Learning how to use a clutch is critical when driving a manual transmission vehicle. However, clutch usage isn’t as simple as engaging and disengaging the clutch pedal like it’s an on-and-off switch. Using the clutch also means modulating it when you’re accelerating from a stop or when you’re starting on an incline.
Clutch control is a driver’s ability to effectively operate the clutch together with the throttle pedal. Having good clutch control is important if you want to drive slowly without causing excessive wear on your transmission or stalling your vehicle. The hallmark of having good clutch control is a smooth ride. A driver that doesn’t have good clutch control will cause the vehicle to jerk and vibrate whenever they shift gears or release the clutch.
In this article, we’ll discuss some tips for you to develop good clutch control and what could happen to your vehicle if you don’t have good clutch control.
Having good clutch control is quite useful because it allows you to accelerate more efficiently. More importantly, it’ll cause less transmission wear. Here are some of the points that you should learn:
The key to proper clutch control is knowing your vehicle’s bite point and being familiar with its location. What’s the bite point? As you release the clutch while in first gear, the bite point is the clutch location where the vehicle’s engine RPM starts to drop and the vehicle starts to move forward.
If you’re a beginner driver, finding this bite point is like a guessing game. Every vehicle’s clutch will be different. The clutch on some vehicles will be harder to control. Meanwhile, other vehicles will feel as smooth as butter. You might need to sit in a safe area like a back road or parking lot when you’re trying to familiarize yourself with the bite point. However, you’ll intuitively know where this point is as you continue to drive and familiarize yourself with the vehicle.
To accelerate smoothly, you’ll need to lightly press on the throttle. Once the engine RPM slightly rises, you can proceed to slowly release the clutch. You’ll need to keep the clutch around the bite point until your vehicle accelerates to a speed where the engine won’t stall anymore. Releasing the clutch too early can cause your vehicle to jerk and stall. However, releasing the clutch too late will cause accelerated wear on the clutch disc.
How slowly should you release your clutch? This is something you’ll need to figure out yourself. Some vehicles that have a lot of torque can easily accelerate, allowing you to release the clutch sooner. However, less powerful vehicles might require you to keep the clutch around the bite point before fully releasing the clutch pedal.
Once the vehicle is moving, you don’t need to push the clutch to the floor to shift gears. It’ll take some practice to find the minimum threshold you need to press, but once you’ve found it, you’ll be able to shift more smoothly. If you want to accelerate smoothly without any jitters, you need to release the clutch pedal and get on the throttle at the same time.
As a rule of thumb, you need to release the clutch and step on the throttle pedal at the same time to accelerate smoothly.
–Anthony Harlin, ASE Certified Master Automobile Technician
Accelerating smoothly is one thing. The true test of clutch control is stopping and accelerating on an incline. To start on a hill, you’ll need to have a greater feel of the clutch and engine since you’ll be more prone to stalling. Accelerating on inclines is much harder because you’ll need to press the throttle more. You’ll also need to rev the engine higher so that it can produce the torque required to move the vehicle. Otherwise, the engine will stall.
If your vehicle has a hand-operated parking brake, disengaging the parking brake as you begin to accelerate is the best way to prevent your vehicle from rolling back. This is especially important if there’s a vehicle behind you.
As you release the clutch to the clutch’s bite point, the engine’s RPM will drop. At this point, the vehicle should begin to move forward. However, if the engine isn’t producing sufficient torque to move the vehicle, it might remain stationary and cause the engine to stall. If you notice the engine RPM drop, pressing the clutch back for a brief moment can allow the engine RPM to rise again. Then, you can return the clutch to its bite point to continue accelerating.
Yes. Releasing the clutch too quickly or too slowly can both wear out the clutch disc and accelerate transmission wear. That said, the transmission is durable. It can handle the added component stress of a driver with poor clutch control without running into issues.
Quickly releasing the clutch causes the clutch disc and pressure plate to come together too fast, which will cause the vehicle to jerk. This is called a clutch dump, which puts stress on the drivetrain and transmission components. If done frequently, clutch dumps can damage components like the pressure plate, transmission, and even engine parts.
It’s unclear how much damage or wear constant clutch dumps can cause. That said, releasing the clutch too slowly can also accelerate clutch wear. This is what riding the clutch means. If a clutch disc has a lifespan of 150,000 miles, a vehicle with an owner who frequently rides the clutch might only have a clutch that lasts 20,000 miles.
When you release the clutch, you should keep in mind that you’re trying to smoothly join two plates moving at different speeds. Releasing the clutch gently is key to ensure that the two components don’t wear out too quickly.
Driving a manual certainly makes you feel that you’re in total control of your vehicle. Shifting gears on your own while operating three pedals instead of two takes some skill, and not everybody can handle the stick.
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