Clutch wear vs pedal pressure...

[Eddie Eddie Eddie 1]

Hmm...

So I'm curious...

When I take off... Is it better to take off with the pedal further down then if I were to slowly accelerate?

This is in regards to clutch wear...

It seems the takeup is shorter when I dump on the pedal... Also the same thing seems to happen when I keep the pedal down when I upshift to higher gears as opposed to others who let off the pedal to prevent that rocking effect...

I just don't wanna cook my clutch too fast...

Eddie

[The Sheriff of Nottingham 0]

I'm waiting for someone to weigh in on this one - I'm curious too.

So where're all the experts when you need one? C'mon you motor heads, let's go! Chop chop!

[DangerDan 9]

Six of one, half a dozen of the other really. I'm not a clutch expert, so the following analogy is entirely anecdotal:

Say you have a spinning granite wheel and want to use a hammer to slow it. You could smack it hard and quick, or you can grind it down to slow it more gently. Both methods will eventually wear away at the spinning wheel, but repeated hard slams will risk a catastrophic failure at some point, compared to the gentler forces of the grinding motion.

Yes, I know. The materials in a clutch assembly are completely different, yadda yadda... My point is that a clutch is a wearable component (just like brakes), and at some point in the car's life, it will need to be replaced, so don't sweat it. I've read countless arguments about the benefits of downshifting vs braking and vice-versa. One will make your brakes last longer, the other will extend clutch life. Some prefer to replace brakes more often than their clutch.

Personally, I usually like to downshift to slow a car and select an appropriate gear for subsequent acceleration. Other times when I know I'll be coming to a complete stop (at a light, say) I'll just brake down to zero. I don't worry too much about brake wear or clutch wear, since I plan on replacing either whenever the time comes.

Want to extend the life of a clutch? Then minimize the amount of times that the car needs to change gears. That'll do it far more effectively than the type of shifting the car does.

[Cait 0]

I WILL HAVE TO REPLACE MY CLUTCH!?!?!

no one told me this! I've only ever driven automatics before..... le sigh!

[RichHelms 1]

All of my cars for the last 18 years have been manuals with a clutch. Several had over 300,000 on them and I have only replaced 1 clutch and that was because the previous owner ruined it.

Today's modern clutches when not abused usually outlive the car.

[Cait 0]

*phew*

[MikeT 744]

My Peugeot 405 has 335,000 km on it and Jenn is learning to drive a manual on it - despite smoking the clutch on an extremely steep hill once early on this summer, it's still going to outlive the car.

The thing about the smart is, the actuation of the clutch is more or less outside of the driver's control. British and European sites suggest that 150,000 km is a "normal" time to have to change the driven disc.

However, the new smarts have that fantastic rev-matching software when downshifting, and a hill holder, so using both of those might add 30% to the service life. Remember to USE the rev matcher by applying light right pedal pressure when the downshift is occuring, to take advantage of this feature.

To Eddie's question, I would reply that heat (a consequence of friction in this case) is the principal enemy of clutch lining life (this is true of brakes too) and a gentle clutch engagement will generate less heat. Ergo, the wear should be lower, notwithstanding the fact that the period of slippage during engagement will be longer.

[Eddie Eddie Eddie 1]

I wonder if in one of the ECU updates down the road they'll set it to automatically blip the accelerator on the downshift similar to DSG or SMGII...

So light slow clutch engagement it is from here on...

Eddie

[SmartieParts 12]

The manual says to use brisk acceleration up to speed... 3/4 pressure if I recall. Just get up to speed and then avoid changing speeds - that seems to be the theme.

- Steven

[Cait 0]

what do you mean by speed 3/4... like gear 3 or 4? or is this a tiem when a rev counter would come in handy?

[SmartieParts 12]

No, I mean you press the pedal down three quarters of the way to the floor.

- Steven

[Cait 0]

oh....interesting... I'll try this.. I guess thats mostly for city driving then... not so much on the highways. Cool!

[SmartieParts 12]

City, highways... whatever. The point is, to get up to the speed you need relatively quickly and then maintain that speed. This according to the manual remember - I'm not saying its the correct way to do it.

Also, don't forget its the second part of the statement that is more important... the key is to avoid accleration/deceleration so work on anticipating lights, and coasting vs braking, etc etc. Leave distance between you and the cars ahead and try not to worry about the guy behind you or who might cut in front of you if you leave room. So when the manual says to accelerate briskly, they aren't saying nail the gas and go as hard as you can - that defeats the purpose. But don't take forever with light acceleration either... get to a steady speed quickly and hold it.

Obviously, if you race to get to speed just to have to brake for a red light you've defeated the purpose.

- Steven

[The Sheriff of Nottingham 0]

Common sense wins again.

[Cait 0]

I think i kinda do this already..... im am the queen of coasting!