What exactly is "riding the clutch?"

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Automatic is just easiar for me 🙂

Nothing to worry about except gas and brake.

 

[vshah]

Originally posted by: MAME
well, when a man and a car love eachother very much....

if its a turbo car you could work "blowoff valve" or "wastegate" into it somehow

 

[yhelothar]

Hmmm I ride the clutch a lot.... Never thought it was that bad.
If I let go of the clutch too fast, my car will accelerate too fast and will do a small burnout, or it will just stall.
My idle speed is fast enough that I could let go of the clutch on first gear and go at around 5mph without stepping the throttle, albiet I need to slowly accelerate a little first by keeping the clutch at the mid point, otherwise it'll stall.
I think I should lower my idle speed. It was lower at first, but sometimes my car would shaking because the engine isn't getting enough gas at idle, so I turned it up a bit.

 

[jagec]

there seems to be some confusion..."riding the clutch" is when you're cruising with your foot resting on the clutch. If you're starting out and you raise the clutch really slowly, that's not quite the same, I would call it "slipping the clutch", obviously both of these put wear on the clutch.

 

[psteng19]

Originally posted by: jagec
there seems to be some confusion..."riding the clutch" is when you're cruising with your foot resting on the clutch. If you're starting out and you raise the clutch really slowly, that's not quite the same, I would call it "slipping the clutch", obviously both of these put wear on the clutch.

So isn't that how everyone starts in first? I guess we all ride/slip the clutch and put wear on it when getting the car going.

What about engine braking? Don't you let out the clutch slowly as well?

 

[chrisms]

I guess the question has been answered by now.

 

[vshah]

Originally posted by: psteng19

Originally posted by: jagec
there seems to be some confusion..."riding the clutch" is when you're cruising with your foot resting on the clutch. If you're starting out and you raise the clutch really slowly, that's not quite the same, I would call it "slipping the clutch", obviously both of these put wear on the clutch.

So isn't that how everyone starts in first? I guess we all ride/slip the clutch and put wear on it when getting the car going.

What about engine braking? Don't you let out the clutch slowly as well?

yeah... i guess its a question of HOW slowly and HOW often you do thest things that will affect the wear on your clutch. I for one never engine brake. whats the point? brake pads are a heck of a lot cheaper, and you should be able to downshift while rev-matching & braking anyway..


-Vivan

 

[LS20]

Originally posted by: psteng19


So isn't that how everyone starts in first? I guess we all ride/slip the clutch and put wear on it when getting the car going.

What about engine braking? Don't you let out the clutch slowly as well?

riding the clutch is unecessarily having the clutch partially disengaged while cruising... ie putting slight pressure on the clutch pedal (by resting your foot on it/whatever)... while in a gear and cruising

slipping the clutch is progressively engaging the clutch to get moving from a stop, or while changing gear


engine braking is using the compression of the engine to slow the car down.. technically it has nothing to do with clutches and transmission... obviously when you want to use engine braking, you want to downshift into a lower gear, and if you dont engage the clutch properly when downshifting, you'll cause added wear to the clutch... but the act of engine braking alone is isolated from tranny talk