What little things you want to see

[enc0re]

Originally Posted by Want.FR-S

I agree on that. One should never holding the clutch for non-necessary duration. If you hold the clutch even in neutral, you put pressure on the bearing and that could cause wear. However, this is not the wear on clutch plate itself, correct?

So if you shift into neutral during the slowing down and anticipating the gear change (or no gear change if come to complete stop), wouldn't it save the wear on the clutch itself?

You're supposed to be in gear while slowing down. That's the whole point.

You're right, there's no clutch wear when the clutch is in. It has nothing to do with a minor point like bearings either. The clutch wear happens when you downshift without giving it a little gas to rev match. Then the two (really more) clutch plates are moving at different speeds and friction speeds the slower motor side up to the faster wheel side. That's where the wear happens.

[dominican]

I downshift to brake everytime I have to stop, bar none. Sometimes I just blip the throttle and downshift through the gears until 2nd gear, then start braking as needed, other times I heel-toe it because I have to brake while I downshift. I never downshift into first, since second is good enough to get down to 10MPH, the rest can be done by the brakes. I like to go easy on that synchro, it seems to not like being shifted into at speed on my Prelude.


One thing to watch out for is mechanical overevs. If you downshift to 2nd gear when you're going 60, you will break your engine as soon as you let the clutch out. You may see pistons and con rods fly out of the side of your block.

As for the future of DCTs, they will replace the vast majority of driver operated clutch/manual cars. Any performance car worth its salt will be getting them in the near future (5-10 years). Inexpensive cars may still stick to regular manuals, but the days of the manual transmission are numbered, and they will be over soon. Again, I will always stick to a row my own5 or 6 speed manual, given a choice of course.

I love having to use all of my appendages to drive, I love predicting how much power I need/want and change gear and throttle position according to what I want accordingly, I love blipping the throttle for downshifts (that's a good noise), I love deciding at what RPM I want to shift to the next gear (7.5k rpms? 8kRPMS? how bout a little more...)


Of course, that's just me. I know a lot of people. First there are my coworkers, most of which are accountants, I know my friends, from college and from high school, I know most of my family, and that's about 170+ people right there (extended family) and out of all those people I know, out of all of the acquaintances, there was only one other person that heavily preferred manual sporty cars, and he now drives an autotragic prius. Everyone else enjoys their automatics, even the G37S owner, and the Mustang lover I know. That goes to show you what predicament we are in...

[Want.FR-S]

Originally Posted by enc0re

Your method is just as correct. Most people just don't want to dance back and forth between the gas and brake while slowing down like that. But if you're willing to do it, go for it.

In Germany, for drivers ed/test, you either have to use my rookie method (downshift all the way first, then brake) or yours (alternate between braking and downshift). Finally, what most brand new drivers do is of course downshift while braking and simply feathering out the clutch to let it out. Not so good for clutch wear, but we all had to learn at some point. What you're not allowed to do is push the clutch in and gradually brake until you've come to a full stop.

The rule of thumb is that your clutch should never be in for more than 1 sec. If it is, you're doing something wrong.

I was not taught based on that rule, and I think that was the difference. I was told to hold the clutch or shift to neutral to save the wear on clutch. I learned something new today. Thanks.

[C-Bone]

You can shift up and down without using the clutch, as long as you hit the right rpms. Anyone tried it? I don't do it very often but it can be done

[dominican]

Originally Posted by C-Bone

You can shift up and down without using the clutch, as long as you hit the right rpms. Anyone tried it? I don't do it very often but it can be done

Yes it's possible, but it's rough on the synchros

[C-Bone]

Ya, I don't do it regularly but if I had a nicer car I definitely wouldn't be do it

[1GoZoom]

I used to shift clutchless in my pickup all the time. Revmatch and lift that giant shifter up a gear. It didn't take much effort. Also explains why its transmission blew. haha.

[C-Bone]

haha oops

[OldSkoolToys]

Yeah, you're not supposed to do that, lol.


The only time I've ever clutchless shifted a manual was when I had to get my friends car home after the clutch slave cylinder went out on it. I wouldn't suggest doing that on a frequent basis.

[NESW20]

yes, it can be done, and yes, it is harder on the synchros. it's a good skill to acquire, however it should only be used when absolutely necessary.

one thing you should NEVER do is sit at a light in gear with the clutch pressed in. that's terrible for the throwout bearing.

[enc0re]

Start stop automatics will rid people of that habit. They only turn the motor of when your clutch is out. Soon as you press it in, vrmmmm, motor starts back up and you're burning fuel.

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by NESW20

one thing you should NEVER do is sit at a light in gear with the clutch pressed in. that's terrible for the throwout bearing.

IDK, I think clutchless is worse than stoplight clutch press. I rather worn out clutch bearing than blow tranny. Clutch bearing is cheaper to replace than whole tranny

[NESW20]

right, but you can sit at stoplights in neutral without the clutch in, and you can also use the clutch to shift. win-win.

[Want.FR-S]

Originally Posted by NESW20

one thing you should NEVER do is sit at a light in gear with the clutch pressed in. that's terrible for the throwout bearing.

That can be discussed. Have you encountered this: cars pile up before the red light. You stop behind it, and then the cars in front of you then start moving slowing so that they leave a gap in front of you. Then you have to start moving again and stop. And the whole thing repeats until the green light.

This is easily done with an automatic: brake, release brake and brake again. It is very painful for a manual car.

So in order to cope with this, one has to clutch in and in gear for these little movements...

For some reason, people would stop short on their cars/suv/van/whatever and then keep closing in in slow speed, as if they cannot determine how much brake they need to stop the car in the right place behind it. What is the deal of leaving a car length space in front of you while there are cars behind you?