The tips on this thread are amazing! Thank you guys for all your wisdom. I just bought my Evo on Saturday...having never driven a stick. It is a bit frusterating,, but now I cant wait to try some of the tips you all have mentioned. I am trying to learn from my fiance, but that is just a huge headache. So thanks again guys!!!

 

The no gas technique I think is the best way to know when the clutch begins to engage. Thats how I learned.

 

I learned on an 88' Honda Civic which I bought for 375 bucks and after stalling out a number of times on a 4 lane express way at 2pm in heavy traffic......yeah I learned rather quick, especially when the car behind you is up your a$$ blaring their horn :-x

 

I learned with a 93 honda civic with a act unprung 4 puck. Not the best clutch to learn with. lol

 

sorry to hear that u are learnin on an evo im sure u r gonna go through a clutch from ridin it so much but just remember to relax and enjoy the ride let the car do the work and just remember u r along for the ride until u get it figured out its sort of like breakin a wild stallion in u will know when the right moment is for u to turn her loose good luck and hope this helps a lil bit

 

Drive like you don't own it, and you will drive better ET's and MPH's

Best advice out there.

 

so true man.

 

This is one of the more helpful threads out there, so it's now stickied at the top of the forum.

 

I used to have the same problem too, I was afraid of the clutch. The fear came mainly with the fact that I lived in the mountains. Every morning when I go out to work I think "OMG, I might fall to the cliff, I might forget to change gears and fall."

I got this fixed with practice. Don't panic so you can think clearly while driving. Focus on your driving,

 

I learned to drive stick in a type R honda civic and honestly the only way you'll get better is with time. Keep on driving and you'll get better eventually

 

you can get good enough to not even use the brake on hills. It's supposedly stressful on the clutch to allow any pre-load, but its used in launching to ease the pain so i dont see the harm in holding the sweet spot on a hill. Whenever i see another enthusiast on the road ill always try to come to a stop with minimal braking and never hold the brake on a hill just to make my obsessions apparent. Shifting skill comes with experience, just get the motions down, and LISTEN to your car. She'll tell you everything you need to know.

EDIT: I live in florida so the hills i encounter arent seriously extreme. Holding your car on a STEEP hill with the clutch is a bad idea, and will most likely make you stall unless you have really good pedal feel. Heel toeing between the brake and accelerator is one of the single greatest driving techniques to learn, so get on it, and you shouldnt have a problem with hills, and youll get better a shifting as a result.

 

Hey man I know how you feel, i just bought my frist manual car just two months ago. And i stalled only once when i first took her off the lot. Ohh man the frist 2 weeks was hell, i stalled so many times, and im sure i bunrned my clutch a couple of times too. All the countless time of when i stressed out when i thought i was ruining my brand new lancer, but non the less fun times.

 

Hah, I'm going to be buying an Evo IX in a couple months, and I have never owned a stick, I've driving a couple times but that's it. I'm fully expecting to stall at the dealer.

 

As far as damage to the clutch is concerned, the only way your going to damage the clutch is heat. When you get it too hot the flywheel and/or pressure plate can warp and/or crack as well as tear the friction material off the clutch.

Now, what creates heat? Partial engagement under power, aka, slipping. But certain kinds of slipping are worse than others. Slipping a low rpm/low throttle will not create very much heat. Slipping at 5000rpm under high throttle will generate heat extremely fast and burn up the clutch if you dont stop it from slipping in a matter of seconds.

Also the time in which is slips (ie. slipping for 400ms vs. slipping for 5 seconds) hugely affects how much heat builds up. Try to keep the time spent slipping to a minimum in all cases for best clutch life and performance.

Just keep this in mind and dont be afraid to play with it a little. As long as your not getting it too hot it'll be fine.

 

LOL After buying it, I took one of the sales managers over to the gas station to let them fill up the car. Stalled it on the first clutch release. The bastard comments, "Have you ever driven a stick before?" I just looked at him and said, "I've never driven an automatic actually." Farkin AWD in a brand new car, of course I don't know where the slip point of the clutch is yet.... Grrr