i'm fairly new at driving stick and i wanted to know more about the clutch and how it wears out.
say i'm driving around 70, coasting with the vehicle in neutral and i want to speed up.
do i let the clutch out fast with no gas, slow with no gas, slow with gas, or fast with gas.
and another question...
when at a complete stop going into first.
more rpm's and let the clutch out faster or low rpm's but letting the clutch out very slow.
i know they are pretty stupid question's but i just wanted to find out because i don't want to wear out mine because the price of clutch's and installation are expensive.
thanks

 

its not stupid, its just that you're new. we've all been there.

find the catchpoint. this is the point where you'll get instant response at a deadstop.

as for resuming acceleration after coasting, you want to catch the RPM's at where you left off. so lets say you're at 70MPH in 4th gear and at 3000RPMs, then coast in neutral and your RPM's drop, if you want to pick up and start accelerating from there.. you
1)clutch all the way down and shift into gear
2)add a tiny bit of gas until you feel it under your clutch pedal and slowly release the clutch. it'll make you catch your speed where you left off and then u can just fully release the clutch and only use gas.

OH and lastly, low RPM + slow release (catchpoint+ release would be ideal.) if you high RPM + release the clutch very quickly, you're basically launching.. even if it were better on your clutch (which it isn't IIRC) you'd be molesting your first gear.

 

can anyone help answer my questions?

 

thanks dagle, anyone else have tips or information?

 

heres some more info::

if you are coasting in neutral, shift into gear and just gas it, you'll feel like you're braking for a second (you'll move forward in your seat) and then suddenly take off.

the catchpoint is the point right before your RPM's drop and your car begins to shake.

practice driving with the car parked. (e-brake'd)

so, fire the car up and take it into 1st gear. then slowly release the clutch until you feel your car vibrating, when it starts vibrating it means it's about to stall. When the car begins to vibrate, push the clutch pedal all the way back in. so find the engagement point on your clutch pedal by repeating that over and over until you're comfortable. The actual point where you get response is just a tiny bit before the vibration point, but since you're new to manual.. that's nearly impossible to explain. when you can consistantly get to the point before dying out, start modifying it so that you're at the point before vibration. that's the spot for daily driving.

oh and be glad you're not learning on a racing clutch, boy was that a fun day.

 

i know how to drive stick i just wanted to make my clutch life last. i learned with a stage 3 racing clutch...it scared me a little hah. it was like a slingshot.

 

lol

 

Just remember that everytime you have to use your clutch....it will wear it down a little. I only shift gears if I have to. The only time I go into neutral is when I am coming to a stop and the car is revving at 1000 RPM in 5th. I NEVER take it out of gear on the highway. Why people put the car in neutral while travelling at highway speeds is beyond me.

Whenever you shift, you want to have the engine revving close to what it will run once you shift into that gear. For at 40mph and you are about to shift into 5th, do so when the engine speed is around 2K RPM. I usually blip the throttle since it takes a little longer to get into 5th.

As for taking off, I usually take 1.5-2 seconds letting the clutch out at 1000 rpm.