maybe i am expecting the pulse and am not getting it. That could very well be it.

Mark, what do they teach you at a racing school when entering a corner that you need to get back on the gas for?

 

Cos,

Go back to page 1, post 13, the sentence that begins with, "While I'm on a roll." I think that will about cover it. However, I'll review a bit and add a couple of comments:

1. Starting out, you simply want to get in the habit of completing your braking and shifting before you begin the turn.

2. Once you get this down, work on the heel-toe downshifting. This allows you to get the car into a low gear (so that you have plenty of torque to accelerate through and out of the turn) without allowing the motor to lurch (and possibly upset the balance of) the car.

3. After the heel-toe is under the belt, you can work on "trail-braking." As the name implies, this means maintaining some pressure on the brake as you begin the turn. Recall that when you are braking, weight shifts to the front wheel of the car. The advantage here is that if you keep some of this extra weight on the front wheels as you begin turning, then they have more traction to help you turn. The potential pitfall is that it takes quite a bit of skill to smoothly manage heel-toeing, trail-braking, and turning all at once. Turning and braking at the same time demands a lot of both the tires and the driver.

I've gotten parts 1 and 2 down pretty well, but I haven't really started experimenting with 3 yet. I imagine that most instructors would not recommend practicing the trail braking when there is any significant possibility of traffic. It would be very easy to spin or otherwise lose control while practicing this.

If you have any more questions, then feel free to hit me with them. I'll try my best.

Man, all this talk is making me itch to get back on the track!

 

Ive been driving manual so long that i dont really analyze my driving technique anymore, but just the other day i noticed ive picked up a weird habit. As i am going to downshift for a light or a sharp corner, for some reason i shift into the next higher gear, then back into my original gear with a little more gas than i started with. Is this normal, or am i just totally *ucked.

Also im assuming that if you hammer on the brake pedal, you will get a pulsing sensation that feels like something is wrong with your car, if your not used to ABS.

 

You're wasting your time (and clutch disc), but nothing will blow up.

 

i just started driving manual with this car. what is a good rpm to shift at when you are city driving, i usually shift at 2,400 rpm, i just got a very heavy foot getting into first and 2nd, i usualy let go of the clutch slowly while the rpms are about at 1,900 rpm. is this fine any help will be greatly appreciated. im trying to get max life out of clutch and get best possible mpg Thanks.

 

SmoothdrJay--(1) With regards to the upshift: Why???? (2) Yes, the pulsing on hard braking is the ABS. I find that it's not all that bad on my new Lancer. It's awful on my '97 Suburban.

FinestSoldier--2,400 seems a bit on the low side for upshifting, even in normal driving, but you're probably fine if it works for you. I generally stay above 2,000 rpm, and in normal driving shift around 3K.

 

i just thought if you shift around 2,500 and below to keep rpms below 2250rpm it will help alot on gas milage, thanks for the response and more help is needed plesae thanks

 

Correction, it's more like 3,500 where I upshift in normal driving. I guess upshifting prior to 2,500 may save you some fuel, but probably not much. Driving at excessively low RPM to where you are "lugging" the car is generally considered bad for your engine. I'm not sure what excessive is on this car, but I doubt you would want to be driving around at 1,500 or less.

I guess shifting below 2,500 just seems a bit too much on the prudish side to me?

By the way, have you measured your gas mileage with this car? I'm consistently getting about 27-28 MPG with my daily driving, and while I'm no maniac behind the wheel, I'm no prude either.

 

well im starting to shift at around 2,750 to 3100 and car drives much better LOL , so thanks on that.
hopefully doesn't harm my mpg to much. 3,500 is pushign it bro your right next to mivec ?

 

well for u just starting driving stick.....just drive a lots..hehehe...and have fun........take time u to get the timing your car if u not really drive a lot stick......

 

Thanks for the posts guys,

Im getting better at manual now.

Dont downshift much anymore.

I just let the gas go and my car will naturally slow down anyways, it will slow down faster than most AT cars even if they brake very lightly.

So that will save me brakes ne ways.

but i hit a revelation last week.

I was driving with my friend, who owns a subaru STI and we were talking about manual OF COURSE..

NE ways, he said is shouldnt clutch in all the way, becuase it increases my shifting time which means my RPM's drop more. And because my rpms drop more, my engine has to catch up more when i engage the car again. This should technically increase the wear and tear on my clutch.

So i tried not clutching in ALLL THE WAY, like all the way to the floor, and i found that not even reaching half way down on the clutch i can change gears and do it much smoother, RPM's didnt drop as much, and much faster.

Apparantly he just touches his clutch and its disengaged.

Then i tried my friends volkswagen and HOLEY the clutch is alll the way at the back. i stalled it a few times because i wasnt used to it clutching all the way back there.

So are wolkwagen cars slower becuase of this? takes longer to clutch in and out?

WEEE manual is fun.

 

im trying to get a hang of it lol, it so fun to drive

 

Guys (I hope you know who you are), you have some AWFUL grammar. I'm reading your messages three times and still don't know if I understand what you are saying! How about taking a few minutes to proofread???

Leomon--Are you saying you were told to NOT push in the clutch pedal all the way??? I can't say I'm 100% certain on this, but I think it is a very bad idea to shift without depressing the clutch pedal all the way to the floor. Shifting without the clutch fully disengaged will put unhealthy wear on your transmission. Maybe you are getting it fully disengaged without pushing the pedal all the way in, maybe not. I'm not really sure how you are saving time with this. It takes me a small fraction of a second to depress my clutch all the way to the floor.

Seems to me that trying to get away with partially depressing the clutch is a bad habit to get into, with much more potential for harm than good.

One thing I am 100% sure of is this: The distance you have to push the clutch pedal will have ABSOLUTELY NO EFFECT on how fast a car is.

One more point . . . I have heard people say that you should actually avoid executing a shift as fast as possible. They say that you should pause for a moment as the shifter enters the neutral position to allow the synchros a moment to match the engine speed. This supposedly puts less wear on the synchros. I'm not sure how reliable this information is. When I shift I just push in the clutch pedal (all the way), make the shift, then release the clutch. I do this smoothly, without any urge to do it particularly fast or slow. By the way, of the six cars I've owned with manual trannies I find the shifter in my '08 Lancer to have the best feel.

 

i just type fast sometimes and dont proof read which is why i have bad grammar.

I think the first post on this forum i actually read through it so it was better.

any who..

i understand what u mean Mark Hubley, that was my original thought to.
If i dont fully depress teh clutch how will i know its FULLY disengaged.
Your argument makes sense.

However, i also know that the split second longer you wait to fully depress your RPM's will drop more meaning when you release the clutch yoru engine will have to play catch up and it will put more wear on your clutch and have more shift shock???

Im not sure about that.

Thats why im asking you guys, but honestly, not depressing it ALL the way gives me a better feel, im shifting faster, and smoother.

Plus you can feel when the engine is disengaged when you feel it slow down.

What do u guys think? Depress all the way or partially. Pros and Cons?

 

When upshifting, you want the engine to lose RPM to match the higher gear. So, losing rev's when upshifting is not something to be concerned about. This explains why there is never any need for a "heel-toe upshift."

Anyone who has read this thread should already be overly familiar with my opinions on downshifting.

Push the clutch pedal all the way to the floor and make your shift. Do not worry about pushing only part of the way in an effort to save a few milliseconds of time. Do not worry about trying to "rev match" on an upshift. This will pretty much happen on its own with a normally executed shift.

Enjoy your stick! By the way, it is good to ask questions. You'll never learn anything new if you don't. Does it show that I'm a teacher by profession???