I have a 2004 MINI Cooper S. I am not the first owner of this automobile, and the clutch was in somewhat questionable working order when I purchased it used from a local dealer. It was certainly driving well, it just felt somewhat off at times. I drove the car for quite a number of years before the issue came to a point where replacing the clutch was a must-do. This past week I had the clutch replaced at a local mechanics shop that has some experience with this procedure. I must add, this is the first time I have had to replace a clutch in my car, so it may just be ignorance... but, after doing so, the car feels like it wants to launch every single time I let the clutch out. I have driven cars with touchy clutches, but this is far beyond anything I have experienced. I suppose I should simply let the clutch wear in as I would any other, but I wanted to share this with some of you here to see if this is a unique issue that needs addressed, or perhaps I should just let it go for now. It's very awkward to drive.

TL;DR: When I, very slowly, let my freshly replaced clutch out, even without pressing the gas, my car virtually launches... sometimes even squeaking the tires.

edit: I also replaced the dual mass fly-wheel and the regular components you would replace along the way, such as the throw out bearing, etc.

 

Did they just replace the clutch plate, or did they also do the dual-mass flywheel and the throw out bearing? And / Or did they replace the Dual Mass flywheel with a conversion kit?


Motor on!

 

Stock or "high" performance, aka, a short life clutch(cause to grip more, it is a faster wearing clutch compound).
The stock clutch is the right one for 90%+ of folks...

 

One more thought...bet the old clutch was glazed, or the flywheel was...
And that gave it the "soft" feel.....heck bet it was covered in hot spots..
I'd give it a few miles of easy use to let the clutch and flywheel "mate"

 

I drove a test on an old Mercedes that was like that. The owner was p/o at me for driving so poorly. She was used to it and I obviously wasn't. Can be very dangerous to drive. Clutches nowadays are usually pretty simple in modern cars. I'd go back to the mechanic and talk it out, see how he handles driving the car. My 540i BMW 98 was also a bit like that and often a challenge but I had it for 6 years and didn't kill myself.

 

I'm driving on a new clutch too. Mine seems really jumpy in 1st and 2nd, but after that it's cool. I don't have have anything to compare it to except my motorcycle because this is my first standard car, but yeah it seems like it's touchier than it should be.

 

I have my stock clutch and DM flywheel if you want to buy them, I got a new tranny and replaced them cause I could, fully working order, and had to smyptoms like that, just would need to put a new TO bearing in it just to be safe, only 44k miles on it. I moved to a valeo single mass when putting in a new clutch, its much different feel haha

 

The mechanic probably over-torqued the pressure plate bolts. It can result in the clutch being super grabby. Either take it back and have them fix it (unlikely they'll agree to that) or just deal with it. You'll get used to it after a while.

I've replaced multiple clutches in multiple cars and never had an issue with clutch feel/pickup when replacing with oem equivalent stuff.

 

Sorry, one thing led to another and I totally kept forgetting to check this forum thread. My apologies, probably too late. The car has been driving considerably more appropriately after 400-600 miles. It's still a little strange and awkward, though... but it's totally fine. I appreciate everyone's posts and replies. I believe the mechanic probably did over-torque the pressure plate bolts.