Driving Stick

komodo said:

Slipping the clutch for 1 sec or 3 as somebody mentioned is nuts. When you're leanring maybe, but a sec. is a long time. But as you get familliar that's just excessive clutch wear
Shift speed can be as fast as the syncros can handle it, this can be different from car to car.
I've always hated the late clutch engagement point, either car or bike. VW's are typically engage late in the pedal travel.
But that's just a preference. Once you know where the clutch engages you need very little slip bike or car.
I find most beginners jerkyness comes from letting off the gas before the clutch is dis-enganed. This causes the inital jerk. Then they are early on the gas before the clutch is engaged, plus usually letting it out too quick which causes the 2nd jerk.
Fine tune the timing between those events and you will be much smoother.

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Totally agree. 1 sec is too long if youre going from 1- 2-3-4-5-6. The only time id spend a sec and a half engaged on the clutch is from N-1.

Also dont be dumbing gas and going over 2k with clutch engaged. That **** is bad habit.

1. The best way to practice stick is stop and go. From a starting point, go from N-1 and go until youre fully left off the clutch. Once youre off, stop and repeat. Keep doing this until your jerk is minimal. For instance. For a 20 metre lane, id be stopping and going 4-5 times.

2. Then practice on a hill. Practice till your back roll is less than 2". Practically, your roll should not be more than 1". You dont need to practice 2-3-4-5-6 because those shifts should be smooth. The only time youd want to practice this is if you font know where theyre located however, normal driving around the block will give you the idea.

MOST IMPORTANT THING TO PRACTICE IS REVERSE! Ive heard horror stories about people parking in reverse. Bad idea. Practice in your driveway. Practice N-1-N-R.
3. Also heres a good indication of what rpm to stay on

When youre on neutral, look at the rpm. You shouldnt pass that rpm at any given gear.

4. Look at how much rpm drops in every gear. This is easily found out via your manual or by trying it out. Now youll have an idea of what rpm you can safely shift at without putting stress on your engine.


5. Keep rpm low!!!! From N - 1 you shouldnt past 2k rpm. I think anything above 2k with the clutch engage is burning.

Its almost 200,000km and my clutch isnt slipping. I may replace it on my next water pump and timing service.

Theres a few things to do to see if your clutch needs to be serviced. Google is key.

When you get better, you can start practicing rev matching as you down shift, heel and toe and ofc, clutchless shifting when you feel or leg needs a break

Theres a lot of tricks when driving a stick. Ill let u figure out the rest.

Jimsun said:

When youre on neutral, look at the rpm. You shouldnt pass that rpm at any given gear.

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I take this as saying your engine should never exceed the idle speed. I'm presuming that's not what you meant to say? This line confuses me.

Slipping the clutch a little isn't going to hurt it that much. Ever see those guys on hills that rock the car up and down the hill a little because they're bored? That's done with clutch slipping. Sure, it's not great for it, but over the life of the whole car I doubt you'd notice much difference.

If you smell burnt clutch, on the other hand, you did not do well.

I do agree that slipping the clutch significantly for anything other than starting from a stop probably means you're doing it wrong.

Another tip is if you are rolling, 2nd is probably enough, and 1st should only really be used when starting form a complete stop. This might vary car to car, but it worked most times in my old Sunfire, and always in my Accord (larger engine).

unL33T said:

I take this as saying your engine should never exceed the idle speed. I'm presuming that's not what you meant to say? This line confuses me.

Slipping the clutch a little isn't going to hurt it that much. Ever see those guys on hills that rock the car up and down the hill a little because they're bored? That's done with clutch slipping. Sure, it's not great for it, but over the life of the whole car I doubt you'd notice much difference.

If you smell burnt clutch, on the other hand, you did not do well.

I do agree that slipping the clutch significantly for anything other than starting from a stop probably means you're doing it wrong.

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I always assumed that those people that rock the car back and forth at a stop or hill just don't know how to drive stick. Possibly afraid to get into neutral and back into first.

But you could just sit still in first if that was the problem. I've never heard or people having trouble getting into gear...

It's just people being bored. I do it from time to time but I know it's not good for the clutch.

komodo said:

I always assumed that those people that rock the car back and forth at a stop or hill just don't know how to drive stick. Possibly afraid to get into neutral and back into first.

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Dont mind them doing it when no one is behind them, when I'm behind them I just assume they can't drive and get far away from them.

Hate people who do that. I hope they die... or at least their clutches burn up and cost them a mint to repair.

So yeah, death to them and/or their cars.

mmmnaked said:

Hate people who do that. I hope they die... or at least their clutches burn up and cost them a mint to repair.

So yeah, death to them and/or their cars.

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Why?

Of course rolling backwards when starting on a hill (not knowing how to drive stick) and almost hitting the guy behind you is completely different than rocking back and forth a bit when you have lots of space around your car.

Rocking back and forth is stupid. Death seems apt.

mmmnaked said:

Rocking back and forth is stupid. Death seems apt.

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heh oh ok.

I also like to pump the brakes to the music when I'm in an automatic so the car bounces like I have ghetto hydraulics. Also calls for death? lol

Yep, that's even worse.

You may wanna stop doing those things because there are lots of people out there like me wishing you death. Eventually it'll come true.

So yeah, unless you don't want to live forever, stop with the stupidity.

Who wants to live forever, anyway?

Me. That's who.

I'm doing good so far, 31 years in. Ez.