What exactly burns the clutch on an m6?

[joes407]

wow great thread. i personnaly coast up to a light either with the clutch in and in the gear i was in or clutch in then neutral til i stop. didnt think coasting into a light was damaging. i got 35k and no clutch issues. i let my brother drive (he owns a '01 6 speed pontiac firehawk) and first thing he did was jam it into 2nd coming up to the light revving out 2nd. i was like WTF we are not in a race and was kind of bent he was trying to use the gears to stop the car and not the brakes. the wife drives manual like my bro does revving lower gears from higher speeds to decellerate. i think that over revving like that is harder on the engine, piston rings and oil. i will drive my stick as i always have right or wrong as its not breaking any parts yet. (this is the first manual ive owned from brand new that noone else has beat up the clutch on) also the manual says not to power downshift, cant remeber if it said for break in or all the time.

[joes407]

power downshifting was taught to me to only be used on steep grades or if the brakes fail.

[TheHorse13]

Originally Posted by joes407

power downshifting was taught to me to only be used on steep grades or if the brakes fail.

Yea, this was part of the lesson on "downshifting to a stop". They went on to say that doing it under normal driving conditions was the way to go. The point was made that we're not driving indy cars so don't go pegging the tach as you downshift to the next gear.

Anyhow. Assuming you're not doing the crap seen in the youtube videos I'm sure the various driving styles are not going to produce significant differences in wear.

I didn't see any reference in the camaro owner's manual about this but I haven't gone through all of it. Can you post the page please? Thanks!

[Ivas]

Originally Posted by Shu71

Actually if you press the clutch pedal to the floor and rev it up the disk is still making some contact with the flywheel and the pressure plate so to some extent it is wearing on the clutch disk friction material but not enough pressure to be tremendously measurable. Riding or using the clutch more than needed does wear out more than just the clutch disk, it weakens the pressure plates and wears on the throwout bearing. Why the need to force downshifts coming up to a red light? Clutch, shift to neutral, release clutch pedal, coast. If the light changes and you are ready to move again, learn your gear ratio's and feel so you understand what gear to put it back in to drive away with traffic. At a stop light for the longevity of the clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing, sit in nuetral with your foot off the pedal, when light changes, clutch, put it in gear and roll away.

Yeah, taking it outa' gear then releasing the clutch at a stop is good. Furthermore, if the road is flat, you can also take your foot off the brake. It's a cool benefit of a manual transmission; it also puzzles drivers behind you who do not have experience with manuals. They're thinkin': "Hey, how does he do that?"

[DarkneSS]

Originally Posted by respawn

I have had my v6 manual for a year now (just got a new brake tag yesterday). I STILL have trouble getting out of first gear without jerking. I cannot figure it out! I have been driving a shift since my ford lynx L7 in high school 20 years ago. I thought it would get easier as the car got worn in, but its been a year and passengers still complain about wimplash as I get into 2nd. Gears 2-6 I have no problem. I dont know how to fix it. =(

I had this problem as well. 1st gear is short so you are probably jerking when goin into second because the rpms are not high enough and its bogging. I never shift out of first at anything under 10-12 mph because it likes to bog. Try shifting at 15 mph, it feels weird because 1st only goes to 35 and its short so youll be high up in rpms but it will help reduce bogging.
You can try simply shifting faster too. If you shift too slow the rpms will drop low enough to make you bog in second gear.

But yeah I had this problem too and its from not having enough rpms when going into second causing it to bog.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by vinman

Why downshift if you aren't racing? I just throw it in neutral and coast to the stop, less wear on the entire drivetrain. Brake pads are cheaper than a new clutch......just sayin. Anything wrong with my method?

You can get a nice set of hawk pads and drilled and slotted rotors for MUCH less than a new clutch job.

And each time you downshift wrong you damage stuff.

Originally Posted by Ivas

Yeah, taking it outa' gear then releasing the clutch at a stop is good. Furthermore, if the road is flat, you can also take your foot off the brake. It's a cool benefit of a manual transmission; it also puzzles drivers behind you who do not have experience with manuals. They're thinkin': "Hey, how does he do that?"

Lmao! I love doin that! Also if Im in stopped heavy traffic and we are all slightly coasting downhill ill put it in reverse and keep the clutch to the floor and keep rolling along with everyone else. I love the looks of the people behind me.

[joeyisapimp]

Originally Posted by Camaro Fan

I'm not sure I understand how you're thinking about downshifting. The whole idea of downshifting as you slow down is to end up at a higher rpm more suitable for acceleration at your current road speed than the rpm you were at in the higher gear you were already in.

Obviously you realize that in 5th gear at say 1500rpm at some given road speed, if I was in 4th gear at the same road speed instead I'd be at say 2000rpm or whatever. So if I'm going to downshift to 4th the proper thing to do would be to blip the throttle so that as I move the shifter into 4th and release the clutch I'm at 2000 rpm already.

If you didn't rev match in that situation then you just put some extra wear on the tranny syncros as the gears meshed and some extra wear on the clutch as you slip it and engine speed is raised by the clutch instead of by the throttle (and the engine braking effect would have slowed you down some opposed to rev matching correctly too).


If you're just sitting there coasting down, clutch in/tranny out of gear then yeah I guess you could wait to engage whatever gear would leave you closest to idle speed. I'd prefer to blip the throttle to bring engine speed to 2000 rpm or whatever and engage that appropriate gear opposed to lugging the car from a low speed just off idle...

[Ph4r]

heeltoe

This is power downshifting to me

[Chevrolet Customer Svc]

Originally Posted by respawn

I have had my v6 manual for a year now (just got a new brake tag yesterday). I STILL have trouble getting out of first gear without jerking. I cannot figure it out! I have been driving a shift since my ford lynx L7 in high school 20 years ago. I thought it would get easier as the car got worn in, but its been a year and passengers still complain about wimplash as I get into 2nd. Gears 2-6 I have no problem. I dont know how to fix it. =(

Could you possibly direct message me your VIN. I would like to see if I might have some information on the issues your are describing. Also I may be able to explain your clutch burning question as well. I wont be able to know any of this for sure until I get your VIN. Thank you.

Jeff Morris, Chevrolet Customer Service