Actually keeping the clutch in will wear out the throw out bearing, which would be a constant wear while the clutch is depressed. The amount of wear with the clutch out and the tranny in neutral in my opinion would be minimal because its inertia is so small that it grabs quick with very little friction. Once the clutch is out, there is no more wear. The only other negative is that it will work the syncros when you do put the clutch in and engage a gear. The syncros have to pull the clutch to a dead stop after spinning at 750 rpms, which again seems too minimal to worry about.

My 2c...

smanders

 

Ding ding! Best post in the thread. Leave the car in neutral and don't touch the clutch pedal when stopped. This will allow longer life.

Smanders, you don't know me, but I just figured out who you are. We have a common friend in Brian Lowry.

-Seth

 

Clutch in ALL THE WAY = throw out bearing wear.
Clutch in almost all the way = throwout bearing AND clutch surface wear.

I know a lot of people around here only push the clutch in part way to shift gears while driving. But if they sit with the clutch in part way at traffic lights, they are wearing their clutches needlessly.

SC~

 

riding the clutch is not how to drive a stick. put it in neutral unless you need to move forward.

 

I was hoping someone would mention that. I guess most people here have yet to experience crankwalk first hand though. You think they ***** about stiff suspensions and cheap interiors now, just wait until their cars start crankwalking at 50,000 miles.

 

what is crank walk (im new to dsm type motors)

 

Between this and 5-6K drop launches and people wonder why their clutches don't last???

 

It is just like it sounds. The thrust bearing wears prematurely and the crank walks back and forth. The 2G motors had a crank sensor that got damaged if the crank moved enough and it wouldn't run anymore. The 1G motors did it too, but just not as frequently.

I have a video ofone of my old 1G motors that walked. I grabbed the dowel on the end of the crank with a pair of vice grips and you could move hte crank back and forth about 1/8".

 

well... maybe that explains a few people's problem of accelerated clutch wear.?

I am still convinced that a fair number of "common problems" with cars is the owners techniques...... S2000's had "grind" issues... somehow I had 2 and never had a grind other than my own stupidity... i drag raced both, took both to the road courses, etc....

Same with the Evo now..... somehow I take my cars to the various track venues and have next to no problems...??

(now i have jinxed myself for sure!)

 

I think the majority of these clutch issues are driver related, honestly. Now that I've broken mine in, learned how to drive it and let it break in with one good slip (bad move on my part), I can rev the car up to 5K, half throttle, dump the clutch and the car just plain takes off....so I think people should learn to drive....lol