How To Make Your Clutch Last Forever!

[bronsin]

Im 59 this year and have never replaced any part of a clutch in any of my vehicles. The clutch in my 74 VW went 250,000 miles.

Heres how I did it!

1) No holding the clutch in at lights. No holding the car on hills with the clutch.

2) Never slip the clutch except when moving off in 1st. And as little as possible then.

3) Use no throttle when shifting except when moving off in 1st. And as little as possible then.

4) Clutch pedal must be either on the floor or up in the air with your foot off it.

If you can do this your clutch will reward you with long life!

[Bluevitz-rs]

Originally Posted by bronsin

Im 59 this year and have never replaced any part of a clutch in any of my vehicles. The clutch in my 74 VW went 250,000 miles.

Heres how I did it!

1) No holding the clutch in at lights. No holding the car on hills with the clutch.

2) Never slip the clutch except when moving off in 1st. And as little as possible then.

3) Use no throttle when shifting except when moving off in 1st. And as little as possible then.

4) Clutch pedal must be either on the floor or up in the air with your foot off it.

If you can do this your clutch will reward you with long life!

And if you're just learning, tires are cheaper than a clutch replacement.

[IllusionX]

WOT shifting...

[fnkngrv]

You can pick up a clutch for 300. Tires worth having will run you 80+ pop ;-)

[CrankyOldMan]

Originally Posted by fnkngrv

You can pick up a clutch for 300. Tires worth having will run you 80+ pop ;-)

But swapping tires will take 15 minutes. Swapping a clutch, not so much. =P

[fnkngrv]

Originally Posted by CrankyOldMan

But swapping tires will take 15 minutes. Swapping a clutch, not so much. =P

lol...this is true even with this car!

[tmontague]

I give a little throttle to rev match when going from 1-2 and 2-3, this makes for a smoother shift and should decrease the wear on a clutch

[justjesus]

Originally Posted by tmontague

I give a little throttle to rev match when going from 1-2 and 2-3, this makes for a smoother shift and should decrease the wear on a clutch

My coworker thought he was doing this as well. He couldn't explain HOW it's rev matching, when UPshifting.

Revs DROP when going up through the gears.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by bronsin

Im 59 this year and have never replaced any part of a clutch in any of my vehicles. The clutch in my 74 VW went 250,000 miles.

Heres how I did it!

1) No holding the clutch in at lights. No holding the car on hills with the clutch.

2) Never slip the clutch except when moving off in 1st. And as little as possible then.

3) Use no throttle when shifting except when moving off in 1st. And as little as possible then.

4) Clutch pedal must be either on the floor or up in the air with your foot off it.

If you can do this your clutch will reward you with long life!

I pretty much agree, and I've put somewhere between 800k-900k miles on manual transmission cars (about 650k on just 3 cars, with the least traveled of those clocking 151k). I've never tried to replace a clutch, and have never needed to replace one. I did have to have the clutch on my Suzuki Swift adjusted at about 80,000 (IIRC) miles, but a friend did it for me for free. The issue is even more peripheral now that I no longer live in a hilly area.

[CrankyOldMan]

Originally Posted by justjesus

My coworker thought he was doing this as well. He couldn't explain HOW it's rev matching, when UPshifting.

Revs DROP when going up through the gears.

It depends on how fast you change gears, as well as how fast your crankshaft winds down. If you have a lightweight crank pulley and/or flywheel, you will likely have to blip the throttle when upshifting as well.

[tmontague]

Rev match is definitely not the right word (although I do that when shifting down all the time to save the clutch). I give a slight bit of gas when letting out the clutch from 1-2 and even less from 2-3 gear. It gets rid of the rough shift normally found in low gear shifts.

Feel free to chime in as to why giving no gas at all at low gear shifts causing a rough shift and giving gas smooths it out. I'm assuming it's the same reason why you need to give a bit of throttle going from stop to 1st. Due to the lag of a slow moving transmission and a faster moving engine. Giving it gas helps ease the connection between the two.

[colj00]

i thought this was basic knowledge, yet i see a lot of peoples cars rocking back and forward on hills because they were holding it with the clutch, its infuriating to watch. :P

many times waiting for the revs to drop when changing from 1-2 can take what feels like a few weeks, so most of the time i say screw it, im slippin ya.

[DebbyM46227]

Originally Posted by bronsin

Im 59 this year and have never replaced any part of a clutch in any of my vehicles. The clutch in my 74 VW went 250,000 miles.

Heres how I did it!

1) No holding the clutch in at lights. No holding the car on hills with the clutch.

2) Never slip the clutch except when moving off in 1st. And as little as possible then.

3) Use no throttle when shifting except when moving off in 1st. And as little as possible then.

4) Clutch pedal must be either on the floor or up in the air with your foot off it.

If you can do this your clutch will reward you with long life!

And I do everything as you have posted, yet they had to replace my clutch due to the throwout bearing. This is the first clutch I've ever had to replace and I've been driving manuals for a long time. I think I counted owning 14 previous cars with MT and this is the first.

[Secretblend]

Speaking of saving clutches? Does anyone here ever shift up to higher gear without using clutch?

[dj92]

I don't think so, would be too much stress for the transmission.

[bronsin]

Originally Posted by DebbyM46227

And I do everything as you have posted, yet they had to replace my clutch due to the throwout bearing. This is the first clutch I've ever had to replace and I've been driving manuals for a long time. I think I counted owning 14 previous cars with MT and this is the first.

Hmmm well I guess one in 14 is just bad luck. Or just about but not quite perfect.

The rest of the clutch was good?

[bronsin]

Originally Posted by colj00

i thought this was basic knowledge, yet i see a lot of peoples cars rocking back and forward on hills because they were holding it with the clutch, its infuriating to watch. :P

many times waiting for the revs to drop when changing from 1-2 can take what feels like a few weeks, so most of the time i say screw it, im slippin ya.

Done right shouldnt bee too much of a problem but possibly puts you on the slippery slope to trouble. At least for some it would.