[QUOTE=featherlouAnother trick for you, Congodwarf - if you are well and truly stuck and can’t get it going because of a hill or a tight parking space, rest your car on the bumper of the car behind you or a parking rail or something and go from there. You probably wouldn’t do this in traffic (you’d probably need to get permission from the guy behind you), but I’ve had to do this in incredibly wonky parking spots occasionally. When I say rest, I mean very gently let your car touch the other car - it doesn’t do any damage.[/QUOTE]
I’d hope you wouldn’t need to do that. One thing to remember when you’re learning or new to it is that the gas is your friend. If unsure about the friction point, just give it a bit more juice first. Spinning the wheels a little is preferable to stalling or needing to rest against something, and the extra gas will make the transition from handbrake to forward motion more forgiving (the engine can overcome the handbrake for the moment that you need to get going).
I think it’s worth suspending the rules on looking after your clutch and transmission while you’re learning. A clutch might last a million shifts over its lifetime, so the few dozen times you abuse it while learning is barely a blip on the radar. Of course, this relies on a good teacher not enforcing bad long-term habits like using the clutch as a footrest, or as a hill-holder when it’s not.
I’m talking about an impossible parking situation, tight squeeze, on a hill, some jerk just parked you in, not your average give 'er some gas and go. I still think it’s an important technique to know about, and hope you never have to use it.
After I last posted, my sister and I went out to celebrate my purchase. We went an hour and a half away from home. The place we went was very rural so there was almost no one else on the road. The first and last 10 minutes had a few stops but most of the rest of the trip was constant driving with just speed changes.
I did fine. I stalled twice. The first time was when we were leaving our destination (at 5AM). I left the valet area with no problem. Then I was about to leave the parking lot and I was shivering so badly that my foot jerked right off the clutch and I stalled. The other time was when we got home. I was trying to back in to my parking spot - just for the hell of it and I stalled. That was my first time stalling while backing up.
I’m not going to worry too much about starting on a hill yet. I generally only drive 10 miles a week and it’s all flat. I only live a mile from work. If I go to the library, there’s a few hills but I usually don’t run into much traffic and none of the hills are massive. I’ll be staying away from the mountain towns for a while. It’s not like there’s much of a reason for going to them anyway, unless I want to go to the casino.
Anyway, I have no life and I never go anywhere so I have plenty of time to get really well acquainted with my friction point before I tackle hills.
You guys are great. All the advice and stories have really helped me. My sister was impressed with how well I did and I told her it was because of you guys.
I bought my first stick shift when I was 30. No one showed me how to do it, other than the 45 minutes class in Driver’s Ed, in high school.
My mind set was, if a 16 year old can do it, I can too. I drove home from the car dealer; 30 miles during rush hour.
I stalled it once or twice, but I made it home. I drove it every day after that.
Of course, I did have to replace the clutch in a year… :rolleyes:
When I signed for my new car and tried to leave I killed it three times in a row doing exactly the same thing.
BTW no matter how smooth that ride was, give it two months and it’ll be a hundred times smoother. It’ll be frustrating for a while, but you’ll get it eventually.
Oh, here’s a tip, when you’re waiting to pull out into a busy traffic, or dodge between cars to make a left turn…the car is in gear, your clutch is down to the floor and your just waiting for the right moment to punch the gas and take off…Make sure it’s in first gear. It really sucks when you do that and find out you’re in third as you slowly creep into fast moving traffic. Oh, and that’s not something that only happens at the beginning. I do it more often now then when I first got my car, I think becuase it’s so second nature that I’m not paying attention to every little detail anymore. On the plus side, with all the expierence I have, I have no problem fixing it and getting the hell out of traffic.
Like I said in my earlier post, it’s all about confidence and not panicking. When you panic, you’re car dies. Learn to feel it rumbling and what to do (in general if the car sounds like it’s gonna die, hit the clutch or the gas and it should keep running).
Congrats! I love driving stick and hope my next car is one. I was taught to drive on VW Rabbits (one was a diesel-ah, the 80s!). I also had a stick Honda Accord from way back that I loved. I wish I still had that car. My parents have an ancient Toyota that we use when were on the Cape, so now my kids are at least exposed to stick.
Let’s go back to the riding the clutch thingy. So, I get that what I do is a no-no (when waiting at a light, I have my foot on the brake and the other foot depressing the clutch pedal. Also–is this position known as letting the clutch in or out*? Never knew). So, I’m not supposed to do it this way–so what do I do? Put it in neutral, with my foot on the brake? I’m happy to change over, but I want to change over to the right way. Thanks.
*like when someone says, “release the clutch”–what does that mean–push my foot onto the clutch or take my foot off? I hope these questions make sense. I miss standard transmission. I liked the control it gave me over the car (although stop and go traffic was hell).
“Riding the clutch”, to me, means holding it on the friction point for more than a moment to keep the car from rolling, or driving along using the clutch as a footrest. This is REALLY BAD. What you are doing, keeping the clutch fully depressed while waiting at the lights - is only SLIGHTLY bad. It doesn’t wear out the clutch plates, but it does place extra wear on other parts (there’s a gizmo called a “throw-out bearing” that doesn’t like this treatment). It’s fine if you know the lights will change in a moment, but if you’re going to be there for much longer, knock 'er into neutral and release the clutch.
Clutch in = pedal depressed, clutch disengaged
Clutch out = pedal let out (foot off), clutch engaged, “releasing the clutch”.