For some reason I have the hardest time getting used to the engagement points for the clutch. I drove an early 90s beater that had no creature comforts for years and that was easier to drive than this...

Maybe it's just me, but the clutch seems to throw me an attitude. It's livable, just unpredictable.

 

I've also heard talk about a clutch assist spring being the culprit but I suppose that topic is better left for another thread.

 

The start of this thread bothers me just a little. Its a nice thought to blip the throttle to down shift but its just not practical in everyday use. I think the notion that your trans will blow up simple by letting the clutch out on downshifts is just a little far fetched. I mean how many older people that own these cars are going around rev matching...probably 100% sure none. Hell my mom had a Celica when I was a little kid for 13 years, on the same clutch, and she would look at you like you were speaking greek if you asked her about rev matching. With synchros and the construction standards of most transmissions these will not break under normal driving. Don't go from 6th to 2nd and you shouldn't have an issue. Don't dump the clutch and haul *** from every light and you should be fine.

 

Ha! Oh no it's not. I watched a guy at the Texas Mile, down shift into 4th at 166 mph, he blew the clutch, transmission, drive shaft and damn near rolled it.

Yes, I know, he was a dumb azz, but the point is valid. IF YOU DRIVE IT HARD, rev matching is not a bad idea. Each time you drop the clutch without a blip of the throttle when downshifting DOES rub off some friction surface on the clutch. If you are not careful, it can send you into a spin, if you drop too many gears.


I do agree with this.

 

Again...this is not a normal circumstance! LoL. I mean I think at 166 I'd put it into neutral and coast it out or just let off the throttle and engine break until an acceptable speed to safely downshift. But from 166 to 4th (assuming it was a 6 spd and in top gear) is just plain dumb, so yeah downshifting could kill the trans. But the start of this thread basically said under normal driving you will kill your trans if you downshift without rev matching...thats where I call BS

 

at 166mph, I'd thrust it into 1st for the lulz

 

On a rental...YES! LoL

 

On a rental, I'd force it into reverse.

 

I still agree that you will kill your transmission if you do not rev match and down shift. In particular you will kill your synchros and end up getting the famous 3rd gear, 5th gear grinding. What is your definition of kill a transmission. My definition is an action or reaction (GL5 on Brass Synchro) that will effectively reduce the life of the transmission significantly due to the break down of certain parts and not all parts. This would result in you having to perfectly rev match into each gear that has worn out synchros or to replace the broken transmission

 

I still say that would be under hard driving. I highly doubt that most people will drive the car and rev match downshifts. I can also pretty much bet they have never had the "issue" you speak of. It just doesn't make sense to make the car in a manner that normal people cannot drive it. I have a feeling that the benefits for the well being of the trans by rev matching or not are negligable.

 

woah cheers guys this is all really useful information to me

 

It's amazing how many of my friends that drive manuals don't know this basic info.

 

I agree here... for daily driving the rev-matching is a moot point... Track driving it is very relevant, but as for daily street driving not so much.

I can say that in 25 years of driving I have had to replace a clutch on a vehicle 1 time & that was a very high mileage VW Golf that I drove the living hell out of...

DO I know best practices for driving a Manual? Absolutely.. it is a craft that is honed with many years behind the wheel. Do I apply bets practices each and every day? **** no... why bother unless I am racing & TBH racing my car on the street ( being a LR Coupe nonetheless) is just asking for trouble.

I would say if you have the time by all means go to a track and practice what this says... especially if you plan to ever get into racing, but otherwise, under normal driving conditions,... unless you are popping the clutch at every light to burn out, or over revving the motor between shifts you probably don't need to worry about it so much...

 

I hate to say it, but Ive been driving MT on and off for 15 years and did know about properly rev matching. Thanks for posting this. Once again G35driver has been a great place of learning.

 

I of course did not read the whole thread as it is actually sort of silly to me. But, when preaching all the tips that are here about how to save your clutch, how many miles is one to expect to get out of their clutch with proper driving technique?
I have never owned an automatic car. And I'm now at 148,000 on my G on the original clutch. Every single mile on the car is mine. It is starting to slip....
Rev matching is normal when I'm operating a bike. But never done it in a car as it doesn't seem necessary. I don't double clutch and I don't power shift. But I also do not drive like a p***y. However when I'm commuting, I drive like I'm commuting. I don't do a bunch of annoying **** like those kids in their Civics. For the most part I power through corners and am going between gears a lot on nice curvy roads on a country drive.
I've never had a car that needed a clutch replacement before, so I'm unsure if I got the mileage one is to expect.

Oh, I should mention that for the last two years I've been semi-regularly towing a 1000+lb trailer loaded up with bikes on 100+ mile trips.
Just finally changed the transmission and diff fluid for the first time less than 10k miles ago.