Double Clutching

[zoomie]

Since getting my Vibe Ive been learning the habit shifting this way with the hope that it'll reduce overall wear and tear on the clutch. In trying to learn to drive with as Jackie Stewart would say "finesse" at the same time avoiding driving 5-ton truck driving hicks into a rage. When I can I shift around @ 2000 RPM and it takes attention to not let the engine wind up a little during a shift even if I let up on the gas pedal when normal shifting. With double clutching the revs drop and rest at a good spot for the next gear I find with this car.Im finding that in shifting into 5th gear that theres not benefit to it and the car only lurches doing it and theres no finesse in that, in fact if my car was named KITT it would probably say "Michael (not my real name), its inadvisable to doubleshift into overdrive, Im telling Devon Miles". The weird part is I think fourth gear is is also overdrive but double shifting into it goes smoothly. 5-spd manual Gear ratios (:1)Third: 1.310Fourth: 0.885Fifth: 0.725

[djb383]

Wouldn't double clutching wear out the throw-out bearing twice as fast? Also, sitting at a traffic light with the clutch pedal pushed is murder on the throw-out bearing.

[zoomie]

It might wear out the throw bearing twice as fast, but Ive not read anything about that occurring. There's no sitting at a light with the clutch in, I know that much

[djb383]

Minimal wear and tear on the clutch linings should occur only when taking off from a stop. Under normal driving conditions, no clutch slippage should occur when shifting gears.

[joatmon]

I thknk of double clutching as shifting into neutral, then revving the engine to get the tranny internals moving faster, then shifting back into a lower gear than you originallly started in. Doesn't seem worth it for upshifting imho. You probably don't see benefit going into 5th not because of overdrive, but because 4th and 5th are already pretty close in gear ratio. Sometimes I'll skip 4th, wind it up in 3rd and settle into 5th when I get to speed.double clutching is an important skill you will be forced to learn if you ever drive a vehicle without synchros, or one where the synchros are failing. Drive reasonably and there's not much use for it in modern cars.

[David Hawkins]

Double clutching is a practice that's needed on cars without synchronizer rings or with badly worn synchros. Doing it on a modern car is more work for you and doesn't really gain you anything in the long run.

[Ace]

True, double clutching isn't required on the vibes, but there are certain instances where it can really be beneficial. Personally I only double clutch when down shifting, and generally only from 4th to 3rd, 3rd to 2nd, and yes, I know the manual says never do this, but 2nd to 1st while moving. It's possible. Also, I'll do the double clutch a lot when I need a quick burst of power when passing and I need to do a 5th to 3rd change.The benefit here is that if you get it just right, and it takes practice is that you can do the downshifts so smooth that the gear change will be very smooth and you will have a quicker change which is beneficial if you need to do a pass at 60+mph on a two lane road, or on a steep uphill grade so you don't lose much speed.Anyway, that's just my $0.02.

[Neouka]

don't double clutch a synchronized gearbox, you're merely wearing out your synchros faster. It's exactly the same effect as shifting using no clutch at all. Your modern gearbox hates you.Besides, if you can revmatch on your downshifts while only pressing the clutch pedal once (clutch in, change gears while pressing gas to proper rpm, clutch out... the gearbox has no load on it so the synchros can do their job with minimal wear) .. you'll feel no drag of the clutch too!Now, as for crashboxes, I drive those on 45' coach buses. The clutch basically is there to start out in first gear. If you're good enough, you don't have to use the clutch at all after that. Though if you want a slightly less noisy ride, use the clutch *grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnnndddd*

[star_deceiver]

GGGRRRRRIINNNDD CRUNCH KLUNKK: Sounds like my wife trying to drive...Revmatching is easy and quick once you figure out the DBW, and very handy for those 5th to 3rd highway passes.

[Kincaid]

I love double clutching in my 2009 - such a sweet transmission. I am disappointed to hear that it might be more harmful than good.I was about to say that the new Nissan 370Z does the rev match for you but I guess that is not the same thing as a double clutch. I'll have to give the rev match a try.