Hey guys, i finally got my max. Now, I'm newbie at driving stick... but i know within a week i'll get it down good. The car is in perfect condition (all nissan scheduled maintenance done) and now that i drive and jerk it cuz i suck at stick... i was wondering if i am killing the transmission.. i have no choice but someone reassure me that i'm ok till the end of this week lol.

Also, the car squeels like a beetch whenever i apply the brakes... any quick best methods to try to solve it?? thanks guys

 

get new brake pads and your rotors resurfaced

 

You're transmission should be fine...its your clutch that is taking the beating most likely. They are ment to be replaced though.

 

So as long as i don't smell the clutch burning... i'm fine

 

Not necessarily. You can still be doing damage to the clutch even if you don't smell clutch burn. But don't worry about it, you won't do much damage at all, you'll pick up driving a 5-speed pretty quick.

 

Driving a stick and driving a stick well are 2 different things. After rolling and already in 1st gear watch your tach at each shift. the needle should drop and stay put in the proper rpm when the gear is engaged. If its drops and shoots back up after the gear is engaged, you didn't give it enough gas. If the needle jumps high when you puch in the clutch (higher than the rpms before you enagged the clutch) and drops when the gear is engaged, you just spun the clutch (too much gas)....do this too hard and the clutch WILL burn. You can also hear and feel the difference. In a week, take a look at teh tach and hopefully your shifts are solid and that needle goes ***BLAM** right smack into its proper rpm w/o fluctuation. Good luck. Hopefully this makes sense to you. If not, ignore me-everyone else does

 

kratz - hehe, I think it's easier for someone in the first month of driving a stick to just work with their feet, rather than trying to track their RPMs and trust their not-so-used-to-feathering-pedals-so-softly feet. You know when you make the right shifts, ala the RPMs falling right into the correct range in a smooth manner, because the car will shift smoothly.

When I was starting I was at least aware of if a) I was applying too much gas and b) I let the clutch out prematurely/too fast. You just balance off those two concepts. And always remember, neutral is your friend, not your enemy (more of a friend than normal if you chose smoother riding over clutch life, and don't mind a lot of double-clutching).