dont leave it in gear while waiting for the light, shift into neutral and clutch-out. otherwise you're going to wear out your throwout-bearing.

also use 1st gear coming from a standstill. yes i do give it a little bit of throttle and clutch-out gently while the rpm drops...meaning there is barely any heavy wearing kind of friction while the car picks up momentum. if you continue to slip then it's called 'riding the clutch' and that will wear the clutch prematurely if you do it constantly.

 

This has been a really great help in supplementing my crash-course MT lesson (two days before buying my MT Fit). I have a couple related questions I'm still trying to clear up, though:

(1) Am I causing excessive wear on the clutch when I'm slowly letting off the clutch to get going? I know I don't want to RIDE the clutch, but it feels like I do need to release it slowly if I don't want to launch myself forward. On the other hand, I could just ease off the gas, but then I'm worried about my engine lugging. Thoughts? Reassurances? Dire warnings?

(2) I spend every weeknight driving home VERY slowly on Los Angeles freeways. Is there a best-practice technique for such heavy stop-and-go traffic? When possible, I try to keep the car going pretty slowly (in 1st or 2nd) and avoid stopping. But what should I do if even that's too fast for the speed of traffic? I don't want to be constantly stopping and going (or riding the clutch, either), but I don't often have much choice.

Thanks!

 

What the school is now teaching about getting a car moving from 1st gear is (without gas) slowly release the clutch until the car is rolling and has moved about half a car length. Next, fully release the clutch and only then press the gas pedal. I can usually get the Fit moving using this method, but it takes some fine tuning to avoid stalling. I can see how adding some gas during the clutch release could help. If you all have been doing it all these years without excessive clutch wear, it's worth a try. Thanks.

 

Yeah, I can see that being the BEST way of doing things. But let's be honest, that's not exactly an exhilarating ride. Is there a good middle ground? Something that's not only minimizes wear on my clutch, but also doesn't make it look like I'm being slowly carried into the intersection by an army of ants?

 

Let's review things a bit.

How fast you do this is really up to you but, under normal conditions and certainly while learning, it's a smooth release of the clutch and application of the gas to get things going.

You'll never eliminate a minor clutch slip and that's simply nothing to be concerned with, trust me. Like brakes a clutch wears. It's designed that way.

At the beginners level you're concerned with getting the car going as quickly as needed without bucking or stalling or spinning the tires. It should, and will, become second nature.

A really good reason to master it is for those times you're driving in heavy bumper to bumper stop and go traffic. In those situations you can always drop the clutch and roll along out of gear. Come to a stop if needed then back into first and do it all over - again and again and again.

Damn that traffic jam, how I hate to be late.... burns my motor to go so slow... Damn that traffic jam. james taylor

In all my years of driving I've yet to replace a clutch - in my world they simply never wear out. I learned clutching along rt4 and rt17 in New Jersey - a hornets nest of drivers.

Regarding letting it go 1/2 car length - remember the Fit is short. Too much else going on to try and figure that one out. It'll only hold you back. Just go for it.

 

yah, in a traffic jam i rarely use my brakes unless it's a downhill. i use idle speed to get the car rolling, shift into 2nd if i need to go a tad faster, and then blip back into 1st to slow down to a crawl, disengage... car rolls to a stop. no brakes applied.

 

Just wanted to clear something up about starting in 1st gear....as you begin to release the clutch do you also begin to lightly press the gas pedal or do you wait till you reach the friction point and try to match (restore) the drop in rpms?

 

Ideally you want just enough to get the clutch to engage quickly and smoothly with just enough revs to get you moving as the clutch engages..... If you have to take off fast for a good reason do the same thing but allow the revs to build up more quickly using more throttle as you are letting out on the clutch pedal..... I wish I could get into the car with you to show and critique you on this stuff..... You seem to be a very conscientious young man.... I like that about you.

 

Thanks TC. It sounds like you are starting pressure on the gas pedal before reaching the friction point. If I've given it too much gas am I likely to stall out as I reach the fp?

 

No I try to do like Krimson Cardnal says to do except when I need to take off quickly like when trying to move from a stop into fast moving heavy traffic.. That is when I will build a few revs before I start engaging the clutch.... If you have given it too much gas you are more likely to spin the front tires than stall out.

 

KC and TC, I tried adding a little gas to the clutch release last night and it smoothed things out a lot. I don't worry so much now about stalling in intersections. I don't know why the school would have been teaching these as separate actions unless they were trying to first give the students a good feel for the clutch. Maybe they were going to tell them to add gas a little later in the course.

 

My suggestion is to not think of all the things you've been thinking about and drive your Fit the ways it best works out for you.

In the back of your mind are all those 'to-do' things, however, to best learn you're going to need to see how it ALL goes together the best way for you.

Work out your own techniques based upon some good advice, both here and the driving school.

You will work it all out in short order.

Yesterday I paid attention to that 1/2 car length in 1st gear thing. Will not comfortably work in the Fit.
I'm actually working on a short movie clip of my local driving/shifting routines. It's going to take a while, I'm on the road south in a few days but will continue to try and pull something together.

Me thinks you are at that point in getting it all to work the best way for you and your Fit.

Keep it safe and hang one of these on your ride: Student Driver Car Magnet___

 

I agree with KC about the need to pick up a little speed in 1st... Small engines have to rev higher than larger ones and Honda vehicles are happier than most at higher RPMs.... I embarrassed myself a lot when I first got my Fit by stalling and shifting too soon and accelerating slower than the cars behind me wanted me to..... My wife almost had a head on collision while trying to pass a car that was just creeping along down a 2 lane highway when she first got her Forester. She had been driving a GMC pickup with a Vortec V6 that I had put a HyperTech performance chip in as well as other enhancements and was used to only needing to drop one gear if any to pass someone...She won't drive a car with an automatic but the higher RPM needed to accelerate a car with a small engine took her some time to adjust to.

 

TC, I believe you said you revved a bit extra before jumping into fast moving traffic from a stop. Are you revving BEFORE starting the clutch release? About how many rpms? How does it all go down from a full stop to the point that you have blended into traffic?

 

I have to resort to what KC says about getting a feel for what works... You don't want to abuse the clutch or other drive train parts but you don't want to be a hazard to faster moving traffic that you have to merge into.... I would play around some and experiment to find how quickly you can gain speed in your lower gears without over revving the engine slipping the clutch excessively or letting the clutch out too fast at too high a RPM.... Just be kind to your car and don't ask too much of it .... It'll take you some time to put it all together because there is a lot to learn and driving can put you in new situations to deal with all the time... You need to take off as you would normally do except with the throttle down long enough to reach the speed of traffic and in most cases that will include a quick change into the next gear when the tachometer needle is in the red..... Try and avoid heavy traffic until you feel you have a pretty good idea of how to do this by instinct and feel.

 

If i need to launch into traffic i rev 4K or so and engage the clutch gently but quickly making sure i dont spin the wheels or bog. Then floor it.

 

Kenchan, thanks. So your holding the throttle at 4K before you even begin clutch release? Guess I should practice this at lower rpms.

 

Simply my opinion, however, I don't think a 4K launch is what you're after unless 'driving like you stole it' is what you're after - but then again I'm a bit confused now by this thread.

Enough throttle to get it going is fine for a learner and that is most likely closer to 2.5K... certainly under 3K

 

It's a Honda and makes power at higher revs than most cars... There are situations that require a person to crank up the revs or become a hood ornament on some yuppie's SUV or redneck's diesel dually pickup.... I was reluctant to feed it revs out of the hole for about the first year or so that I had my car but I got over it. Much over 3000 RPM on the stock wheels and tires will cause wheel hop on some surfaces.

 

KC and TC, it has always been my goal to learn how to launch into fast moving traffic. Like TC says this could be a needed survival skill. So, is this the way it goes: (1) in 1st gear with clutch pedal down build up RPMs to desired level (2) slowly release clutch pedal until car moves (3) fully release clutch pedal and maintain pressure on gas pedal?