It really makes me cringe to see drivers, especially of new cars costing over £20k, riding the clutch on a hill waiting for the lights to go green. Apart from the risk of backing into the car behind I often wonder how long the clutch lasts on cars driven this way. Last week I was driven home by a rep from a car hire company having just returned a 3 week old diesel Zafira. We were sitting in a long queue of traffic at lights on a hill and had to wait for about 5 changes to get through and he refused to use the handbrake/footbrake. The smell from the clutch was pungent as we rocked back and forward and, believe it or not, the driver took great delight at the damage he was causing.
I pity the next owner of what was otherwise a splendid motor.
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"Riding the clutch" is usually used to mean using the pedal as a foot rest, and though common is not forgivable, as every learner must surely be told not to do it.
Holding a car on the clutch, on the other hand, IS taught to learners as an essential skill and achievement; and if you have no mental image of the clutch and how it works, it would be perfectly logical to use the clutch in that way to hold the car if nobody tells you otherwise. An ex-colleague of mine used to get through a clutch every 8,000 miles or so, and when I suggested they might last longer if he used the brake when he had to stop on a hill, his answer was "that's what the clutch is for". He wasn't paying for the replacements of course.
Not that I am recommending it - I have never had to replace a clutch in any of my cars; but slipping the clutch is very logical for a lot of people who lack any curiosity about things mechanical.
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I always slip the clutch to get a nice fast start at the lights etc. What's the best way of gettinga fast start without inflicting so much wear in the clutch?
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Use the gears at the appropriate point....
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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There are times and places where ruthless clutch-slipping for several seconds is appropriate, but they are very rare and involve steep congested exits in heavy traffic. Gratuitous clutch slipping on hills is sloppy ignorant driving that costs the owner of the car money and inconvenience. Even doing the equivalent with auto gearboxes is bad.
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PM - I'd check out the cost of a replacement Boxster clutch, if I were you :-)
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What's the best way of getting a fast start without inflicting so much wear in the clutch?
Get an auto with traction control ;o)
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I What's the best way of getting a fast start without inflicting so much wear in the clutch?
Start earlier - jump the lights.
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There is no need to slip the clutch to get a fast start. If you are talking about 'blending' the clutch then that's an entriely different matter.
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There is no need to slip the clutch to get a fast start. If you are talking about 'blending' the clutch then that's an entriely different matter.
On a 125 2 stroke, it's slipping the clutch, to go like a rocket from standstill. Also done when out of the power band in a wrong gear whilst moving to get a serious wriggle on (derestricted 125, obviously)
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Aim low, expect nothing & dont be disappointed
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How many cars are 125cc and 2 stroke?
Likewise 'slipping' the clutch implies abuse, 'blending' it doesn't yet ensures the fastest possible getaway.
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Best acceleration from rest is obtained by holding the engine at peak torque while slipping the clutch just enough. It is very difficult to do reliably and results in heavy wear onb all components.
I did it once, and only once, entirely by accident, in my VW 411, in Shaftesbury Avenue. Very satisfying in retrospect, both back wheels spinning for twenty or thirty yards.
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Holding a car on the clutch on the other hand IS taught to learners as an essential skill and achievement;
I was taught it, but was only told to do it if stationary for no more than a few seconds. After some driving experience, I'm not sure that I agree with it, I can't really see any benefits, but there are some real disadvantages. I've seen people who do it a lot, and it isn't nice :(. Some people even laugh and disagree if you tell them that it kills the clutch.
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I tend to laugh when they have to pay out hundreds for the new clutch tho, so what goes around comes around eh
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If I was a fleet manager and had to replace clutches at 12,000 miles or less, the drivers would soon change their habits:-)
madf
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Forgive me for being a cynic but I don't believe these stories.
I am happy to hold my car using the clutch and do so for several minutes at a time. No rocking and no smell.
The cars having done 120k (6yrs), 140k (7 yrs), 90k (4.5 years) and currently 70k (2 y 9 months) needed precisely no new clutches.
They must be doing something else with them as well.
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I am happy to hold my car using the clutch and do so for several minutes at a time. No rocking and no smell.
Sorry but that is just bad driving, clutch wear or not.
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I am happy to hold my car using the clutch and do so for several minutes at a time. No rocking and no smell.
I hope I don't buy one your old cars. Or walk in front of you at the pedestrian crossing when your foot slips.
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There's a lot of difference between slipping the clutch and abusing it!!
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"I am happy to hold my car using the clutch and do so for several minutes at a time"
Ignoring the wear issue for a moment (it is your clutch, after all) doesn't that require a lot more effort than simply applying the handbrake and selecting neutral for a bit?
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I think there are drivers who lack confidence in their own ability to perform a smooth hillstart using the handbrake. My regular route home takes me through a set of traffic lights on a canal bridge, and the clutch-holders divide equally between this type and the diarrhoea-sufferers (I presume) who absolutely must be away the instant the lights go amber.
Incidentally, what are the mechanical considerations concerning selecting neutral and releasing the clutch while waiting, against selecting first and holding the clutch down? A defensive driving instructor once recommended the former technique - which I generally use if I anticipate being stationary for more than a minute or so - and muttered something about 'bearings', but I confess I don't know enough about the clutch mechanism to understand what he meant.
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Hi Will, Theres a thrust bearing thats taking wear as the pedal is held fully down. These days its a a ball race, but in years gone by it was a carbon disc.
Imagine a spinning shaft from the engine and a ball bearing race holding it back from the other, gearbox side of the clutch plates.
Much better put onto neutral and foot off the clutch pedal if more than a few seconds.
Regards
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Should have said, the thrust bearing is taking wear with the clutch foot just resting lightly on the clutch pedal too.
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Thanks, OR. I can visualize that now.
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Holding the clutch down shortens the life of the thrust bearing.
I hold my car on the clutch often but never more than 20-30 seconds at most and never revving it, I use just enough revs to prevent it stalling. At traffic lights, if the lights have only just turned red, then I will select neutral and apply hand brake, if I approach a red light I will hold on the clutch for up to 20-30 seconds (as above) then select neutral, if the lights haven't changed. On a steep hill I will only hold it on the clutch for about 10 seconds before I revert to neutral and handbrake on. I have never had a clutch fail on me yet (touches wood) and the only one I have ever had replaced was 10 years ago on my first Mondeo mk1 when I first got it. It went in for a new sump gasket under warranty and the garage phoned and asked me if I wanted the clutch plate replacing while they had the engine out, as it was over half worn (not by me), for just the cost of the plate and half an hours labour. I agreed seeing as clutch replacement on the mk1 Mondeo was about £600 at that time and it only cost me about £80 (IIRC).
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I suppose we are all different on this.
I have never held a car on the clutch and never held a clutch pedal fully down ( with the clutch plates fully disengaged) for more than 5 seconds. Its straight into neutral and foot off the clutch usually.
( I have always driven with maximum mechanical sympathy, rather than anything else, as sometimes taught in lessons)
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SWMBO has used the clutch slipping technique on several cars with no apparent ill effects. Verbal abuse resulted if I pointed this bad technique out.
But on her last one, a Mazda 323F, severe clutch slip set in after 34,000miles. When in her new Getz the handbrake gets used- at last.
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Glaikit, Yes I went though that with SWMBO...
Actually after passing her test I had to teach her how to drive differently in order to preserve the clutch.
Her instructor(s) would be proud of her now, sticking it into neutral to coast up to a halt and using the gears to assist braking on long hills.(LOL)
And using the clutch as a switch almost, never held down for more than a few seconds.
( I`m still working on the resting the hand on the gearlever though... thats a problem)
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>Actually after passing her test I had to teach her...
Ah, topical - but shouldn't you have let her pass her own test, OR?
};---)
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Quite a few drivers don't/won't hold the car on the clutch because they don't have the skill to.
P.s. Not a dig at anyone who doesn't do it for other reasons :0)
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Is gently taking the clutch up through the bite while increasing revs to get a fast smooth getaway deemed to be slipping or blending?
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oilrag said:
( I`m still working on the resting the hand on the gearlever though... thats a problem)
I now drive an auto and tease it all the time but with a manual box, I always used to have my hand on the gearlever, very gently, so it was ready for the swift take-off through the gears. But I do remember a warning. Please, what was it?
--
e Prôf - Another Recycled Teenager
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