How to not ride the clutch in reverse?

[Kilo7-]

I drive a 2005 Mitsu Eclipise Spyder GS. It may only be a 4 cyl, but its a fun little thing. Before this I drove a 2002 beatup Mustang. I liked its power, but I just don't get any satisfaction from automatics.

Recently, I had to have a $1100 car repair for my lil' Eclipse. The clutch burned out on me and needed fully replaced. I knew it was coming, I was told the owner before me rode the hell out of the clutch (hence how I was able to get a steal of a deal on the car). The mechanic told me to baby my car for 300-500 miles to the new clutch breaks in.

I was told by him that a common thing people do is ride the clutch in reverse. How the hell do you not though? I've tried, and I do not likr the feeling. I jet backward at an uncomfortable speed every time and everything shakes like its going to break. Will this truly do big time damage though? Going less than 5 mph riding the clutch about 2-3 feet?

Also, what do you guys recommend doing when you are approaching a stop? Should you coast in neutral and use only the brakes? Or pull in the clutch and brake (isnt that riding the clutch though?)?

 

[CG_Gamer]

You wont do any damage by riding the clutch while backing out.

The only time you're going to do any significant damage is if you throttle for any good length of time while riding the clutch. But for yours purposes riding the clutch in reverse just to back out is ok.

As far as breaking is concerned I typically take it out of gear and coast up to the stop while breaking. Usually this is only when I know im going to have to stop at the end of a hill or something that my momentum will carry me toward. If its stop and go ill leave it in gear and just pull the clutch.

If the clutch is fully depressed (assuming you haven't messed with your clutch cable ) then the clutch is disengaged and this is different than riding the clutch. you wont damage your clutch when it is fully disengaged.

 

[smorizio]

when you back up a foot or two your going to need to use the clutch. that not riding it....it when your going down the street fine and your foot is on the clutch and you engage it slightly and it on all the time. if your shifting right you use the gears to slow down then the break the last few feet. then use the breaks to hold the car till your ready to roll. dont burn clutch when in in or all out it these people ride or short stroke the gear shift.

 

[rhysiam]

As CG_Gamer says, you only "wear" the clutch when it's somewhere between fully engaged and fully disengaged. It's not strictly accurate, but you can think of it like two spinning discs, one connected (indirectly) to the wheels, and the other to the engine. When the clutch is depressed, the two discs are completely separated and can spin independently, there's no friction and thus no wear. As you release the clutch, at the point where you feel the wheels start moving, the discs are just starting to touch each other, and if they're spinning at different rates, then there is friction and that's causing some wear. Once the clutch is fully released, the discs are firmly pressed together and the wheels and engine are locked at the same frequency (through the gearbox - of course). There's no wear here either as the discs are locked together.

I don't think it's a big deal myself, but if you're really worried about it, just release the clutch until you have enough speed in reverse, then depress the clutch fully in again and use the momentum of the car to take you back as far as you need. That will have the minimum wear on the clutch.

When stopping, neutral or clutch fully depressed will not wear the clutch at all, it doesn't matter. In terms of stopping though, I believe most cars are actually capable of using absolutely no fuel when the momentum of the car is keeping the engine running. As soon as you put the clutch in or put the car in neutral, it will need to use a little fuel to keep the engine idling. When I'm approaching a stop I leave the car in gear until it's down to 1K RPM or so, because while stopping I'm not using any fuel whatsoever. The gain is probably minuscule compared to actual fuel use, but it seems silly to use fuel (even if it's only tiny bit) when I don't have to.

 

[Zenkor]

Don't worry about reverse. If you are on a hill use the brakes to hold the car, don't sit there at the red light with the clutch half way out to hold the car. The other thing is don't downshift and ease the clutch out to slow the car down, just use the brakes they are way easier and cheaper to replace. Pretty much just keep your foot off the clutch unless you have it pushed all the way down and you'll be fine. As far as reverse goes, the .000001 of wear on the clutch disk is probably better than losing control and crashing or breaking something.

 

[aldan]

riding the clutch is really the habit of resting your foot on the clutch while driving and trust me more people than you know do this.the reverse thing is called slipping the clutch and as long as you dont overdo it will not significantly lessen the life of the clutch.if you are getting significant vibration or hopping when engaging the clutch that can be a problem with the install of the new clutch.did the shop have the flywheel turned to true it up?this is a common cause of shudder.

 

[smorizio]

if your real evil...press the clutch in when someone eating powered doughnuts...

 

[aldan]

or drinking something.lol