Clutch replacement woes

[Pikey95]

Hi guys,

The clutch on my '07 Cooper S has worn out just north of 80,000 miles.

A local clutch specialist has quoted ~£500 for the clutch inc. labour, and an extra £290 for the flywheel if it needs doing. How likely is it I'll need the flywheel changed as well? Is it worth doing whilst they're in the there?

Also, they'd be using a stock BMW clutch plate, but I'm running a few mods to eek out a couple of extra HP. Is it worth buying an uprated plate and asking them to fit it?

Cheers

[E-bmw]

It is probably 50/50 as to whether it needs the f/wheel too.

The standard clutch is good for MUCH more that the standard engine, so no.

[Skyedriver]

Clutch no the easiest of jobs I'm led to believe.
Was talking to a guy a few weeks ago he had been on 3 days and hadn't got the thing apart at that point.. was a diesel though.

[Elliot2000]

Skyedriver said:

Clutch no the easiest of jobs I'm led to believe.
Was talking to a guy a few weeks ago he had been on 3 days and hadn't got the thing apart at that point.. was a diesel though.

Is he a proper mechanic with a ramp or someone doing it as a novice on his own car? Either way - 3 days!

[Pikey95]

Thanks guys - yeah it looks much too complex to attempt myself so will be taking it in for this one!

[E-bmw]

At the minimum it is a drop sub-frame job, it is almost easier to lift the engine/box out to do according to some.

[E-bmw]

At the minimum it is a drop sub-frame job, it is almost easier to lift the engine/box out to do according to some.

[watchnut]

A guy fitting me a new windscreen today claimed he and his son changed the clutch in 4 hours, and they were not sure what they were doing!

(did a good job on the windscreen though )

[stevemcs]

4 hours .... i'd be surprised. Budget for wheel geo, driveshaft seals and if you are running more power a different clutch.

[rigga]

Clutch replaced on my jcw last year, didn't replace the duel mass at the same time as didn't feel there was anything wring with it, visually it looked in good shape too when stripped, i did however have the subframe bushes replaced as it was out, common failure and worth not having to drop it again in the future to have them replaced.

[rabbitstew]

watchnut said:

A guy fitting me a new windscreen today claimed he and his son changed the clutch in 4 hours, and they were not sure what they were doing!

(did a good job on the windscreen though )

Unless he is God and doing it on a brand new mini, he is talking bull.

I did the clutch on my R53 last week, sure an older model, but I suspect its the same steps. Garage wanted £300 labour and looking back I wish I had just paid them.

Its quite a bit of a mission. You have to disconnect the wheel hubs, drain gear box, remove axles, disconnect steering column, drop whole front subframe. I had 4 subframe bolts which were a mission to get undone. Then remove starter, entire air intake system & airbox, throttle, fusebox, I also removed exhaust manifold. Then support engine on an engine brace, remove clutch slave cylinder, remove top gearbox mount, undo the 7 bolts joining gearbox to engine and remove gearbox. That took me about 1 and a half days on a ramp using power tools where I could.

Swapping the clutch is easy, mine had oil in the gearbox housing, so I replaced the crank main seal (cheap so may as well). My flywheel did look okay, but bit dirty, so I replaced that anyway. New LUK OEM 3 piece clutch kit & flywheel came in at £298. The hardest part I found was getting the gearbox back on. I was doing it single handed, but I guess a garage can just get 2 or 3 guys to help man handle it into position. But that alone took me about 2 hours. Then re-assemble everything, bleed the clutch and off you go. Whilst I had the subframe off I replaced the control arm bushes, one took me about 30 mins, the other took me 3 hours alone as it just wasnt coming out. I was using the proper BMW tool but had to just saw the bush out in the end.