i get a humming or "whiring" noise when my car is idoling in neutral but goes away when i put my foot on the clutch.

is this a gear box problem, and should i be worried or is it a minor thing??

also if i upgrade my gear box to a performance one, what benifits would i get or would it make no difference at all??

and could someone please tell me if a button clutch acually does anything good or is it just a useless upgrade???

it's more than likely the throw out bearing,,or the bearings on the mainshaft.

button clutch not realy a good idea on the street but they do hook up great

it sounds like the thrust bearing to me .does the noise go when you push in the pedal in ?

yeah the noise stops when i push the clutch in

Mine does the same thing...

thrust bearing,,unless it starts to chatter or really rumble leave it.

gotta advise against the button clutch unless you have a specific need for it, ie racing or drags, they do hook up damn good, but are an absolute turd to drive on the road, I need to replace my thrust bearing thanks to a button clutch, I have a triple brass button on an organic plate, and to try and drive the thing in traffic is an absolute pig. hence the thrust bearing getting knocked stupid. BTW when I bought the car in jan I asked the guys to replace the crappy clutch in there with a pbr H/Duty clutch, seems they figured a button clutch would suit me more. tools I needed a standard (non-brass clutch) cuase I need to be able to slip the clucth in s**t sydney peak traffic. not I gotta do 2 jobs. replace the thrust bearing and change the clutch so I can drive the bloody thing. as it sits at the moment, I love driving it but can only drive it to work on saturdays as there is no traffic and I can go straight through.. rest of the time the wife drives the XR6 and I get to endure her little 2002 Astra.. at least its an Opel and not a holden though..

Opel/Holden same diff :p.
Button clutches are awesome for grabbing gears with big power... but not worth the money or effort.