Teaching stick to my other half

[heyheylbj]

Wait a minute, did I learn to drive stick incorrectly?

quote:

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Originally posted by OffOrWFO:
Inproper downshifting will eat syncros not clutches. My friend is proof of that.(ruined a trans in 30K) When you hear the trans whine its the syncros trying to speed the the trans up. You gotta bring the rpms up before downshifting. It is better to tell the wife to not down shift and save the trouble. As long as you teach her to let the clutch out BEFORE bringing the RPMs up the clutch should last a long time.

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So I should not use downshifting / engine braking when stopping, and I should rev match when I'm going to downshift? Is that basically the _correct way to do things that I've sort of ignored or was never taught? I always thought that was called double clutching.

Usually when I'm shifting, I change gears so that roughly my revs are within maybe 1000 RPM of where I came from when downshifting. Is that bad?

 

[rjundi]

A scary experience on my end is my wife driving an automatic. She tends to forget there is no clutch however presses the brake pedal in when she feels the need to shift. After four or five times of use nearly kissing the windshield and locked tires she figures it out.

She has only driven sticks and despises auto's. Used car searching is very difficult as she wants only manual and preferably black in color. Rare as a whole in the US.

 

[Matt_S]

Heyheylbj,

There's a technique called "heel and toe" downshifting that you should use. It's different than double clutching. Basically you brake with the heel of your right foot, press the clutch with the left foot, then reach the toe of your right foot over and blip the throttle to bring the RPMs up to where they would be with the next lowest gear as you're shifting gears, then let the clutch out. Do an internet search for more details.

 

[Kestas]

A long time ago I taught my girlfriend to drive a stick. After a while, I'll have to admit she could drive a stick better than I could!

 

[moribundman]

I generally shift down when slowing down. I'll slow down in 2nd gear in the city. I don't like the idea of slowing down in 3rd. If I suddenly need to accelerate, 3rd gear isn't exactly giving me the torque I need. Coasting to a stop in 3rd is also incredibly lame. I've never worn out the clutch on any of my cars. The clutch on my Audi can be expected to last 190k miles with sporty use.
Unfortunately, my car has a big-arse flywheel, so inertia will keep you going, even when shifting down. It also pretty much eliminates teh need for rev-matching. On the other hand, it lets me get going from a stop in 3rd without shaking, if I have to. Happened a few weeks ago, when the pivot rod disonnected from the transmission housing. I had to drive 12 miles stop'n go in the city. All in 3rd gear.

 

[Drew99GT]

I wouldn't worry about downshifting and not rev matching for the actual downshift, at least if you make sure the rpms are moderately low. It won't hurt the syncros at all. IF, on the other hand, your already at 4,000 rpm in 4th gear, and you quickly shift down into 3rd, then yea, that's going to stress the syncos. I can tell on my car if the revs are too high to downshift because it goes into the next lower gear slowly, and rougher, and you can hear the shyncro trying to speed up the constant mesh gear on the output shaft for the next lower gear. Makes the same sound like when you shift into first gear when the car is rolling at a slow speed. The main reason I thin for rev matching on a down shift is so the rpms are already at the level of the next lower gear.

 

[moribundman]

quote:

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I can tell on my car if the revs are too high to downshift because it goes into the next lower gear slowly, and rougher, and you can hear the shyncro trying to speed up the constant mesh gear on the output shaft for the next lower gear.

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I've never heard the synchros at work. Downshifting takes 1/5 of a second, and my ears are not that good!

 

[Drew99GT]

I can really only hear it for second and first gears, 1st being when your too low in the rpms in second gear to get going again when slowly rolling, like coming up to a light that just turns green when your about to come to a stop. 3rd to 2nd does the same thing in my car if I try and downshift when the rpms are really high in 3rd.

 

[sprintman]

I can sure hear the syncro's if I don't double de-clutch. Hence I ddc for 3 decades and if you want your syncro's to last it's almost mandatory.

 

[sprintman]

I can sure hear the syncro's if I don't double de-clutch. Hence I ddc for 3 decades and if you want your syncro's to last it's almost mandatory.

 

[seotaji]

quote:

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A scary experience on my end is my wife driving an automatic. She tends to forget there is no clutch however presses the brake pedal in when she feels the need to shift. After four or five times of use nearly kissing the windshield and locked tires she figures it out.

She has only driven sticks and despises auto's. Used car searching is very difficult as she wants only manual and preferably black in color. Rare as a whole in the US.

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Wow, I'm not keen on the first part, but the second where black color and a manual are required is great!

 

[SteveD2]

Well, my stress is over. Just looked and bought a used automatic off of eBay for cheap ($415).

Even though my wife can drive a manual now, she still prefers an automatic. Less stress, she said. So, okay! Well, since she can drive stick if required in emergency, I decided to let it go. She and I both have enough stress as it is.

I figure, even if the auto tyranny lasted only about 5K, that would be about 10 years of her driving (she stays at home mostly except go to Wally: 1 mile, go to mall: 0.5 mile kind of things).

If her future job requires a long commute, she can afford to buy herself a better car even with her starter pay. As a poor hubby, I have done my best,

though she kept saying I bought this car because I love to tinker with it! She was quite right