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Sport Driving Without Causing Too Much Wear On The Clutch

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Old 08-17-2012, 06:41 PM
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Question Sport Driving Without Causing Too Much Wear On The Clutch

Title says it all...

Has anyone any advice ? i usually shift really quickly and at really high RPM (Beep'in sound). The 8 is a sports car ... so i wanna drive it like one... just not change clutch every 10k

bought my 8 at : 83k (clutch was fine)
now : 96k (Impossible to get faster than 40Kph, Slipping hard)

And already need to change clutch...Booked for next Tuesday

Anyway thanks for your guys advices.
Old 08-17-2012, 06:43 PM
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pretty hard to demolish the OEM clutch if you aren't a bonehead when it comes to driving standard. Try not to dump the clutch at like 4k.
Old 08-17-2012, 06:51 PM
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Originally Posted by paimon.soror
pretty hard to demolish the OEM clutch if you aren't a bonehead when it comes to driving standard. Try not to dump the clutch at like 4k.
I don't dump it. I just drive it in redline Everyday. Seemed like it didn't liked it...
Old 08-17-2012, 06:54 PM
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Paimon....hardly nice.....



Chris, the key is learning to rev match. Clutch wear happens when you are engaging the clutch and the engine flywheel speed is different than the transmission speed. The greater the difference in speeds between the two, the more the clutch disc slides and the more it burns off. If you rev match your shifts, up and down, the speed difference will be 0 and no wear will occur. Obviously, you have to slip the clutch some when starting from a stop, but in practice, this should be your only point of clutch wear.

For example, did you know that you can shift without disengaging the clutch at all? You can!
Accelerate gentle in 3rd, keep your foot off the clutch, and as you lift off the gas pull backwards on the shifter gently and it will pop out of gear into neutral. Continue to gently pull backward into 4th. You will feel it against the gate until the revs will exactly match the speed of the transmission, and the shifter will smoothly pop into 4th.

All gears in all manual transmissions are exactly like this. Now, I don't recommend doing this everywhere, but if you learn where the RPMs are going to be, just wait to shift into the gear and/or let out the clutch until the RPMs are right there. It really only slows your shifts a little bit, and there is dramatically less wear.

Down shifts are the same, exactly they require you to use the throttle to increase the revs to where they need to be, and need lots more practice.
Old 08-17-2012, 07:11 PM
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Originally Posted by RIWWP
Accelerate gentle in 3rd, keep your foot off the clutch, and as you lift off the gas pull backwards on the shifter gently and it will pop out of gear into neutral. Continue to gently pull backward into 4th. You will feel it against the gate until the revs will exactly match the speed of the transmission, and the shifter will smoothly pop into 4th.
This is hardly good advice for someone who is claiming that they are having issues with going through clutches or doesn't know how to drive a standard transmission well enough. Not to mention recommending this on a transmission that already has its share of synchro issues.

Not saying this is a bad thing, heck go to a SBarber training session and they will teach you how to do this, mind you if you cannot grasp the concept of rev matching your synchros end up doing all of the work of the clutch. game over.
Old 08-18-2012, 01:36 AM
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Originally Posted by RIWWP
Paimon....hardly nice.....



Chris, the key is learning to rev match. Clutch wear happens when you are engaging the clutch and the engine flywheel speed is different than the transmission speed. The greater the difference in speeds between the two, the more the clutch disc slides and the more it burns off. If you rev match your shifts, up and down, the speed difference will be 0 and no wear will occur. Obviously, you have to slip the clutch some when starting from a stop, but in practice, this should be your only point of clutch wear.

For example, did you know that you can shift without disengaging the clutch at all? You can!
Accelerate gentle in 3rd, keep your foot off the clutch, and as you lift off the gas pull backwards on the shifter gently and it will pop out of gear into neutral. Continue to gently pull backward into 4th. You will feel it against the gate until the revs will exactly match the speed of the transmission, and the shifter will smoothly pop into 4th.

All gears in all manual transmissions are exactly like this. Now, I don't recommend doing this everywhere, but if you learn where the RPMs are going to be, just wait to shift into the gear and/or let out the clutch until the RPMs are right there. It really only slows your shifts a little bit, and there is dramatically less wear.

Down shifts are the same, exactly they require you to use the throttle to increase the revs to where they need to be, and need lots more practice.
Thanks for the post.

I knew about rev matching but in a sport driving style isn't it less effective than shifting at high rpm ?

if i shift at 8 k... i should hold down the clutch till revs go down to (lets say) 6k then release it ?

thanks
Old 08-18-2012, 03:08 AM
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Rev matching and shifting at high rpm are two completely different things.
You bought a car with a lot of miles on it, clutches are wear items. You do the math.

Old and flexing clutch pedals may increase clutch wear, not being able to shift properly increases clutch wear etc... Sports driving by itself puts more stress on the whole transmission, drivetrain and each and every mechanical part in a car.

If you want to drive sporty be prepared to replace parts. If you can't afford it just buy a prius and an xbox with forza.
Old 08-18-2012, 09:03 AM
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Originally Posted by Chris Ryan
Thanks for the post.

I knew about rev matching but in a sport driving style isn't it less effective than shifting at high rpm ?

if i shift at 8 k... i should hold down the clutch till revs go down to (lets say) 6k then release it ?

thanks
You can rev to 9k, shift out of gear at 9k, and still rev match the up shift.

Rev matching has no restriction on when you take it out of gear.
Old 08-18-2012, 09:19 AM
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Originally Posted by Chris Ryan
Thanks for the post.

I knew about rev matching but in a sport driving style isn't it less effective than shifting at high rpm ?

if i shift at 8 k... i should hold down the clutch till revs go down to (lets say) 6k then release it ?

thanks

Most of the RPM drops are less than 2K rpm's ..pay attention to what your car does for a while and you will get a much better idea of what the pattern is

Ideally you want to try and get the rpm drop/rise as close as possible so the syncros don't have to do as much work to get the 2 gears spinning at the same speed so they mesh. Less difference = less wear \
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