I recently bought an 03 Silverstone Z, and am still learning how to adequately drive a manual transmission.


No one in my immediate family understands the logistics of driving a stick, and can't seem to give me a square answers as most of them have been absent from such transmissions for many decades.

When I'm shifting I let off the gas completely, fully push the clutch to the floor, and then put it into gear... and generally (I can tell if I need to or not) I let on the gas while I'm re-engaging the clutch so that my RPM's match to where I think I'll get the smoothest shift (and my 2nd, 3rd, and forth, as of right now, can't even be felt in the car when I do this). This is just how I naturally picked up driving the stick, as that's how I learned to bite first gear well under 2k rpm. My question is, does this add any wear on the clutch and should I stop doing it? The car never really sputters or lurches forward (unless I mess up on my shifting technique grossly [which happens, I'm still a nub and have no instructor]). I also do the same thing while I down-shift.

 

you blip the throttle to upshift?

 

Your really just slipping the clutch doing that. You only need to slip it in first. Other then that dont give it gas untill you let off all the way on the clutch.

 

I was taught that any time you push the gas above the clutch's friction point, you are adding more wear to the clutch. While rev matching may make for a smoother ride, I can think of better uses for $600 instead of being spent on a prematurely worn clutch (and I'm impatient and rev matching takes more time than shift and go).

 

Sounds like you are doing fine.

Rev matching generally refers to downshifting. There is a spot where downshifting is easiest. You might blip the throttle a bit to pickup the RPM, then shift. The blip is almost imperceptible.

 

Sounds to me like your doing a good job. I dont take let my foot off the gas completely because it will jerk if i do.

 

If you're upshifting smoothly, there should be no need for you to blip the throttle. I suppose if you're shifting so slowly that the engine RPMs drops off way below where it should be when you reengage the clutch, it's worth doing, but in that case, you should just shift more in a fluid motion and the revs should not drop off as much.

 

Yea I'm still shifting somewhat slowly... and I don't ride the RPM's very high - i keep my Z pretty tame just because I'm not used to driving a stick, and I have a great amount of respect for the power I'm not used to handling. It seems like when I don't do it, it jerks or lurches a bit into gear because my RPM's fall so much compared to my wheel spin... Not that I try it all that often, just because I'm used to it the other way; I just don't want to start any bad habits. As of right now it'd probably be pretty easy to change the technique as it's not 2nd nature just quite yet.

 

You can shift slow. You can shift fast, Doesn't matter. What matters is that your technique should be smooth. When you become more confident, you can shift at 3, 4, 5 or 6,000 RPM using the same technique just modified a bit. Same goal with braking - smooth.

 

Actually, rev-matching causes less wear on the clutch. When downshifting from 4th to 3rd for example, if throttle is blipped just enough to raise the RPMs by the correct amount for the lower gear and then clutch is released, it doesn't have to "work" to raise the RPMs (no engine braking happens), hence it increases the life of the clutch.

Rev-matching while upshifting is the opposite; no blipping the throttle is needed, one just has to release the clutch once RPMs have dropped enough for the next gear. Doing so doesn't "help" the clutch in any way; it just results in smoother shifts.

 

I have been driving a manual tranny for over 50 years, and have always had at least one manual tranny vehicle over all those years. And I have never had to replace a clutch.

You procedure is correct. All tht you need to learn to do is 1) step on the clutch, 2) select the gear, and 3) relese the clutch. When you learn to do those 3 steps smoothly, by correctly modulating the engine speed, you are doing just fine.

bill

 

Up = double-clutch
down = rev match.

 

^I think you have that backwards.

 

For upshifting, I generally don't rev match. Mostly because, as long as you don't take forever, it isn't necessary. I release the clutch while *gradually* applying the accelerator, which makes the engagement smooth and fast.

For downshifting, I almost always rev match. I'll only double-clutch when dropping 2 or more gears, though. By "rev match" I mean merely applying throttle during the downshift to blip to appropriate RPM and "double-clutch" I mean: clutch-in, shift to neutral, clutch-out, blip throttle, clutch-in, shift to lower gear, clutch-out.

 

I drove around for about 30 minutes today back and forth on some highway's and residential streets. I release the clutch slow enough to not get a jarring affect, and i generally don't bite into the gears. I find i do less rev-matching than i thought while upshifting...more or less i hit the gas as i slowly release the clutch to hold the RPM I thikn it should be around.

 

^^^ Sounds to me that you're thinking about it too much

 

^^ Correct. With a little practice, instinct takes over and you don't need to think about it.

--Spike

 

exactly...with time it will smoothen out and become second nature to you

 

Driving stick is not a thinking man's game.
Hell, if us guys can do it, that's proof enough that it shouldn't require any thought...

Brain off, primitive instinct engage.

 

if one never used their brain.... driving stick would be out of the question....

most people only drive stick well enough to get by....

if you don't think about what you're doing... you will never get better....