15 years ago I had a Civic, manual transmission. After a year I could barely go up hills because of slippage in clutch. Drove an automatic since that time. Now I have an S2000 with 12,900 miles. I'm concerned my clutch might be going slowly because of my driving style (never formally trained on stick).

I can drive pretty smooth, but there is a bit of lugging between 1st and second gears. This may sound amatuerish, but can someone answer these questions:

a) when your, say, coming into a parking garage in first gear to grab a ticket from the machine, do you put the clutch in and hold it in while you roll to a stop, then slowly let it out again after you have ticket? (just example). In other words, do you keep clutch pushed in during brief stops at red light, drive through, etc.

b) to prevent the lugging when coming out of 1st and 2nd, I ssssslllowy let out clutch. Is that bad for car?

c) finally, can someone describe in painful detail the procedures of starting at dead stop and going smoothly to 50 mph or so in third gear?

d) do aftermarket clutches last longer than oem parts?
thanks, this will help me.

 

These question have been on my toung for a loooooooong time, i could ask anyone not because i was afraid that they would laugh or anything, but I could not explain it as simple as you did!!!!

I am having the same Q? ...

 

a) for me I don't hold the clutch in any longer than it takes to change from gear to gear. Everyone has a different style of driving but for me (and for a lot of others), we tend not to hold in the clutch with the car in 1st gear while waiting for the light to turn green. It's partly because it takes stress off the clutch but also because out legs get tired from holding it in. When I pull up to a parking garage, I do the same. Put car in neutral, just hold onto the brake pedal, grab my ticket, then while the gate is lifting, I put it into first, ease out the clutch, then I'm off to fight for a parking spot.

b) I don't understand what you mean by lugging when coming out of first and second but I can only tell you that letting the clutch out too slowly will cause additional wear on your clutch. If you want to avoid that 1-2 jerk feeling then you don't really release the clutch that fast but not too slowly either. You sort of let it roll off rather quickly but adjust it accordingly to how much gas you are giving. I don't know exactly what you mean by your question so I can't answer it accordingly.

c) I don't understand this questions either...I hope you are not thinking of starting the car from a dead stop in 3rd gear because it just won't work. You won't have much power to pull from a dead stop in 3rd gear and you will stall. Why you would want to do this, I don't know. If you are talkling about how to shift from 1-2-3 from a dead stop, ok then that I can tell you. When you shift the car, it all depends on how you feel. If you want to drive around town, then keep the revs low when shifting. When you want to wind it out on a twisting road or highway, then don't shift until your RPMs get up in the 8-9k range...it's up to you. When you start off in 1st with the clutch in, give it a slight bit of gas as you are "rolling" off the clutch. Don't just dump the clutch because it's not like an on-off switch. You have to treat the clutch as if it's a lever that adjusts gradually. The more gas you give, the more clutch you let out but you have to do it right because if your gas is more than your clutch, you'll just rev higher and higher and your car will creep slowly while your clutch burns if you don't release it all the way. If you don't have enough gas when you release the clutch, either the car will bog and jerk or you may just stall. Assuming you got it correct and are pulling away smoothly, bring it up to desired speed, push the clutch in while letting off the gas, then shift to 2nd gear, and slowly ease the clutch back on (remember again it's not an on-off switch) while you adjust the gas accordingly. The tough part is the dead start from 1st gear...anything else should be cake once you master this step. Hills are another story though ...

d) The OEM clutch should last just as long as aftermarket clutches if you know how to drive correctly. If you don't know how to master the clutch, getting an aftermarket clutch wont help at all cuz you'll end up trashing that one too. The OEM clutch is designed and matched for the engine output. Generally people swap in performance clutches to compensate for added power from engine mods such as turbo, supercharger, or Nitrous, or just because they auto-X the car regularly and need a clutch with a higher clamping force so that it doesn't slip as often. A few of the aftermarket clutches are difficult to engage smoothly and have a stiffer pedal feel because of their nature but some are actually just as smooth as stock. But again if you don't know how to properly control your clutch, an aftermarket clutch won't last that much longer than a stock clutch.

Hope I've answered your questions because I don't really understand what you meant by questons B & C ... sorry

 

Everything you stated is fine. Your car is fine. Your clutch is fine. Your tanny is fine.

This is a mass produced street car. Honda didnt count on people using this car as a track vehicle only. It is still to many people......myself included, a fun, sexy, fast work horse. Driving the way you are will keep a honda clutch alive for years.

This arguement is going overboard...."does holding the clutch pedal in while Im at a light kill the clutch" NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.......

The clutch is completely disengaged when the pedal is "in".....same as if your car was in neutral.

ITS JUST A CAR PEOPLE>......Its not a pagani, ferrari, ITS STILL A HONDA. IT WILL LAST LONGER THAN YOUR TEETH if you treat it right. Just enjoy the car and dont let the worries spoil the ownership experience.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by NFRs2000NYC ITS JUST A CAR PEOPLE>......Its not a pagani, ferrari, ITS STILL A HONDA.

 

Just follow FormulaRX suggestions and give it some time because I still havn't mastered the shifting technick and I've been driving manual on and off for many years.

 

holding the clutch pedal in for a long time will not wear out the clutch, but WILL wear out your throwout bearing. when using the clutch, if its fully engaged or disengaged, then its fine. most wear occurs when the clutch pedal is somewhere in between. so when changing gears, try to stay out of the "middle" zone as much as you can.

for example when you said you *slowly* let go of the clutch when changing from 1st to 2nd gear, that is causing wear. when you're slowly letting go of the clutch, the clutch isn't fullt mated to the flywheel and is essentially just slipping. slipping is bad and you want to avoid it.

by the way if you want to reduce the "jerky" feeling when shifting from 1st to 2nd, try to blip the thottle b/w shifting. this way the engine and transmission are spinning at the same speed. this is only helpful if you shit very slowly, which makes the rpm drop below where it should be at for the next consecutive gear. this process is called rev-matching(very useful when downshifting also). this prevents the car from jerking back and forth(smoother gear transitions) plus there will be minimal clutch wear because as i said before, the engine and transmission will spinning at the same speed and there is no slippage.


remember clutch in, clutch out...nowhere in between.

 

Thanks everyone for the info. It helps.
robert

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RazorV3
for example when you said you *slowly* let go of the clutch when changing from 1st to 2nd gear, that is causing wear.

 

Little bit of a spelling mistake there..