If you're new to manual, I wouldn't race. This is when people misshift and do other "good" things to their car. Keep practicing.

 

well i can pretty much do it really good. I am a fast learner and I do not have any problems mis shifting. I just need to the the
optimal shift points

 

Look at the Road and Track Datasheet. It gives you shift times and speeds.

 

What exactly is riding the clutch and how bad is it for your clutch?

 

riding the clutch would be like having ur foot on it pressing it instead of letting off

 

You want to be off your clutch as much as possible. In driving school, I was taught that you want to imagine yourself driving barefoot and the clutch pedal is a piece of burning hot coal. Oblivously, you want to use it enough to keep your car driving smoothly. Rev up only as high as so you won't stall (unless you're racing) and ease in the gas while letting off the clutch.

 

Dont ride the clutch. You'll have to replace it sooner than needed...

 

I've practiced driving stick a few times but i have a couple questions before i get my manual tC in a few weeks. When you brake, you're supposed to keep the clutch down right? or should you shift into neutral and then brake? or should you downshift then brake? And is it bad to keep the clutch down and coast? thanks.

 

Just put it into neutral and brake. You can do both at the same time. People say this wears out your breaks faster because you're not using the engine brake to help you stop, but I'd rather replace a $10 brake pad than a $3000 engine! Use the engine breaking in an emercency; sure! But if I don't have to, I personally don't.

But DON'T hold the clutch down for an extended period of time. Put it in neutral and then drop the clutch if you're not going to engage any gears for more than a few seconds.

 

Heh. What a place for my first post -


Hokay. If you're new to a manual, best thing I can offer is.. understand how it works. Once you 'get' what a cluch is and how it actually functions, at least on a basic level, how you shift becomes fairly obvious.

A clutch really isn't much more - at a basic definition - than a pair of plates that interlock to make your drivetrain one piece. (--||--). When you push down on the clutch pedal, what you're really doing is disengaging the plates - moving them so that they no longer interlock. (--| |--). The total movement isn't that far - on an old Mustang I used to have, it was a hair less than half an inch.

Thus, when the clutch is in, your gearbox is separated from your engine. So -
(engine---||----gearbox----drive wheels.)

Pretty simple, right?

Shifting gears allows you to put successively larger gears (with correspondingly less torque) in contact with the engine. First gear is the smallest, 5th is the largest. Basically, the smaller the gear, the more the engine has to turn to turn your wheels one revolution. The larger the gear, the less the engine has to turn.

Why not start in 5th? Well, the gear is too big - the engine would have to turn /too slowly/ to start the car rolling in that gear, thus you'll stall. Same idea of why it's a bad idea to shift from fifth to first and pop the clutch, thus making the engine leap out of your hood in a screaming mess. (The engine spins /too quickly/.) This is also the principle that drives engine braking - shifting to 4th from 5th will allow you to use the engine to help you slow down, as the engine revs high and will slow - you transfer your drive energy to the engine, instead of the other way around.

The owner's manual happily mentions shift speeds - those are the speeds at which the car is optimized to move into the next gear. If you shift up at exactly 24mph (or whatever is mentioned) the car will shift very smoothly to the next gear.

Now, what causes the 'jerk' when you drop the clutch is simple - your engine speed isn't matching to the speed at which the gear is turning. You've selected a new gear, your car is at a certain speed (thus turning that gear at a specific RPM) and your engine speed is (usually slower) different than that required to turn the gear at that speed. When the two clutch plates engage, either you'll have to slow down to match that up, your your engine has to speed up. Usually, both happen - the momentary, sharp, slowdown, however, causes the 'jerk'.

If you want to minimize the jerk, you can do one of two things - let the clutch out slower, thus slowly pushing those plates together and giving the entire system time to equalize, or rev the engine before you engage the clutch. If you have a sense for what RPM is required to drive the wheels at that speed in that gear, you can sort of 'set up' for the transition. This ain't easy to do, at least at first.

The objective, though, is to give everything time to sync up. Let your clutch out a bit slower - you'll find that the slower the car is going, the slower you have to be on the clutch as well.

Reducing wear on the clutchplates is the objective - they do not wear when fully engaged or fully disengaged. Grinding them against each other 'half engaged' is riding the clutch - you'll wear your clutch out faster if you do so. You avoid riding the clutch by simply picking the correct gear for the job you're doing.. if you're starting from a stoplight, first or second.. not third! If you're at high speed on the highway, fourth or fifth, not third!.. and then sticking with it for that job.

You know you're using the wrong gear when you have trouble engaging your clutch fully and smoothly; if you have to sit on your clutch for long periods before releasing, you should downshift. Similarly, if you race the engine when shifting, you should upshift.

Edit:

On holding the clutch down -

when you push the clutch in in neutral, there's a device called a synchronizer that engages the drive gears and spins them up to match engine RPM - this keeps you from having to ride the clutch when shifting gears. There's a bit more to it - but that's good enough.

If you ride for an extended period in neutral at speed, the syncronizer's spinning those gears merrily the entire time and will eventually wear out. Also, your clutch /actuators/ wear with use - better to not use the clutch unless you must. Mind, sitting a stoplight with the clutch in isn't particularly bad... but coasting to a long stop on the clutch may wear it unnecessarially.

Keep in mind too, that no clutch activity causes incredible damage - unless you're doing something drastically wrong. YOu're talking about the difference between replacing your clutch at 30,000 miles instead of 50,000 - incremental wear adds up.


Finally, Engine Breaking DOES NOT damage your engine, or particularly increase the wear. If done incorrectly (fifth -to-first, for example) you can tear things up, but using the next lower gear to slow you down is simply a fairly efficient aid to breaking.

If your RPM goes over 4500 when engine breaking, you're messing up somewhere.


*grins*

And after that lengthy babble, I hope it's some help.

J. Grimm