OK, I have to ask, and I suppose this is a good place to do so. Everything I know about driving a manual transmission I learned from watching other people and trial and error. No one ever actually taught me the "Do's" and "Don't's", and no one corrected any of the mistakes and/or bad habits I'm sure I have.

So, what are your tips for better manual driving and clutch preservation? What are some of the most common mistakes that people make? Etc.?

 

I think I did read something back in the day about driving a stick; but, like you, much of it has been observation and practice.

a. Don't use the clutch to hold the car on a hill, use the brakes. It's possible to keep the clutch slipping "just so" and hold the car stationary; that would seem like a bad idea w/r/t clutch life, and is.

b. Shift to neutral and let out the clutch when sitting at a long light, to preserve the throwout bearing. I thought this had gone the way of the dodo, however some MINI forum posts talk of throwout bearing failure, so I've revived the habit. The contrary opinion is: No, always leave in gear, so you'll be ready to peel out if someone's about to rear-end you. For me, if I'm sittiing at a long light, I've got no place to go anyway, surrounded by cars. I'll give the throwout bearing a rest if I can. [And in my case, this habit goes back to the days of early air-cooled VWs that had a graphite throwout "bearing": just a ring-block of graphite in lieu of a real bearing, to slip while the clutch was in, and wore away each time just a bit. VW figured you'd have the engine out for service sometime before the graphite was all gone. Eventually, this was no longer true, so a real bearing was finally used.]

c. Don't shift into first till you're slowed / stopped. My brother used to shift into first (with the clutch in) as soon as he exited the highway, still close to highway speed. I was told this was hard on the synchro's, and sure enough, about half the time he'd get a good "graunch" putting it into gear. There's at least one shaft in the transmission that's connected to the driveshaft/wheels, and it's still rotating at highway speed even with the clutch in. That's a lot of work for the low(est) gears to get up to speed to synchronize, particularly for speeds they'd never attain. So I don't do it, and it's not necessary anyhow. Wait till you're stopped, or very slowed, to shift to first.

First three I thought of...

 

My biggest pet peeve is people who ride the clutch. Many years ago I let my ex-fiancee refresh her skills on my 5-speed Camry. When sitting at a stop sign she'd depress the clutch pedal & keep it pinned to the floor while waiting for an opening in a long line of traffic. She just could not depress the clutch & put the car in gear for just a moment or two before the break in traffic. Since then, nobody drives my car but me.

Advice I saw on this site related to driving a stick & downshifting: brakes are much cheaper to replace than a clutch. The point being that successive or excessive downshifting (e.g., when approaching a stop sign or red light) is a bad idea. Save your clutch by shifting into neutral & use the brakes to stop the car.

I've heard some drivers feather the clutch when they get rolling, and have the pedal engaged (to some degree) up to 3K RPMs or so. In my mind - not having witnessed the actual practice - that would seem to put extra wear on the clutch too.

I haven't picked up heel & toe shifting or rev matching yet, but 1) I've never had a lesson or demo from an experienced driver and 2) don't track my car, so while it's a skill I'd love to learn & master, I'm not stressing over it.

Hopefully other motorers chime in too and offer up better advice than me!

 

Another thing that I would add is to keep your foot off of the clutch unless you are pushing it in. I have seen people ride the clutch while they are driving, and although the clutch is not engaging, it is bumping the throwout bearing, and that is causing it to wear unnecessarily. As soon as you are done shifting, put that foot on the footrest next to the pedal.

 

My father taught me how to drive a stick years ago and his advice was always only be using the clutch when needed. Don't rest your foot on it even a bit unless you plan to use it. The throwout bearing can wear with even minor contact with the pressure plate release forks. All the comments above make perfect sense because clutch material is very similar to brakes so it's always best to avoid heating or glazing the clutch or the flywheel.

 

+1 for both posts above on keeping your foot totally off the clutch unless you're using it. That's what the footrest on the far left is for

 

On a hydraulically actuated clutch, the release bearing is constantly in contact with the pressure plate and release fork. But it is not under load. It's designed to spin like this forever, and only wears when the pedal is depressed, putting the bearing under load. This is because the hydraulically actuated clutch requires no adjustment as the disk wears out, unlike a cable operated unit, which you have to periodically adjust - this release bearing is hovering slightly above the pressure plate.

My rules/tips:

- foot off clutch at stop
- rev match every down shift
- heel-toe every time you can
- don't double clutch
- no shifting without the clutch
- full strokes of the pedal each time
- fully release the clutch pedal before applying gas
- do not drive in too high of a gear for the speed of the engine
- do not downshift into too low of a gear for road speed
- synchronizers are designed to operate at one speed only, do not force or rush shifts, shifting should not feel overly notchy, or you have rushed them, or they are damaged already
- gently guide the shifter with an open hand and finger tips, do not force it

This is all I can come up with for now. I've taught a few people to drive manual before. I'd usually include a mechanical diagram in the lesson as well, it really helps them grasp the concept of what they are doing when they push the pedal.

 

That's bad advice, IMO. You should always have the car in gear should an emergency situation happen and you need to accelerate. The engine is not just designed to make the car go; engine breaking does not wear down your clutch or the engine itself. Using brakes and being in the proper gear is the correct way to slow down. Coasting in neutral a bad idea.

In my opinion, some people act like slipping clutch is a bad thing and treat it almost like an on/off switch. Nonsense in my experience. I slip it a bit when getting started (maybe 1500 RPMs) and, I slip it nice and slow when down shifting to the let the gearbox and engine match speeds (or sometimes I will rev match). If slipping was was bad, sportbikes wouldn't be equipped with "slipper clutches", which is essentially allowing the partial engagement automatically for smoother operation which helps the bike stay more stable in fast transitions. What kills a clutch is high RPM slipping - this could glaze the friction surface and can cause premature wear.

I have never experienced clutch issues in any of my vehicles I owned. My old 2003 WRX had 137,000 miles when I sold it, still on the original clutch which I slipped all the time.

 

+1

 

OK. I'm glad I asked this before putting too many miles on my MINI. Fortunately, most of my bad habits were taken out on my wife's VW Beetle. :p

Foot Off Clutch When Stopped
Good to know. I've always wondered what is "proper" when stopped, and I've definitely been at stops with the car in gear, one foot on the clutch, and one foot on the brake. I will stop doing this now.

Heel/Toe?
Can someone clarify what this is?

Feathering the Clutch?
Can someone clarify what this is?

Double Clutch?
Can someone clarify what this is?

Fully Release Clutch Pedal Before Applying Gas
Would this not stall the car in 1st gear from a stop? Or, are we obviously just talking about shifting after 1st?

Starting from Stopped
Is there a right/wrong way to do this, or a more detailed description of how this should be done properly? My observation has been that you let your foot off the clutch at approximately the same speed and time as you put your foot on the gas, almost as if they were attached by a string with a pulley inbetween. So, rapid starts you quickly apply gas and let your foot off the clutch. Slow starts, you do each very gradually. But, I'm sure someone can correct/fine-tune this?

 

I'm not going to add much because others have already pointed them out, but here's a few pointers I've learned: (Hopefully I've been doing things right this whole time too. )

1) If you need to shift into first while moving, do so at or below 10mph. Even those who track their cars don't shift into first unless they are at or close to a stop.

2) Heel-and-toe, and rev-matching are both very helpful techniques to helping preserve your clutch. It's funny how many people I see when they downshift, they do not rev-match. I'll admit I used to do that, but it was before I learned how to rev-match.

3) I always say that driving a manual transmission is all about feel. You have to feel the clutch, feel the gas pedal, feel the shift ****, and listen to the engine. Everything must work in unison. It takes practice, but when you finally get it right, it's very rewarding.



I don't baby my MINI, but I also don't drive it like I stole either. I will drive in a spirited manner when the situation presents itself. Under normal driving, I keep the revs in the 2-3k rpm range. When in a spirited mood, around 3-4k rpms.

 

Lots of good advice. If you really want to learn the fine points and come away with confidence, seek out your local SCCA chapter. There you will find instructors who really know and can lead you into the process both directions thru the gear box.

 

I interleaved some comments above, in red.

 

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i have a justa coupe and with the ac on I let the rpms climb up higher then I normally do before shifting. Sometimes I think my car tells me either you want to go home or you want to be cooled off because I cant do both!!!! haha

 

I won't go over the same points, but I will add that sport mode is tricky from zero mph, I always end up revving the engine more and slipping the clutch more. So when I expect to do a lot of moving from a standstill I take it out of sport mode.

I wish sport mode made the steering heavier and left the gas pedal alone, I can't understand why people like the over sensitive modulation of the sport mode on the gas.

 

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I find the non-sport mode to be sorely lacking in modulation and don't understand why people like using a throttle that tends to lead to stalling out due to lack of input. Plus, it leads to using too much gas to make up for the lack of rpms.

Which is why I have an auto sport on module installed.

 

I was on a drive earlier today. Had the AC on when traveling at highway speeds, and kept it in 5th gear rather than 6th to keep the power up. I figure if you have the AC on, have the car a gear lower than you normally do like I did.

The engine definitely feels sluggish with the AC on though. One of the perks I guess with such a small engine. And BMW wants to move to a 1.5L Turbo 3-cylinder with the next-gen Minis?

 

I do mostly highway driving and would love to have the sport mode gas pedal response but the non sport steering.

 

You need more power mods then.

A/C has no effect on my driving except that the car vibrates more and I stay cool.

 

A while back, FES (iirc) was considering work on a module that would let owners select what was on and what was off in a very discrete manner. It would have allowed for what you describe. Unfortunately, I don't think they were ever able to move forward. It was interesting watching the thread and feedback though. They were also trying to incorporate things like DTC on but DSC off and whole host of other "options". But the more people posted, the more it became apparent that for every person that wanted things one way, there was someone who wanted it 180 degrees opposite.

It would be nice if one day auto manufacturers figured out a way to let owners select/deselect all kinds of things like this. I can kind of understand the reluctance since it would probably create support nightmares. I would think a company like MINI that markets "you-ification" might be more prone to it. Of course, I also imagine a day when the OBD-II port is replaced with a standard USB port or manufacturers incorporate native NFC or Bluetooth options to connect to (at least some of) their computer systems.

 

you mind explaining why not to double clutch?

 

This is a really good thread.

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions.

 

Not a good idea.