LOL No. Neither of the two clutch plates is spinning!
O.K. What's needed is a 'No brainer' explanation of how a clutch works
Take a large dinner plate in your right hand and spin it at say 1000rpm... take an identical plate hold it in your left hand. Now press the two plates together so that the two plates press together and the plate in your left hand starts spinning at the same speed as the one in your right hand. Ah.. doesn't work...too slippery! O.K. Lets get some cork matting and glue it to both dinner plates. Lets get technical(God forbid) and call the cork mats
'friction lining'. Repeat the test.. the second time around the cork matting grips and both discs rotate at the speed of the plate in your right hand. If you spin the right hand plate faster the left plate speeds up too. This is how it was explained to me many moons ago
It's actually a very primitive method of transferring power from your right hand(engine) to you left hand(clutch/gearbox/propshaft/diff/back wheels).It's not a bad way of thinking about it. It's actually that 'cork matting' that you are looking after when you have a little sympathy for your clutch. It's that cork matting that wears away from both plates or becomes so polished and shiney from excessive revs on engagement that it eventually starts to slip and before long to put it technically is completely f****d

To come back to your original question all the clutch pedal does is press the two plates apart and they are pressed back together when you release it. With the engine switched off and the car stationary neither plate is spinning. It would be rather like pressing the pedal and working the cymbal on a drum kit.

 

I've been told by a mechanic I trust that modern throwout bearings turn all the time, not like the old ones that only rotated when you depressed the clutch. I haven't confirmed this personally, mind you, since I haven't replaced one of the miserable things since 1973. But if true, it would mean the bearing doesn't care if the clutch in in or out.

On the other hand, I doubt that engaging the clutch while the transmission is in neutral causes any important amount of friction plate wear. All it's doing is accelerating the transmission's input shaft.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Cedric Tomkinson
[B]

LOL No. Neither of the two clutch plates is spinning!
O.K. What's needed is a 'No brainer' explanation of how a clutch works

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DSF_S2k
[B]

In my old MGB, the throw out bearing was made of a carbon material, and did not rotate, it was fixed.

 

Earlier in this thread someone stated it is possible to shift without the clutch at all. This is of course possible, at the expense of your synchros. Don't do it.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Cedric Tomkinson
[B]

Thanks for confirming what I suspected to be the case about the throw out bearing these days. We used to call it the release bearing

 

I just replaced clutch & flywheel for my car (not S2000 but a
BMW)... the bill came out to be $1000 before labor!!

Really expensive if you ask me... so I start to doubt if my driving
habit is at all correct...

Few questions that I hope the experts here can help me
answer...

From my understanding... there will be some slippage no matter
what each time as you engage the clutch (foot out)... The
mechanic told me to let go as soon as possible (dont ride the
clutch) when I can feel the clutch engaging... but often times
the car seems to bog a bit then go..
Am I doing it too fast??? Isn't bogging the car wear out the
clutch even faster???

And dont you have to feather the clutch a bit??? To make the
ride just a bit smoother??

Thanks in advance...

 

Regardless of whether it increases your friction plate wear or not, it is simply a good habit to keep your car in the gear appropriate to your speed as you slow down.

Ask yourself this: If you were driving a car with an automatic transmission, would you put it in neutral as you approaced a red light? Of course not. If you suddenly needed to hit the gas quickly to avoid an accident, you wouldn't be able to in time. This is why, with a manual tranny, you should always have the car in gear while it's moving, you don't want to get caught not being able to accelerate if needed.

As far as the extra wear on your clutch caused by downshifting, it's negligible. My first car, a 1987 Integra, had 150,000 on the odo when I sold it, a manual tranny, and plenty of the original clutch remaining. It's poor shifting/clutching habits that causes clutch wear, not downshifting.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JT-KGY
[B]I just replaced clutch & flywheel for my car (not S2000 but a
BMW)... the bill came out to be $1000 before labor!!

Really expensive if you ask me... so I start to doubt if my driving
habit is at all correct...

And dont you have to feather the clutch a bit???

 

Had only 50k miles on the car... but I feel that clutch was already
quite worn out when I bought the car (used).

What does "slip" exactly mean??.. The action that you're
engaging the clutch by releasing the clutch slowly?? I wasn't
referring to every gear change... just 1st gear from stop...