Learn something new every day. I was never taught that holding the clutch in is bad for the clutch.. of course I pretty much just hopped into a car and taught myself how to drive stick.

 

i stay in gear while slowing down. Just in case of emergency and i need to get back on the power.

 

It's saved me from accidents before.

 

Saved me before as well. you never know when you need that power back.

 

Clutch pedal should be thought of as a momentary switch. Once you push it in, let it right back out.

This covers all circumstances.

There should never be a time that you are sitting holding the pedal down. A short bit before a green light is ok, but train yourself to do it less.

 

I prefer to engine brake down as slow as possible before I go into neutral.

 

I skip gears sometimes, but I often double clutch on the street. That should alleviate any wear.

Also, one "advantage" to engine braking (leaving the car in gear on decel) is that the injectors shut off fully. In theory, it might save some gas.. I do both..

 

^^ is double clutching necessary? you do have synchros, i am not well versed with the mechanical aspect of the transmission and clutches. please help me understand.

 

I too, am curious.
My situation: Driving into work, i turn right off a highway from 60mph. Sometimes I'll downshift through every gear all the way from 6th to 2nd, other times I will just slow all the way down to about 20 mph, double clutch, move the shifter to second and rev match.

Is the latter method harder on the transmission?

 

Try not to skip gears, I believe Billman has a thread on how users develop burrs on their gears from skip shifting.