As a caveat, I've been driving a manual transmission for 6 years....so hardly a newbie....but I had an extremely newbie mishap this morning.

It was early and my brain had not completely woken up yet.....but it felt no different than any other day. I hop into my S depress the clutch pedal and start up the car.....THEN I proceed to release the clutch pedal WHILE THE CAR IS STILL IN FIRST GEAR!

First off....I don't know why I did this.....and second, I always have the e-brake on just in case, but for some reason, it wasn't engaged!

So my S makes this deafening grinding sound as it jolts forward right into the large truck parked in front of me. The weird thing is, the S doesn't stall and just keeps on running.

The only good thing is that this large truck parked in front of me had those huge rubber like back bumpers so no damage to his vehicle.......BUT now I have this 12 inch long black bruise on my white bumper (right under the H emblem).

Two questions:

1. How can I get this black rubber bruise off my bumper?

2. Could I have potentially done serious damage to my clutch? What was the griding sound and why didn't it stall??? (okay this was three questions in one).


Thanks for reading and your insights are appreciated.


One very embarrassed S owner.....

 

try buffing it out of the paint?

 

2. Doing it once shouldn't really matter much to the clutch, I think you are fine.

 

What do you mean by bruise? Is it just a rubber stain or is there a dent? Pictures?

I don't THINK there's much damage to the clutch. I mean, all you did was release the clutch in first without giving it any gas, right? That's something all people just learning stick do and it doesn't kill their clutches.

I'm not sure about the other two questions.

 

You MIGHT be able to use paint cleaner (Meguiars) and buff off the black paint that scuffed your bumper. Chances are you will not get the finish back that you had.

Your clutch is fine.

ALWAYS FEEL YOUR SHIFTER POSITION WITH YOUR HAND BEFORE LIFTING YOUR FOOT OFF THE CLUTCH.......ALWAYS!!!

Tim

 

I did that once when I first bought the car (and learned how to drive stick on it). The car kinda bucked forward about an inch then died. No grinding or anything. Maybe it tried to jump out of first when you did it? I'm assuming you depressed the clutch again right away when you say the engine was still running?

 

Your clutch will be fine. As far as your paint problem, post this in the wash and wax forum and you'll get some very well informed opinions. Don't just start scrubbing away at your paint until you've figured out the best/least damaging to your finish solution to your problem. Lots of people end up ruining their paint by scrubbing away at their paint or using some type of solvent that's damaging to the finish. Trust me...post this in the wash and wax forum and you'll be taken care of.

 

Don't worry, it happens to the best of us. When I first started driving a stick I didn't realize that I had left the car in 1st gear and after I started it I let off the clutch and the car leaped forward and almost went through my father's quad that was parked in front of it. Since then I always keep my car in 4th gear after I shut it off so just in case I get another brain fart it won't leap forward, it will just stall.

 

No dent at all....just the black rubber that's rubbed off the bumper of the truck.

Not sure how imbedded this scuff is however.



I'll definitely post this in the wash forum.

 

Yeah you're not that stupid, its just a brain-fart....


head on over to the wash and wax....