Clutch IN, or Clutch OUT?

[ADirtyLegacy]

neutral, clutch out, and foot off the brake on level ground. i keep an eye in the mirror in case evasive action is needed. clutch doesnt go in until the perdendicular light is yellow.

 

Kenda:dm:

[RuskiTrombone]

It takes about 2 seconds to pop your car in gear and take off if you feel like someone behind you won't slow down. Save you clutch and keep it in neutral. Then again I have sold many manual transmission cars to customers and have noticed that most people do not know how to drive stick or have some bad habits such as keeping that foot on the clutch at all times.

[rallispec]

It takes about 2 seconds to pop your car in gear and take off if you feel like someone behind you won't slow down. Save you clutch and keep it in neutral. Then again I have sold many manual transmission cars to customers and have noticed that most people do not know how to drive stick or have some bad habits such as keeping that foot on the clutch at all times.

 

 

i've always put the car in neutral at lights - until recently,

 

I changed my habits after listening to Pat Goss on the radio (I know,.. he doesnt know everything).. But the caller had asked this exact question and Goss's response was to leave the car in gear and keep your foot on the clutch while at a stop light.

 

so, not that i think he god of the car world, i tend to trust his advice as far what actually does and does not cause wear and tear on your car.

[PhilT]

Then again I have sold many manual transmission cars to customers and have noticed that most people do not know how to drive stick or have some bad habits such as keeping that foot on the clutch at all times.

 

And driving with their hand resting on the gear stick, no no no !

[starlabs]

Both!

 

If it's a long red, move to neutral.

If it's a short red, or I anticipate moving soon, I'll push the clutch in early.

[Xenonk]

It takes about 2 seconds to pop your car in gear and take off if you feel like someone behind you won't slow down. Save you clutch and keep it in neutral. Then again I have sold many manual transmission cars to customers and have noticed that most people do not know how to drive stick or have some bad habits such as keeping that foot on the clutch at all times.

 

2 seconds? wow, that's sleeping at the light

[Xenonk]

i've always put the car in neutral at lights - until recently,

 

I changed my habits after listening to Pat Goss on the radio (I know,.. he doesnt know everything).. But the caller had asked this exact question and Goss's response was to leave the car in gear and keep your foot on the clutch while at a stop light.

 

so, not that i think he god of the car world, i tend to trust his advice as far what actually does and does not cause wear and tear on your car.

 

 

he's telling people that so that you have something to stop your car from rolling forward if you do get rear ended. It's also a shorter time to be evasive and react. Even in racing, most people will tell you to leave your car in gear as much as possible (even at the cost of stalling out when stopping to a halt).. The only time when you need the clutch in is when you are shifting into gears.

 

Pat Gross is just trying to make you a safer driver by being always ready at the helm.

[biturbowagon]

Funny how perceptions differ. I find my LGT's clutch much easier and smoother to use than my S4's. The engine is a tad easier to stall, but just a touch more throttle solves that problem. Plus the LGT does not have the drivetrain lash that the S4 does.

 

Then again, my LGT doesn't stutter either. Nor does my brother's, best that I can tell. (My S4 does for the first 30 seconds when the engine is cold, then it goes away.)

 

 

You're probably right. I read in R&T or C&D and they had the same complaints I have. All the action seems to take place within 4" of the fire wall, and I think they're right on that one. I've driven manuals all my life, and I've never stalled a car so much as this. The engagement is just way too abrupt for my liking. And the DMF has some people linking it to the stuttering issue, so I may change the whole package out when I've worn the original out.

[fweasel]

I didn't know that.

 

I think it all depends on how desperate I am to make a jump on everyone else from the green light. USually I leave that to Michael Schumacher...but sometimes I do it too.

 

If it were just a jump on green, I'd say Renault. Now if we were talking a drastic slash across two lanes of traffic on green, then I'd say Schumacher.

[biturbowagon]

I keep it in gear with the clutch fully disengaged, unless I have a line of vehicles behind me to protect me from being rear ended.

 

Patagonian GT is right on the money. You need to be ready to get out of the way of someone approaching from the rear. What would happen if you spied in your rear view mirror a cement mixer truck barreling down at you from behind, with the driver slumped over the wheel because of a heart attack? Would you rather get out of the way, or get rear ended while trying to get into first gear? I know which I'd rather do.

 

(I teach MSF courses, so the motorcycle angle is second nature to me.)

 

As for comments about the throwout bearing, that's good advice--if you drive a '50 Chevy. Modern cars are much more robust. It's a non-issue today.

 

 

 

At a stoplight (or anyplace where you might be stopped for a period of time) do you sit with the car in gear and foot on the clutch? Or do you put the car in neutral and leave your foot off the clutch?

 

 

I've only recently started moving the the keep the car in gear camp, unless it's a really long light and I dont feel like having to keep my foot planted on the clutch.

 

 

I know supposedely keeping the car in neutral is illegal.. but who really takes that into consideration?

 

 

 

So, clutch or throw out bearing, do you really even have to worry about either of them?

[Drakuun]

Clutch In, Car out of Gear, Foot On break.

 

------------------------------------------------

And what exactly is the huge bad thing about leaving your hand on the shifter exactly? You all act like it breaks a sacred rule of driving or something, as if the Driving gods will come take my car if I do.

 

Well? Is there a real technical reason or just a bunch of personal preference and hersey on the subject?

 

I personally could only come up with a few possible reasons not to..

 

If jarred you may cause the car to slip out of gear. (at which point the car is effectively in nuetral anyways)

 

I suppose another possible is that your hands aren't at 10-2 (okay really..WhoTF is going to use that as an excuse??)

 

Auto-X... more hands = more control.. that makes sense.

 

How about when you're doing a lot of shifting.. (I watch rally vids, and sometimes those dudes hand never leave that shifter)

[meier motor sports]

leaving your hand on the shifter. say your hand weighs 3lbs. times that by the lever arm of the shifter. (think truck shifter) and all that force is going either down on the shifter forks or sidways or front to back. wearing out the syncros and the asosiated shifter fork. thoes parts are ment to have no weight on them and jsut sorta mesh. in rally racing... they rebuild the trans at the end of the rally, they have paddel shifters, and a syquential shifter.

[Strokemouth]

neutral, handbrake/e-brake up

 

And the people in front of you wonder why you keep turning your headlights off at red lights.

[emorphien]

Both!

 

If it's a long red, move to neutral.

If it's a short red, or I anticipate moving soon, I'll push the clutch in early.

same here

[ocs822]

Neutral clutch out 95% of the time. For a light that I know will be quick I might keep it in gear.

[JBLU24]

I keep it in gear with the clutch fully disengaged, unless I have a line of vehicles behind me to protect me from being rear ended.

 

 

(I teach MSF courses, so the motorcycle angle is second nature to me.)

 

my wrist is hurting just from reading that- If i did that on my R1 at every light my back would be hunched over for good while standing straight up now, lol

[PhilT]

And the people in front of you wonder why you keep turning your headlights off at red lights.

 

One of the reasons I disconnected my DRL !

[RockyMtnGT]

If I know the light will be red for a little bit, Ill just throw it into neutral and rest my foot on the floor, but if I know the light will change quickly, Ill leave it in first and keep the clutch in.

 

+1

[biturbowagon]

A friend of mine was rear-ended while on his motorcycle at a stoplight. It wasn't his fault, but the fact that he wasn't in gear contributed to his not being able to get out of the way of the offending car driver in time. He now walks with a cane.

 

 

 

 

my wrist is hurting just from reading that- If i did that on my R1 at every light my back would be hunched over for good while standing straight up now, lol

[Chappy]

Clutch in at stoplights will cause the throwout bearing to prematurely wear out.

[TSiWRX]

If I'm sitting at a light where either I'm the first in-line or if I have enough room to evade (i.e. before I get "boxed in" by surrounding traffic, as I always leave enough space to maneuver otherwise), I'm foot-on-clutch, car-in-gear.

 

It pays to be ready, that's my thinking, and my very humble opinion. Heck, I even did that with my ACT 2600, so the LGT's stock clutch is no-effort.

 

Once I do get boxed-in, though, I'm off the clutch and the car's in neutral.

[robmarch]

Patagonian GT is right on the money. You need to be ready to get out of the way of someone approaching from the rear. What would happen if you spied in your rear view mirror a cement mixer truck barreling down at you from behind, with the driver slumped over the wheel because of a heart attack? Would you rather get out of the way, or get rear ended while trying to get into first gear? I know which I'd rather do.

 

(I teach MSF courses, so the motorcycle angle is second nature to me.)

 

As for comments about the throwout bearing, that's good advice--if you drive a '50 Chevy. Modern cars are much more robust. It's a non-issue today.

 

How long does it take for you guys to get into first gear?

 

Also, you're assuming that panicing when you're going to get rear ended and just gunning your car into the intersection is safer?

 

It takes me less time to shift into first and start moving than it takes me to get moving in any car I've driven with an automatic transmission, so I'm in the "clutch out" camp. And, if you're easy on your clutch, it's definitely possible to wear out the input or throw out bearings before the clutch, even in our advanced society.

[jerami1981]

plus one for clutch out..i'm a lazy mofo

[Drakuun]

I had a 5MT Dakota that I put 125,000 miles on and only needed to replace the clutch once. In fact when I had the clutch relaced for the first, and only time at 80+k the mechanic said it was in decent condition.

And I far from babied it.

 

And I'm in the "Clutch in" camp. So I don't know where people are getting this "don't sit with your clutch in you're wear out your throwout bearings" stuff at.

 

Sounds as silly as thinking the extra 3lbs of resting my hand on the gear shift occasionally is going to cause my linkage to wear out.

[robmarch]

I had a 5MT Dakota that I put 125,000 miles on and only needed to replace the clutch once. In fact when I had the clutch relaced for the first, and only time at 80+k the mechanic said it was in decent condition.

And I far from babied it.

 

And I'm in the "Clutch in" camp. So I don't know where people are getting this "don't sit with your clutch in you're wear out your throwout bearings" stuff at.

 

Sounds as silly as thinking the extra 3lbs of resting my hand on the gear shift occasionally is going to cause my linkage to wear out.

 

not your linkage, but your gears weren't designed to operate with any constant pressure on the shift lever.

 

And, sitting at lights with the clutch in does wear the bearings faster. I replaced the clutch in my Altima at 120k-ish, and the clutch was fine, but the bearings were shot. I used to sit at lights with the clutch in a lot, in that car, before the "clutch" replacement, fwiw.