Help! Throwout Bearing Noise

[Atluisg]

I recently converted my SMG to Manual and went to replace the clutch and flywheel at the same time. I decided on the Bimmerworld clutch kit which essentially is a Clutch Masters FX300 and a JB racing single mass flywheel.

I installed everything and found that I have a slight rotational noise at idle which gets worse when pressing in the clutch. It was apparent that the throwout bearing was the culprit. I removed the transmission and throwout bearing and found the bearing to have deep scratches on the face as if the pressure plate fingers were digging into it. The part number for the bearing doesn’t come back definitively as being for the vehicle, but for all intents and purposes appears to be exactly the same size as the OE. Photos attached show the Original bearing with 60k miles that has a brown ring on the face but is otherwise smooth, center is the clutch masters bearing, and right is new OE. Second photo is clutch masters on the left and new OE on right.

Has anyone seen something like this before?

link to clutch: https://www.bimmerworld.com/E46-M3-L...treet-Kit.html

[sapote]

I installed everything and found that I have a slight rotational noise at idle which gets worse when pressing in the clutch.

If the TOB is seizing then the PP fingers should show heavy wear.

I think bearing is fine but the input shaft bearing is noisy. Is the bellhousing original paired with the tranny?

[Atluisg]

The housing is original to the trans. What I am confused about is why my TOB has deep groves on the face. It isn’t necessarily seizing, but appears to have damage from the new PP fingers. The TOB was new and came with the clutch kit.

[sapote]

What I am confused about is why my TOB has deep groves on the face..

and the PP fingers have no wear sign?

[bigjae46]

The housing is original to the trans. What I am confused about is why my TOB has deep groves on the face. It isn’t necessarily seizing, but appears to have damage from the new PP fingers. The TOB was new and came with the clutch kit.

I'd call BW but that's weird. Does the TOB slide onto the guide tube freely? Those TOBs are cheap crap. I pull it apart. clean it, and regrease the bearing and races.

Or maybe the flywheel is not seated properly.

[Atluisg]

The PP has some of the paint at the fingers worn away, but nothing major. Flywheel looks like it was seated fine, I removed it and an going to refit again. The TOB slid fine on the tube. These are all new parts. The TOB looks and measures identical to the new OE part.

I reached out to BW and they reached out to ClutchMasters who also seem as confused as everyone else. At this point if they come back with nothing, I am going to replace the tube and TOB with OE and hope for the best.

[sapote]

The PP has some of the paint at the fingers worn away, but nothing major.

Then TOB is ok. If it rotates smoothly then it’s not the cause.

[Atluisg]

The TOB that came with the clutch kit, has scratches on the face that can be felt with your fingernail. The scratches happened after it was installed. It was for some reason digging into the fingers on the PP, but I have no explanation as to why.

[Atluisg]

Pics of PP

[sapote]

Pics of PP

Fingers look normal so the TOB was rotating smoothly. Bearing might have the radial scratch lines as the fingers moving to/from the center as the TOB pressing/releasing on them.