Struggling to drive a stick transmission. Help

[s2d4]

Originally Posted by swpbrz

Hmmm I think you've been misinformed young man. No keys to my car either. Let me guess you redlined through the break in period too?

Feel free to technically correct the misinformation.
No, I follow the break in procedure. Good guess though, bro.

[s2d4]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

Guess it depends on duration, you're absolutely right, the clutch is a wear item designed to be replaced. How many miles have you put on a single clutch out of curiosity?

Best of luck with your car.

~100k.

[TheAsianRacer]

*Find the engagement point, practice letting out just at the engagement point.
*While on the hill, right foot on brake, left foot on clutch, let clutch out just before the engagement point.
(don't panic)
*Lift foot off brake and add gas SLOWLY but not so slow that you don't give enough gas and simultaneously let go of the clutch SLOWLY but not so slow you are riding the clutch (no more than 1.5 seconds) this is a guideline, by no means is it exact science
Keep practicing and good luck!

[noodlebaka]

Originally Posted by cycleboy

3. I have only very rarely used the e-brake for hill starts. Just put it in neutral and stay on the brake, then when green, go! This includes driving the FR-S in the Bay Area on very steep hills last summer. I had a bigger issue seeing over the lip of the hill where I was going than getting the car underway.

Our Chinatown hills scare outsiders a ton I've noticed, haha.

[paulca]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

Guess it depends on duration, you're absolutely right, the clutch is a wear item designed to be replaced.

Exactly. Duration and load and indirectly temperature. Spending a few seconds hill holding from time to time I would consider normal use and wear. Creeping in stop and go traffic also normal use, it's under very little load and barely slipping if at all.

You'll wear the clutch more in one spirited get away than 10 minutes of hill holding (spread over weeks, not all at once!)

Very much the same as your brakes. Driving down a long, long hill, like out of the mountains and riding the brake the whole way down, you will start to smell your brake pads burning. Better to select a low gear and use engine braking.

Tying in other discussions from on here it comes down to how costly a clutch is in your area for your car. Different cars vary on how hard the gear box and engine are to separate. Most can be done in place, some need dropped out. The GT86 being RWD should be fairly simple. The actual parts are cheap. 4WD are the worst as the front drive shafts and prop shaft have to come out. I think the show I watched with the Impreza replacement they said it would be a 4-6 hour job, so in the UK around 240 pounds + parts + sales tax, or about 500 pounds, circa $850

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by paulca

Exactly. Duration and load and indirectly temperature. Spending a few seconds hill holding from time to time I would consider normal use and wear. Creeping in stop and go traffic also normal use, it's under very little load and barely slipping if at all.

You'll wear the clutch more in one spirited get away than 10 minutes of hill holding (spread over weeks, not all at once!)

One spirited get away wearing the clutch more than 10 minutes of hill holding? That's total BS. If these are actual hills, hill holding for a few seconds will wear the clutch more than starting the car in 1st will, and 10 minutes of hill holding would be several hundred starts worth of clutch use.

Either way clutches are robust but why would you not use the brake? Your car has a brake, that's a much better way to hold your car on a hill...I can take off on the steepest SF hills using less than 1500rpm and no handbrake, and I could do that easily with under 1000 miles of city driving.

[paulca]

Depends on your spirited get away.

[stugray]

This entire discussion about hill starts comes down to "how quick are you?".

If you are fast enough moving your foot from the brake to the gas, and you know right where your clutch engagement point is, then the handbrake is not required and just complicates the issue.

For those that say that "using the handbrake on a hill is required by law"...... HOW MUCH OF A HILL is required for the law to kick in????

See how that works? Sounds hard to enforce.
Is there a degree of incline mentioned in the laws?

Since almost ANY start is on SOME kind of incline, then do you need to ALWAYS use the handbrake even if the incline is on 5%??

At what angle do the police start issuing tickets?
Do they have an inclinometer with them so they can measure the hill before issuing the ticket?

Bottom line - If you are good with the MT, you dont need a handbrake for a hill start unless it is a really steep hill, or the jackass behind you pulled right up to your bumper.

So learn BOTH the handbrake method and the non-handbrake method and hope to never NEED the handbrake method.

[paulca]

Originally Posted by stugray

T
For those that say that "using the handbrake on a hill is required by law"...... HOW MUCH OF A HILL is required for the law to kick in????

None. If you are stationary for any length of time you should secure the car in neutral with the handbrake on.

[stugray]

Originally Posted by paulca

None. If you are stationary for any length of time you should secure the car in neutral with the handbrake on.

See what I mean?? They cannot make laws like that because of the wording.

"stationary for any length of time" literally means "ANY time you stop".
You dont honestly think you could ticket someone for that do you?

[Hotrodheart]

Press in clutch. Shift into 1st. Rev to 7400. Sidestep clutch. Hang on.

It's like making love; once you learn, you never forget.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by Hotrodheart

Press in clutch. Shift into 1st. Rev to 7400. Sidestep clutch. Hang on.

It's like making love; once you learn, you never forget.

Your partner might not so satisfied with this technique, just like your clutch won't be happy smoking as it overheats.

[paulca]

Originally Posted by stugray

See what I mean?? They cannot make laws like that because of the wording.

"stationary for any length of time" literally means "ANY time you stop".
You dont honestly think you could ticket someone for that do you?

I don't know the legal status and I'm not going trawling through the highway code, but I do know people have been found "partially at fault" in a multi-car shunt because they didn't have their handbrake on when stationary in a queue. It was deemed a contributing factor to them hitting the car in front when rear ended. That was the insurance companies take on it. Sounds dubious, but there you have it.

You would also fail a driving test if you sat for any length period without the handbrake on.

How long is lengthy? My instructor explained it to me as; if you are "pausing" and can see you will be moving off almost immediately, stay in gear, if the pause looks like it will become a wait, handbrake and neutral. Handbrake always when starting off on a hill.

You don't want to be pulling up to a stop, immediately handbrake/neutral only to almost as immediately put it into 1st and drop the handbrake again. It requires some sense and self determination. It's not a comedy sketch. Planning and anticipation is assessed even on a learner test.

I do want to point out that I am more than capable of doing several techniques of hill start not involving the handbrake, but as I have OCD about rolling back (or forward when reversing) and the handbrake method is the easiest, so I tend to use the handbrake method 99% of the time.

Anyway, it's another control that has many uses, to ignore it is limiting your driving skill and ability. It's there, use it when it's appropriate. Like entering a hairpin bend, brake hard, turn in, clutch down, WHACK the handbrake one sharp tug (better be ready!), while rotating: 1st, throttle, clutch... WOOOOOHOOOOO! (3 penalty points for dangerous driving but 20 points for style).

[paulca]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Your partner might not so satisfied with this technique, just like your clutch won't be happy smoking as it overheats.

Yea and you shouldn't go out drinking with your mates, it's bad for your liver.

The odd "track day style" power band getaway is always worth doing now and again.