Quote :

"Of course you can drive a car with a clutch that won't disengage. It's just not advisable or safe...though it can make things interesting"

lol, that reminds me of when i had the clutch slave go out on my 4 runner one night delivering pizzas back in college. i continued driving it around for another 2 hours. getting it going off the starter from stoplights got some funny looks.

as for the op, if your clutch goes out just from one person learning, it was on borrowed time anyway. you'd have to be giving it some serious abuse on purpose to ruin a "good" clutch in that kind of setting. the normal mistakes of even the slowest learners isn't going to do it.

1/6/2011 6:29:24 PM

I learned to drive a manual on Quinn's Civic hatchback. It seemed up to the task and was a '92.

Of course, shortly after he went and replaced the clutch, transmission, and engine, but I don't think that's related to me.

[Edited on January 7, 2011 at 2:17 PM. Reason : .]

1/7/2011 2:17:41 PM

I taught a drunken ex-stripper (the soberer of the two of us) to drive my 5-spd saturn in 20 minutes at 2:30am so she could drive us home from ruckus

She did awesome, better than anyone I've ever taught, until she parked the car at lake johnson out of gear with no e-brake set

She felt terrible about my car rolling down an impossible bank into an impenetrable thicket but I was too hammered to care

True story. One of many gems from that day.

1/8/2011 4:18:12 AM

Quote :

"A very common way to learn manual is to let the clutch out without using gas and get the car moving. It makes sure you are familiar with exactly where the friction point on the clutch is and it forces you to concentrate on that. I also think it minimizes clutch burning because the flywheel isn't spinning as fast as you engage the clutch (although I guess you spend more time slipping it so you don't stall out the car). I have taught several people to use a manual on my cars using this method and never had them do any damage to my clutches."

Quote :

"Unless you abuse the clutch on purpose, the only real wear on the clutch occurs during starting from 1st gear. Once the car is going there is very very minimal wear on the clutch in between say 2-6th gear shifts. I usually double clutch on downshifts and always use brakes rather than engine to reduce the speed (e.g. slowing down for a red light) [Edited on January 6, 2011 at 1:04 PM. Reason : f] "

I've always been kind of confused when people talk about burning out a clutch or damaging it, cause I'm not some ace driver or anything, but I learned and have driven manuals a decent bit. Maybe that's because this is how I was taught, so knowing the right "point" is just what comes naturally.

11/18/2024 4:50:54 AM