The GF and I were going on a hike today, and where we were going we had the option of two trailheads, the better one being at the top of some pretty steep residential streets with parallel parking. Being as it's a holiday and the weather is nice, it was pretty crowded up there, but there was one spot available with just enough room for my Civic. The angles and available space weren't right for a head-in so I prepared to back in. As I said, it was pretty steep, and after generating some pretty good burning clutch smell without quite finishing the job, I opted to just go to the other trailhead with better parking instead.
The GF mercilessly teased me for this, expressing a desire to come back tomorrow in her car and "show me how it's done". My contention is that slipping the clutch to reverse up a steep hill into a parking spot just isn't worth the wear, but she believes that such an infrequent event won't make a meaningful dent on the life of the clutch. AFAIK not slipping the clutch in a situation isn't really an option in a torque-challenged, low geared small-engined car.
Being as I haven't owned a given car long enough yet to wear out a clutch (let alone haven't really been driving long enough probably) I really don't have much factual backing, but then neither does she. How much abuse like this can a "normal" econo-box OEM clutch generally take? Just how bad is it to burn the clutch to the point where you can smell it occasionally? I'm not too worried about my car specifically (this is probably the 2nd time in 40k miles that I've done something like this) but generally my feeling is why do the damage when you don't have to?
Am I overreacting?
The GF mercilessly teased me for this, expressing a desire to come back tomorrow in her car and "show me how it's done". My contention is that slipping the clutch to reverse up a steep hill into a parking spot just isn't worth the wear, but she believes that such an infrequent event won't make a meaningful dent on the life of the clutch. AFAIK not slipping the clutch in a situation isn't really an option in a torque-challenged, low geared small-engined car.
Being as I haven't owned a given car long enough yet to wear out a clutch (let alone haven't really been driving long enough probably) I really don't have much factual backing, but then neither does she. How much abuse like this can a "normal" econo-box OEM clutch generally take? Just how bad is it to burn the clutch to the point where you can smell it occasionally? I'm not too worried about my car specifically (this is probably the 2nd time in 40k miles that I've done something like this) but generally my feeling is why do the damage when you don't have to?
Am I overreacting?