According to the mechanic who did the work, it's a "common" problem: Apparently the springs on the pressure plate get heated up to the point at which the steel actually gets tempered and looses elasticity. This not only necessitated a $1600 clutch job, but the resulting stiffness also blew out $350 worth of hydraulics. Looking at the pressure plate, the bluing of the steel certainly suggests the thing got really freakin' hot... But how in hell would that happen? I don't slip the clutch, and the clutch disk itself proves it - it's pristine, absolutely no evidence of excessive slip. The mechanic himself said so. Could have gone another 60K+ easily. And that heat-tempered area is about as far from the real high-friction areas as you can get. Would a TO bearing really go that bad? And you'd think it'd be a more progressive problem in that case - I had literally no evidence of any problem up until the hydraulics blew.

 

THIS IS JUST AN OPINION:
My guess is that all you really needed was a new clutch slave cylinder. Especially since you had "literally no evidence of any problem up until the hydraulics blew".
The pressure plate looks fine to me. I also think the standard MINI TO would have disintegrated long before it destroyed a pressure plate.

AGAIN, JMHO.

 

The bluing is from the heat treating process on the fingers. There is no wear to suggest friction related heat buildup and like Vader said the TO Brg would have gone long before the fingers could get that hot. Anyway, doubt that the metal would get stronger but it will anneal and turn to PlayDoh.

 

The catch is that before I brought it to the garage, I replaced both the slave and master - and neither fixed the problem. Of course, to this day, I still think the new stuff just needed a good bleed.

 

And, you are, 9 of 10, right. From the pics, just as the other posts suiggest, the clutch looks good.

 

I reckon I might take a trip down to the MINI dealer and see what the SA's there think - If they can substantiate what y'all are saying here (and indeed what I myself believe), I might have a case.