my 02 was making the same sound i took it to my dealership and they said my oil pan gasket was leaking and oil was getting in there causing it to slip. they fixed the gasket and the sound is gone now.

 

Finally before a week ago I changed the clutch and flywheel together. The flywheel was in bad condition, the surface was worn. The sound has gone and the pedal is smoother than before. As I told before I changed the clutch without changing the flywheel and that was a mistake. So now I am very happy to not hear that sound.

I hope I answered all your questions folks??

 

This is a well known issue with the first generation MINIs. I had my flywheel/clutch replaced at 25,000 miles. Now that I am at 55.430 I have not had it come back and am happily motoring along. There are several posts on this, just do a search on "clutch noise" and you will see you are not alone.

The dealer should change out the flywheel/clutch without any fuss, if they do I would contact MINI USA and tell them the dealer is balking at properly repairing a known problem.

 

Here in Turkey the dealer service check the flywheel if it is ok or not. Then they replace if it isn't ok. The service told me just change the clutch because it is from the clutch but after a while of driving the sound came back. So it will be better to change both at the same time.

 

If you change the clutch you should also replace the flywheel. I have done 3 clutches and played with combinations...experience dictates.

 

I had that same noise and it was vibration from the clutch disc I went to a stage 2 spring hub disc and it went away and I got rid of the stock dual mass flywheel and went to a 13LB flywheel huge difference