ok some girl the other day told me that when shifting you dont push the clutch all the way to the floor but you push it like just far enough for it to release the gear and allow you to put it into gear. I personally think this is bad but i dont know... Does anyone?

 

Wouldn't it grind?

 

nope, i tryed it. the trick is just pusing it enough to keep it from gringind. Any ideas of how bad this iss on your car?

 

All the clutch pedal is doing is separating two plates. The further you push the pedal, the further apart the two plates are. The girl is technically correct, though you're probably going to be smoother (and have fewer grinds) by pushing the pedal all or most of the way.

Just to give you an idea, an old pickup I had required that you put the pedal almost through the floor. My current winter beater requires about 1/8 of the travel to shift cleanly. I still go all the way to the floor just because it's smoother and easier than trying to push the pedal the precise required distance to shift.

 

Yeah, I'm with Billy on this one. I've kinda experimented with both, and when you try the part-way-down method, you occasionally (or often) have one problem. This method requires you to remember exactly where the pedal needs to be. People make mistakes, gears get ground down. That's all I'm saying...

 

hear is something else for you "lazy" shifter to try. on a sychronized transmission there is no need to use the cluth pedal between gears. up shfting and downshifting can be achieved by matching the rpms to the gear for the current rate of travel. in other words while pushing on the gas or letting go the gear will stay in place. however if you put a small amount of pressure to pull the gear out it will "slip out" when the gas is let off. then to get it in the next gear put pressure up against the gate and when the rpms match it will again "slip in" and there you go. its not always smooth(untli you get used to is) nor is it quick. but it sure gives you left leg a break. and no this does no damage to the transmission. all you are doing is matching up the dog teeth on the gear with the synchro with allows the forck to lock that gear. when you push in the clutch it only slows down the gear so this can be achieved at any RPM. if yo ustill have any speculation about this being unsafe for you car... go drive an 18 WHEELER. watch how they shift. the clutch is only used for the launch after that the gearing is so close and the red line of no more than 2500 to 3000 RPMs is actually easier than having to push in the clutch for every gear. and when you have 21 gears to go though.. believe me.. yo will find short cuts.

my contribution to helping society become more lazy and educated at teh same time.

 

there's nothing wrong with that. That is better because you can shift faster which is good when racing. Anyone that really knows how to drive a stick doesn't push the clutch pedal in all the way when shifting. That also would make your rpms go way down if you don't shift fast enough. Ocassionally you just miss a gear, but that all comes with driving a stick. No one's perfect

 

It's always good to know precisely where the catchpoint is, which will allow you to have SMOOTHER shifts. Period. If you're pushing the clutch all the way down every time you take off and every time you shift, you don't really know exactly where the catch point is, you always have to feel for it and guess where it is. That will make for jerkier shifting and more wear. It shouldn't hurt anything in your car to push the clutch in just enough to shift.

Unless you have one hell of a cheapass car.. :P

 

as for the synchronization thing .. that could be true but I don't think I'd try it myself :P

 

This is what I do... but i've been driving the same car for 6 or 7 years so you get *very* used to it and where it catches.

 

All I would say is go with what you are comfortable and fast with. That is probably the best advice I can give. It's too much of an " either or" situation.

 

yeah, just do what's comfortable. It doesn't matter how long you've driven stick or how you do it, you are gonna grind sometimes. No one's perfect. You don't need to clutch to the floor to shift

 

if the clutch doesnt need to be on the floor when you shift couldnt you put some kind of stopper behind the clutch so you know where the catching point is every time because you'll hit the stopper? some one should make this muahahaa!

 

the only time the clutch needs to be to the floor is when starting it up...

 

One thing to remember: if you're not matching the rpm's correctly, you're going to be putting undo stress on your synchro's. However, the rest of you're transmission should be ok. (And if you match exactly right theres no stress on the synchros either).