Miker

My work parking lot in downtown Toronto is also the city's biggest tourist draw, the Eaton Centre. It has a circular ramp from Yonge St. with six floors and I'm constantly behind vehicles that think each floor is a buffet at which they can stop, look and decide whether they'll park on that floor. Which leaves me behind them at a pretty sharp angle hitting the horn and yelling "move!". My point is....I'm then forced to release my clutch and try to find a safe, forward motion as I continue up the circular ramp to my parking spot. Unfortunately, I sometime smell a ton of clutch stink. If you were stuck behind a Pathfinder with N.Y. plates on a very tight uphill circular ramp and you had to engage the clutch to move forward with your wheels turned to the left, how would you do it with minimal clutch stink? If I gun it, I'll hit the concrete ramp. If I let it out slowly, I'll stall. Am I killing the clutch? Are there e-brake tricks I could learn? Parking somewhere else isn't an option since I get the $375 spot free every month as part of my work contract.

Thanks!

WhiteDealershipRice

Use the e-brake to hold the car from rolling backwards and VERY SLOWLY start releasing the clutch untill it starts to grab the engine (without adding gas) then start releasing the e-brake as you roll into the throttle very lightly. (you should be on the verge of stalling the engine untill you release the e-brake) and keep releasing the clutch slowly.
You are probably burning a little too much clutch because you are using medium RPMs with a LOT of clutch slippage to maintain a safe speed on the ramp. This way you save the clutch by trading clutch slippage for low RPMs (its kind of hard to get it right but with practice you can get the revs down to about 800-600 without stalling. )

CosmosMpower

Go practice your clutch control on an empty hill. I can hold the car in it's spot on a 45 degree slope by just letting the clutch out enough to not let it roll backwards or forwards

daisuke

yeah I had a friend do that one time for like 5 minutes while waiting in a traffic line on a hill, I didn't realize what he was doing until he told me about it... and then I nearly yelled at him "what the hell are you doing???" about 10 seconds later the smell of burned clutch permeated the car. He didn't burn it out but it wouldn't have taken much longer, and it didn't fail after that either

Regarding the original question, I would just use the clutch to start, using the e-brake on a hill is for ppl that don't know how to drive manual, however having your wheels turned might make things a bit harder. But I'd have to agree with cosmosMpower, practice a bit until you get the hang of it and just do that from now on. With practice you'll find that one point where you can just let out your foot to the right place and hit the gas at the same time and the car will move just right.

Krankor

Depending on how steep the hill is, I don't consider the ebrake trick to be only for beginners. I've been driving stick for 20 years now, and on rare occasions, on a very steep hill, I'll use the ebrake trick. It's a tool like anything else.

dtorre

Just put the car in neutral....hold the brake ....wait for the car to move a reasonable distance in front of you ((instead of stopping and going)) then when your actually able to move slowly shift to first slowly release the clutch while you tap on the gas....good times

FABRO

just buy an automatic beater to work. Thats what I would do and I wouldn't have to worry about anybody hitting me or denting my car in the parking garage. Problem solved, also you won't have to worry about your clutch and brakes wearing out from doing all of this slope driving you have to do to work.

yiksing

Toe on brakes and heel to apply throttle when you wanna start moving again. Heel and toe is not only useful for racing situation.

ALP22

As inferred by the e-brake comments here, the clutch is perfectly happy being fully depressed, and holding the pedal all the way in cannot harm it too much. Once you hit the bite point though, that's when burnout occurs. In the UK, I was always taught to use the e-brake whenever holding a car at a stop light on a hill. It lets you depress the clutch pedal all the way in, saving wear on the plates. Then when you need to, just let the pedal up and off the e-brake.

msrecant

Keep a good distance between you and the "Pathfinder with N.Y. plates" so you can continue to creep forward as the "Pathfinder" slows down and speeds up. Then use the parking brake to hold the car whenever you absolutely have to stop, waiting until the "Pathfinder" pulls ahead a good distance so you can go back to a constant creep.

Use of the parking brake on inclines is a standard technique for MTs (whether you are a beginner or an old fart), unless you happen to have 3 legs.

DOMINION

Dude this is why I did not get a MT. On a side note I was in LA last year and seena 911 trying to go up hill and all kinds of smoke was coming out the back of his car, what the hell was that?

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

Roll back into the car behind you, that was following too closely. When you hit, get out of your car screaming "Why did you hit me" Police will investigate and the the car with the front end damage is naturally at fault. His insurance will by you a new (insert brand name here) rear body kit. Upgrade problem solved.
I'm kidding of course.

BlueEyes

Because you don't know how to use one?

limepro

lol he was probably burning his clutch that happened to me the very first time taking off on a hill i was in my friends 84 bmw i let go of the clutch hit the gas hard sat in 1 spot with the engine revving not moving car smelt bad for a couple days after that lol.

zoom44

wrong and dont let the Brits here you say that. over there they are taught correctly that the hand brake is for EXACTLY this type of situation.

use the hand brake as described above.

Huey52

iTrader: (2)

Same here. I've been driving manual for many moons and have always used my ebrake to hold my place in line on steep banks. Taught my sons to do the same. Nothing worse than someone in a hill-stop line in front of you rolling back, so don't do it yourself. Using the ebrake there is zero roll back and far less clutch wear.

DOMINION

I know how to drive MT but where I live its stop go any time of day and my Girl dont know how to drive stick so thats that.

daisuke

I'll give you that you can keep the car from rolling backwards with the e-brake and save your leg from holding it, but if you do it right there is no difference in clutch wear if you know how to do it, you still need to slip the clutch as much to get going, you're just using the brake to find the right spot where your clutch is holding.

Now I must admit that I have used the e-brake more than once, but only on extreme slopes, I normally find it completely unnecesary and the clutch on my car has seen 250,000 miles and still works great. And yes I'm being a stubborn jackass, but I pride myself on my clutch control

the hand brake is to hold your car still on hills where it would otherwise roll down if you left it parked there. that and to save you from brake failure, and let me add that practicing this kind of situation is very recommendable because if you use it going 50 mph without ever having done it before, there's a big chance that it'll scare the crap out of you.

seymore15074

Same here, the ebrake is for chicks. I'd say I'm kidding, but honestly, I'd do a massive (backwards-moving) burnout before I'd use the ebrake.

This is a GREAT trick for beginners, or maybe if you're driving a car you aren't used to... I guess it's cool, it's just not for me.

seymore15074

Damn, at least she can drive! My girl is hell on wheels!