So, first off, I'm brand new to the world of MINI. I grew up on Chevrolet, and just purchased an '08 R56 MCS 3 weeks ago. It's been some of the most enjoyable three weeks of driving I've ever had. I don't think I'll ever drive anything else.

However, I have noticed some clutch noise appearing. The noise is similar in frequency and timbre to a chair scooting across a wood floor. It happens upon downshifting from too-high of revs (mostly if I don't quite get my heel-toe right and slightly miss a revmatch--go easy on me, I am coming off of driving big chunky truck clutches ), as well as on tricky/high-strain bits like creeping up hills in stop-and-go traffic where lots of clutch work is involved. I know I'm not riding the clutch excessively or abusing it TOO much; I'm not at all new to the world of manual transmissions.

I've been doing a LOT of reading on the subject, mostly on this site, and have found lots of threads regarding the "Chewbacca" fused dual-mass flywheel noise; that sounds a lot like what I'm hearing in the first-gear-from-stop department. however I haven't found much evidence around the downshifting/negative load side of things.

Everything else is peachy performance-wise, including gear engagement. So as of right now I'm thinking my most likely diagnosis is a fused DMF. If that is the case, should I expect my beloved new car to conk out relatively soon, or is this something that can usually subsist for a while until I put enough time and money away to fix it properly?


Apologies for posting yet another thread about this topic, but I just want to make sure I'm taking care of this vehicle correctly.

Cheers!

 

I was getting wookie noises from my clutch at about 12K miles, got it replaced under warranty. The issue seems to be the clutch disk material used at the time.

How many miles on your car? Haven't seen this issue come up in the last 5 years or so.

 

It's got 110,xxx on. 90% highway commute miles. Never had any clutch or fly work done previously according to the (edit: only) prior owner and all records I can find.