Using neutral

[GT Guy]

At a long red light or busy intersection do you shift into neutral or just hold the clutch in and stay in first? I use neutral in most cases.

[Jahntassa]

I've started slipping into neutral if it looks like it'll be longer than a slow & go thing. Until I have the money to put another clutch in...

[joatmon]

I go to neutral at long lights and other stops, mostly because I don't want to have to hold the clutch down, going into neutral reduces my risk of accidentally (and stupidly) letting the clutch out before I was ready. If the clutch is in all the way then it's completely disconnected from the engine and there would be no slipping against the flywheel to wear it out. If you shift into neutral at a light, then that's two clutch grabs, shift to neutral, shift to first. The shift to neutral should be a low impact grab though, so it probably doesn;t matter a whole lot.I was told once that idling with the clutch in would wear the throwout bearing, but I don't see how that could be, unless you were in gear and the car was moving. So, not being any automotive expert, I shift into neutral only to keep my lazy left leg from geting tired.Sometimes I anticipate the light changing, and will shift into first and wait with the clutch in, but a lot of times I guess wrong and shiift back to neutral. Very often when I give up and shift back into neutral, the light changes. I think the evil traffic lights watch and wait for me to give up, then change at that instant just to taunt me

[Reynoma]

I mostly keep the car in 1st and leave the clutch in. Like Joatmon, only when my leg gets tired to I slip into neutral and take my foot off the clutch.

[Sub-Vibe-R]

I'm going to neutral most of the time. I nerver hold clutch more then 30 sec.

[Stang2Vibe]

I always use neutral for the longer stops. It's safer and less chance that I'll unknowingly let up on the clutch a little and have it slipping when it doesn't need to be.

[dmitri]

i always use neutral unless im in traffic. im too lazy to hold my foot on the clutch

[MadBill]

quote:...I was told once that idling with the clutch in would wear the throwout bearing, but I don't see how that could be, unless you were in gear and the car was moving....When your foot is off the clutch, the throw-out bearing does not touch the pressure plate, and so does not spin. When you hold the clutch down, there is a several hundred pound force on the bearing and it is spinning at engine speed, so for more than a short stop, it is better to go to neutral. (Old VW beetle throwout bearings were graphite instead of ball bearings ,and they would wear pretty fast if you kept the clutch pedal down a lot.)

[philndz]

this is a twist on the original question but i have been meaning to ask for a while. Firstly, I double-clutch every downshift.....opinions? so if i am approaching a stop sign i double clutch into 2nd....apply light braking and then double clutch into 1st and brake to almost a stop but then i can accelerate and get under way again w/o having to use the clutch at all. so at the stop sign i never use the clutch...im already in first so i brake to almost a stop and then ease on the gas and basically drive it like an automatic. is this good or bad? i figure its probably good b/c i dont use the clutch pulling away which i believe puts more wear on it......opinions?

[joatmon]

I thought that when the vehicle was stopped and the clutch pedal was depressed, the clutch disc was tied to the transmission shaft, and free from spinning at engine speed because it is no longer clamped against the flywheel. Even so, I still try to not keep the clutch in very longAround here, not coming to a full stop will get you a ticket.

[MadBill]

The clutch disc is stopped along with the transmission input shaft when the clutch is depressed in gear, but the throwout bearing contacts the pressure plate, which is attached to the flywheel and always rotates with the engine.

[TheDude]

i always use neutral, i wear big (removed) steel toe boots, and there is no way im gonna keep my ankle bent for long periods of time in them

[AKLGT]

i always use my neutral too.

[joatmon]

quote:The clutch disc is stopped along with the transmission input shaft when the clutch is depressed in gear, but the throwout bearing contacts the pressure plate, which is attached to the flywheel and always rotates with the engine. Duh, now I remember. Been a while since I took one apart. Was an old 66 Ford Falcon (I hated that car, not because it was a ford, but because it had an unsynchronized first gear that I could never manage to double clutch) You're right, of course. So, extended clutch in will wear the throwout bearing. Another good reason to shift to neutral at stops.Thanks MadBill!

[Roadpig]

If I see a red light & I know I'll stop I will put the car in neutral and use the breaks to stop (new break pads are cheaper than a new clutch). If the traffic starts to move before I get there & I'm in neutral then I put the car in the appropriate gear based on my speed. I only down shift when I know I won't come to a complete stop. At lights I always put the car in neutral.Since the GT has a clutch that wears prematurely, I use it only when needed.

[tots]

I like shifting up when approaching a light or queued traffic. If it's a long stop, yes I'll shift to neutral and keep my foot on the brake. I'll sometime put the parking brake on as well.

[Stang2Vibe]

quote:this is a twist on the original question but i have been meaning to ask for a while. Firstly, I double-clutch every downshift.....opinions? Yes. Why would you bother to do this? The tranny is fully synchonized so this is unnecessary. I downshift a lot also, but I don't double clutch. It takes a second for the gears to catch up when downshifting but it will work.Now on my own side note, I have recently been upshifting and sometimes downshifting without using the clutch at all. By properly manipulating the throttle, I have found that the stick will move into the gears relatively easily. I can even do clutchless skip-shifting both on the up and downshifts. My question is will this wear out any parts in there? Surprisingly, the gears rarely grind when doing this, so I can't think off hand of any harm this is known to cause. I am shifting clutchless because I have an ingrown toenail on my left big toe that got infected and needs operated on. It is generally very painful to be pressing on the clutch all the time. I learned how to shift clutchless on the big Mack trucks at work and the same general principles work in my Vibe. You can't shift quickly this way, but it works and is much less painful for me. Having to mash the clutch all the way to the floor to start the car is excruciating on my toe. I might clamp a plastic zip-tie around the top of the clutch pedal so the pedal makes contact with the safety switch earlier and I don't have to push down so hard.