I got my car back yesterday, the new clutch feels smooth as butter. I had requested that they show me my old clutch so that I could see for myself where the problem was, take pictures, and possibly a video - all of which are posted below; Thursday I got to stop in and see the parts.
My friction plate looked fantastic, the tech said it looked like it only had 5-10k miles on it (I passed 33,333 mi earlier today). The flywheel was in great shape too, though it had some minor scoring so that you could see darkened rings running around where the clutch contacted it; it looked exactly like a broken-in brake rotor.
The dampening springs inside the clutch assembly were clearly loose: two more than the others, the third had a tiny bit of play, and the last didn't move at all when wiggling it (the two pink colored springs were not as loose). The two darker springs had multiple scorch marks on them, some quite deep, and the tech took the time to point out that those should not be there, as those springs should never come in contact with other parts inside the assembly. The pink springs were not spared, they both had the same scorch marks, though fewer, and the spring that would not move only had one that I saw. The tech also confirmed that the new clutch he put in (I did not get to see the new part to compare) was the exact same as the old part, just minus the wear.
View: http://youtu.be/TmRiscPgZKI
In this last image on the right end of the spring you can see one of the bigger scorch marks. There is a smaller one on the left end, and the edge of one poking out from behind the housing on the first coil in from the right.
(((
