and no longer precise, shifting from 1 to 2 is jerky....I could go on. I love getting the "Mini wave" but doubt I'll keep this thing long. Just doesn't seem worth north of $33K. I'm really disappointed by the build quality and materials in some ways. Not to mention it is more expensive than any Audi or Porsche I have owned. Might be trading it for a 370Z or a Boxster. Thanks for letting me rant.

 

My clutch is giving out after 40,000 miles on my 2011 JCW. I do drive it pretty hard, but I've driven stick all my life and I've never worn a clutch before.