How far do you push down the clutch with normal driving?

I'm a newbie and I searched and found nothing on this topic. I've driven other cars in the past where the friction point was low so it made sense to push the clutch all the way to the floor when shifting. The only times I push it to the floor now is to start the car and to shift into 1st. Now this is my second car with stick shift so I don't have a lot of experience with driving stick. I've heard two different things when it comes to how far you push the pedal when shifting and I was wondering if everyone (since majority if not all of us own the same car) here is pushing the clutch pedal to the floor or just enough to engage the gear, or 3/4 of the way?

I posted this topic on standardshift.com and got mixed replies...some say that you have to push it all the way down in order to not kill your clutch and trans, and some say that because of the high friction point it wouldn't make sense to push it all the way down to the floor for normal driving.

I've been pushing it around halfway and the shifts are smooth, no grinding, and no burn clutch smell. I just got the car so I want to make sure that I'm driving it correctly.

 

alllllll the way to the floor.

 

Really, you only need to push the clutch in past the release point of the clutch/pressure plate.

 

Same here; I push all the way to the floor as well.

 

how about upshifting w/o using clutch and not grinding gear in doing so?

 

though i dont have a z, i push the clutch all the way to the floor in my truck.

 

Depress the clutch completely. Read your owners manual.

 

barely tap the clutch when you're racing. The gear grinding sound will scare your opponent into losing...

 

I have the tilton clutch/flywheel.

I depress my clutch about this much ------------*

*dashes indicate actual clutch stroke needed for my setup

 

i believe dont really need press all the way, but i do it..

 

double clutch

 

press the clutch completely to the floor(your clutch will last longer)

 

not if your hyper extending the pressure plate...

when I had my stock flywheel and clutch, I felt the car shifted smoother when only pressing about half way...



If you have an undersized clutch like the tilton, you must shorten the throw of your clutch pedal...

 

spot on

 

I agree with this, BUT.....

We can't hyper-extend the stock setup.

...and regarding Z_freaks post..

I think transmission damage is the main concern. It's much more likely to miss a shift/grind a gear if you get in the habit of barely depressing the clutch. If someone is in the habit of depressing it fully, if they accidentally shift a little early no big deal. If they are barely pushing it down far enough as is, a little early and they will miss the shift. Transmission damage can result. It's not likely, but it can happen.

 

I have had customers put the pedal stop on their OE clutches similar to how we do with the Tiltons and they were much happier with the way their car shifted... Smoother / easier to get into gear...

I am not saying this is with every case, but... there are sometimes when the clutch pedal is pressed all the way to the ground and putting the car into gear is hard, but when the clutch pedal is lifted just a little bit it goes into gear smoothly... The clutch starts to re-engauge, making it harder to shift into gear... It happens more with undersized clutches like the tilton, but have felt it happen with the OE clutch as well...

 

That is interesting. Thanks for sharing your experience Jason. Always much appreciated.

I haven't experienced any problems like that with mine but I don't doubt you for a second.

 

Jason....enlighten me on the pedal stop please sir, maybe interested in getting one

 

I'll beat Jason to the punch....

On the titlon, you should install a pedal stop just after the point of engagement of the clutch. This keeps the clutch from being overstroked. Overstroking is when the clutch actually re-engages, when you depress the clutch too far.

 

Thanks MD, I understand hyperextending the clutch because mine does it going into reverse, if i let off a little from the floor it goes in better(that does not sound right but ok)...., I more wanted to find out if a pedal stop on the oem would extend the life and also if I put a Nismo clutch in would it work with that......