ChrisUlrich

At a light, holding the clutch in? Or putting it in nuetral... What wears a clutch out faster? More shifts or your foot being to the floor on the clutch pedal?

I don't mean wearing the clutch by slamming gears. I mean by daily driving. EVERYTIME I come to a light, I ALWAYS Put it in nuetral... NEVER hold the clutch in the entire time. How about driving at lower RPMS (1 1/2-2) for fuel efficiency as opposed to driving at about 2-3 k?

Kind of curious... sorry to be a pest.

izzyz28

I always put the trans. in neutral when I come to a stoplight. All you're doing by holding the clutch pedal down is wearing out your throw out bearing, which is definately not good. A clutch's enemy is heat, so as long as you're not slipping the s**t out of it every time you take off it'll be fine. I drive my car in Chicago traffic every day,(200-500 miles a week) which can include an hour of crawling stop-and-go-every-ten-feet traffic, and I haven't had any adverse affects whatsoever. I also downshift when coming to a stop, using the engine for braking. My trans has 122,000 miles on it and it works flawlessly. The wear and tear on your synchros is very minimal. Hell, the trans was designed for shifting, so shift it. As far as cruising RPM, I usually cruise at 1500-2500 RPM depending on how I feel that day. There is virtually no load on the engine, so once again wear and tear is minimal. Even cruising at 3000-4000 RPM(for whatever reason) shouldn't shorten the life of a properly maintained engine much if at all, though gas mileage will decrease. Clutches are a wear item, so they need replaced every so often anyways. Just drive it and have fun. The extra 1000 miles you may get by babying it aren't worth it IMO.

rncotton

Well, the way I look at it, any time your foot is on the clutch, you're wearing it down. When I come to a light, I slow down with the car in gear and just a little before the car would start to shudder, I push the clutch and slip into neutral and take my foot off the clutch, then coast up to the light.

When the light changes, I put it into first and take off. Here in Memphis, that extra second delay between the light changing and me getting into gear and moving ... that's a good thing. We can always count on at least one person running every red light. Several times, if I had left right when the light changed, I'd have lost my car.

Birdman7389

but if your foot is down on the clutch, its pulled back off the flywheel, therefore there should be no friction to reduce its life right?

Laymaster

put it in neutral...the last thing you want to do is put unneccesary wear on the throw-out bearing.

96TurboTA

That's a good way to scuff your bearings.

Laymaster

when the clutch is meshed against the flywheel (like when you're not pressing on it at all, whether you are in gear or not in gear), there is no "friction" as you think of it.

Friction is how much grip something has, so you want friction...but as far as burning/slipping the clutch you're best to be either fully engaged or disengaged...

If you have the clutch down then you are placing pressure on throw-out bearing.

kevm14

I think as long as the pressure plate is stock, the extra hours on the throwout bearing aren't going to hurt it. Your clutch disc itself will probably wear out first. Drive it however is convenient...