I know that manuals and shifting have been talked about a lot recently. But through searching I was not able to find the exact question that I had. I was talking to a friend today and we were arguing about driving manuals. He said that when downshifting to take a turn he shifts into the gears he wants to leave the turn in, and leaves the clutch in the whole turn. I prefer to shift into neutral and then shift into the desired gear once i have completed turning. He tried to argue that this had great wear on the engine, running in neutral for so long. I told him that he was killing the life of his clutch. 1st off, he is right? And 2nd of all, if he is right would u rather ruin a 350 dollar clutch or a 3500 dollar engine?

Thanks,

-Payn-

 

I shift into neutral, and then into gear when coming out of the turn. I don't like riding the clutch. As far as I know running in neutral isnt bad for your engine

 

Both of you seem to not stress the engine either way but...

your friend is riding the clutch thru the corner (as opposed to you in neutral with foot off clutch pedal)... he will have more clutch wear, at least in the pilot bearing.

Both of you, however, have less than "full control" that is available due to having the engine and transmision decoupled while cornering.

 

I don't think there is any terrible wearing down of either the engine or the clutch. My family has 5 cars all manual transmissions and all have the original clutch. The clutch may wear due to being pushed down for extended periods. Both the transmission and the engine would wear more from extreme engine braking, from 4,500 RPM and up. When I downshift, I make sure the lower gear will not rev the engine past 2,500 RPM.

As far as my turns, I usually leave the car in gear and brake. When I exit the turn, I downshift. This is my lazy-man's way of driving. When I feel more agressive or just to have fun, I like to have the car downshifted before the apex of my turn. I would usually apply the brakes, downshift it right before entering the turn, and rev match at the apex of the turn. If I'm coming in too fast and need to compromise, I'll downshift and engage just before the turn and not rev match. This will help you get a little oversteer.

 

Two words...heel-toe.

 

Slow down and downshift just before you turn, then release the clutch and accellerate through the turn. You maintain control of the vehicle that way.

You want to be accellerating as you come out of a turn.

You shouldn't be braking while going into the turn either.

Anybody ever take a motorcycle safty course? They teach you how to drive.

 

Going into a turn I'll be coming up on it in 3rd gear. I'll downshift to 2nd gear and rev-match via some sort of a heel-toe technique so that I don't cause excessive wear on the clutch. After that I'll be hooked up in 2nd gear just as I turn in and then I just take the turn in-gear and then power out of it.

I wouldn't leave the car out of gear or just have the clutch disengaged because you have better control of the car if the engine is still hooked up to the wheels. If you leave it in the lower gear you can take advantage of engine braking coming up on the turn, and then you'll already be in your acceleration gear coming out of the turn.

 

As for your exact argument...

The transmission is in gear but the clutch is disengaged (in?). All he's doing is using the throwout bearing a little more. Maxima's seem to have some problems here, but I never had any throwout bearing problems with my old Camry in 207,000 miles. So I really don't think there are any problems here...

This isn't what I do, but it's just another way of doing things. I don't understand why your friend thinks you're ruining your engine, though

The reason I always leave it in gear with the clutch engaged is mainly for safety. If some idiot plows through an intersection and I need to haul azz through my turn or through the intersection in a hurry to avoid him and it's too late to brake all you have to do is stomp on the gas. This has happened to me a few times. If the same thing happened to you then you'd be in serious trouble because you're out of gear and not ready to move at all. You're pretty much a sitting duck. Even worse, you could miss a gear too.

The only time my foot is ever on the clutch for things other than shifting is if I'm stopped or about to stop. At all other times the engine/tranny are hooked up

 

Exactly, do one thing at a time. Brake, then turn, then accellerate...

...but blend it smoothly with good trail-braking and heel & toe shifting...

 

Coincidentally, this was another arguement that my friend had. He said that when stopped at a stop light for an extended amount of time, he shifts into neutral so he doesn't have the clutch engaged. I think this is just b/c he is lazy and doesn't want to have his foot on the clutch. Does it really make a difference or is that just a personal preference for the driver? I would rather have my foot on the clutch so that I am ready to go. Not to mention i'm sure that one time i would forget that i was in neutral, and look like a dumb ****.

-Payne-

 

Despite the danger of missing a light and starting late, one of the major rules (and I'm sure everyone else on this board) I learned at a stop light is to put the car in neutral. You WILL wear out "something" (not sure if its the clutch) if you have the clutch disengaged at a stop.

 

any time your foot is in the clutch pedal, you're putting wear on the clutch....

I wouldn't ever worry about hurting your motor....the only way you're going to hurt a manual trans equipped VQ is by missing a gear and over-revving the engine.

Example: accidentally shifting into 2nd aat 90mph instead of 4th....

I would say you're better off than your buddy though, wear wise.

 

Throwout bearing...

 

DO NOT HAVE UR FOOT on the clutch when ur at the light. That causes damage to thowout bearing cause ur putting presure on it. The clutch should only be used to switch gears and not sit on it at the light.