i got my manuel max like 3 weeks ago....i still cant shift 1-5 smooth and i deff cant race no one ill get smoked its to jumpy and i cant take off so id deff lose....all i can do is take 2 min to get goin then go from 1st to 3rd to 5th...lol...i can do that smooth...is thier any tricks to the trade i know i gata practice but wit gas so high i dont like revin real high for now...so if anyone has any suggestions.....even if u make fun of me we all had to learn to drive stick somehow....jus askin for pointers...thanks....

 

i learned to drive a stick in reverse (can go a bit faster then 1st gear, so you get to practice feathering it more.) just get good at feathering 1st/reverse, and once you'r comfortable with that all you need to know is clutch, shift, let up on clutch (ALL THE WAY) gas.

dont ride your clutch, when you frist learn to drive a stick when taking slow corners its a bad bad bad bad habbit that almost everyone does when shifting from 3rd to 2nd for those corners they ride the clutch everytime. Just put it in 2nd, get your damn foot off the clutch and drive :P

 

your right we all start sometime or another. i say you have to pay your dues ! as you continue to get a feel for the car, you will get better with each shift. one day you will be speed shifting, talking on your cell phone, and dropping food all over you from that greasy cheeseburger your gulping down.

have fun !

 

lol i hate it im driven then i jerk like a mother trucker and i start yellin at myself like holy sh*t i cant drive.....

 

any tricks to a good launch other than practice......wut rpms to start at.....do i let of the clutch fast or slow?.......do u push the gas while letting off the gas slow in other gears?

 

don't even try to race until you feel comfortable driving normally. once you're accustomed too it you'll understand how to launch, its the same principal with more gas.

in first gear give it a little gas, maybe about 2000rpm and slowly let up on the clutch. you will need to of course slowly give it more gas, more or less try to keep the rpms constant until the clutch is up fully, at which point you can keep your foot off the clutch once you're moving (you should be able to have your foot off the clutch comfortably at about 5-8mph i'd say) you can gas it as much as you want.

*** FIRST GEAR WILL BE JERKY even if you're an experienced driver, the mechanics of the gear simply make it this way, once your foot is off the clutch it will become very hard to smoothly give/let up on the gas while in first, just takes a lot of daily driving.

anyways, after you're moving in first there is no more feathering of the clutch/gas to be done so to speak. for moderate acceleration bring it up to about 3000rpm and put in the clutch, you can do so quickly, but smoothly! smooth is the key here with standards, clutch in all the way, shift quick, and let up smooth (especially at the top, thats when it'll jerk if you're not gentle) you can give it a bit of gas just as you're almost all the way off the clutch for normal driving to make gear changes smoother, but don't do this if you're racing, you don't want to burn out your clutch real fast.

for launching real fast just do a hole shot at 2000-4000 rpm .. let your foot up off the clutch real quick (dont sidestep your foot and pop the clutch unless you want to be the cool kid and do a nice burn out), and shift hard!

 

thanks ill try it out tomarrow ur a real help thanks

 

practice practice practice, go into reverse then 1st back and forth practice

 

to get a feel for ur clutch and ur catch point go into a empty and flat (level, so ur car doesn't role) parking lot or sumtin. put ur car into gear adn left the clutch up slowly untill u see ur rpms drop and the car will start moving...once u reach that point of hte pedal let up slower untill the car starts driving smooth and just apply gas and let up off the clutch...just keep doin this and u'll get a nice feel for the catch point...and for a nice launch, once u learn the catch point u can ease of the clutch pretty fast up untill the catch point, apply gas and then let up the clutch.

 

One tuip a lot of people give is to take your car to an empty parking lot and practice engaging the clutch WITHOUT giving it any gas. If you are careful, you can get the car rolling with the clutch fully engaged in first gear without having to touch the gas. This will teach you where the clutch starts to catch as well as making you learn to be sensitive with it and to control how much you let it out.

As you get better you'll find that with a lot of shifting you tend to let the clutch out pretty quick, pause slightly 1/2-3/4 of the way out and then quickly let it the rest of the way out. I find that I tend to let it out until I put my heel down, pause very slightly as my feel is hitting the ground, and then let it out the rest of the way using just my ankle. It's hard to describe...

Also, as you get better, make sure you practice hills with and without the ebrake. When I was learning to drive the instructor said that some kid took the test in a stick and I couldn't understand how it was even possible to start on a hill with absolutely 0 roll back. Now it's second nature. My other hand works the ebrake on really nasty hills (there are a lot where I live) without me even hardly noticing. Don't forget to learn this...my girlfriend still has a lot of trouble with using the ebrake...I consider it the mark of someone who really knows how to drive stick. Most of the time you roll back so little that you don't even use it, but once in a while you need it and not rolling back at all is the mark of a professional.

Max was the first stick car I ever really drove (only once or twice before that) and I did plenty of insane burnouts accross intersections when someone would stop too close behind me on a hill...don't worry, you'll get better.

 

Yep, driving stick is a lot of fun, but it really bites when you first start out to learn. My biggest issue was starting on a hill. I would literly go 10mins out of my way to avoid a big hill. what i did to help overcome this fear is this:

when on a hill, pull you ebrake, and put the car in gear. when your ready to move, start out slowly, until you start to feel the car to brab, and then let down the ebrake. then your all set.

there are many tricks to the trade, but nothing can teach you better then learning from your own mistakes, and driving it daily. becareful not to burn your clutch out by revving it up too much and slipping the clutch. you then get hot spots on the flywheel, and you can fry your clutch. then you will have to get the flywheel re-surfaced, new clutch and labor.

eventually you will get better, trust us. it took me about a full month before i used to my car, and i trust myself on hills/driving hard. and racing/driving hard is easy, you just have to learn to pay attention to the rpms, and how fast you can shift. i admit... sometimes my brain is thinking faster then my hand/foot and move, and i have ground up 2nd gear a few times. it is a horiable sound, and puts you in place... and you drive slow after that. becareful not to do this.

but in a nutshell, no matter how much we tell you about shifting and what not, you are your own teacher.

-Chris

 

Hey man, dont give up, i got my max about 5 months ago and I'm not the 'best' driver out there at stick, but i've improved a lot. I just learned kinda where the grabbing point is, then hold it there for a sec givei t a little gas and slowly let it out. I had a ton of problems with not enough gas, and if you dont go slow enough on engaging the clutch, youll kill it practically every time. Also hills, never even heard of the e-brake, i just was quick and made sure i gave it a little mroe gas than if it was flat just so i wouldnt die out. I think being nervous accounts for a lot of the stalling, sometimes id think about it too much and boom id have trouble. Right now I think the only thing i have trouble with is the 3-2 downshift coming into a turn, im not really that fast to get it into gear and rev match and slow down at once (heel toe is for that huh?) but anyways...i usually just neutral it out and throw it into 2nd or somethin after the turn if im not in a huge hurry and dont need to accelerate super fast. Also, jerkyness in 1st, man i get it a TON, people say its because our engine has so much torque and the fact the transmission and engine are directly connected in a manual? correct me if im wrong, so thats what can cause a lot of the jerking, plus the overall gearing of 1st gear. I get this a little bit in 2nd gear and somewhat in 3rd gear as well, although not quite as much.

Keep practicing and youll get better! I know i did. :-)

 

LOL, this post is a riot. I love seein new drivers cause i had the same problem about 4 months ago. Dont worry man, it took me like....3 months to really get it down good to where i wasnt making any errors anymore. It just takes time, a lot of driving and practice. Im driving with a junk clutch now, and ive even got that down. I really need to stop driving my bros 5 spd 3000gt though cause ever time i do i get all messed up trying to drive mine. Anyway, good luck man.

 

This thread is also helping me out alot. I'm going on my 4th day driving stick. I still am a bit jerky every now and then switching gears, but I know I'll have everything in line in no time. Thank God there's not alot of hills where I live - I should go practice the e-brake method anyway, it'll be good to know. I'm just glad to see I'm not the only one who experienced some nervousness when beginning to drive stick.

 

nice way to restate wut i said right before u. LOL

 

Haha, sorry man. I was hoping no one said it yet but I wasn't in the mood to read since I'm such a frigging pro at driving stick. Hahaha.

 

to start - with the clutch down, rev the engine a little bit, then slowly start to release the cluth. when you feel that the engine cannot rev at the same speed and the car starts to feel like its about to shut off, spet a little more on the gas to bring the rev's to about the same level as in the beginning. and keep doing that (slowly release the clutch and slowly stepping on gas) until you releae the clutch completely.

and to shift to next gears - when the rpm's are at about 2.5 , let go off the gas completely and immideately press the clutch down, and then immediately shift to the next gear. then, while the rev's still haven't fallen down, press a ges just a bit to raise the rev's a little, and let go off the clutch (not too fast and not too slow).

this is how i drive. i have 98 maxima for about 2 weeks now, and i got it to drive like 90% smooth since the first week. i has two manual cars before (91 accord and 97 acura CL), so im used to it. good luck man.

 

thanks everyone for all ur replys.....i cant wait to drive it good my cars gana be insane...(atleast to me)

 

endus and drunkenmonkey hit it on the head. I taught my wife to drive a 5MT that way, and she has no problems now whatsoever. After you get a feel for that, find a deserted hill and try to stop while driving upward. You will either get better or drift downhill.