Half pressing clutch when changing gear?

If the gear change feels smooth, is only half depressing the clutch doing my car any damage? I've caught myself doing this a lot recently.

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

DOAADI

At the very least you'll be wearing the clutch out a little more.

The biggest problem I see when learners do it is that if they just don't press it enough then the gear lever is locked and they can't change. That leads to panic as the hazard approaches...

You're supposed to put it all the way down, so why not try and condition yourself to get in the good habit?

You won't do any serious damage, though wear and tear is likely to be a little greater.

Reply 2

FXX

Depends how the clutch cable is adjusted... don't see why you wouldn't just push it all the way down like you're meant to though.

Reply 3

History123

I sometimes don't then it makes a horrible noise.

Reply 4

DeeWave

At the bottom of the clutch pedal's travel there should be some extra space where the clutch plates are fully disengaged and are simply being moved further apart. If you're in this space then it won't affect wear to the clutch at all and you can happily change gear or stop the vehicle. You just need to make sure you are far enough down - typically you'd need to depress the pedal more than half-way down to find this area, maybe around 2/3 but it varies between vehicles due to the level of clutch wear and also adjustment. You should be able to feel it.

If you aren't confident with the mechanics of what's going on, it's probably best to depress the pedal the whole way rather than risk excessive wear or badly messing up a gear change if you don't get it right.

HTH :smile:

Reply 5

Riderz

If it changes gear then its fine. Hell, you can pretty easily change gear without using the clutch at all. Might be a bit more wear, but gearbox's are generally pretty good.

Reply 6

h4mza

I did this on my last lesson and it felt so smooth and instructor said good, i may try this again.

Reply 7

Architecture-er

As long as the gear disengages then that's fine, the only damage would come from you trying to put it into gear when the clutch isn't depressed enough, hence the grating and the screaming and the noise :smile:

Reply 8

caseyhayes

cheers guys. I've actually been passed 2.5 years I just caught myself doing this lately, and it's cos I've got tiny legs and my clutch seems to go on forever- plain laziness!

Reply 9

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

move the seat closer then.........

Reply 10

Andylol

Original post by Riderz

If it changes gear then its fine. Hell, you can pretty easily change gear without using the clutch at all. Might be a bit more wear, but gearbox's are generally pretty good.

I'm intrigued... how would you go about doing that?

Reply 11

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Original post by Andylol

I'm intrigued... how would you go about doing that?

something to do with matching the revs

Reply 12

username305809

Original post by caseyhayes

If the gear change feels smooth, is only half depressing the clutch doing my car any damage? I've caught myself doing this a lot recently.

Just do it all the way down every time. Won't wear it out as much (every little helps). :tongue:

Reply 13

vmattei1989

Original post by Riderz

...Hell, you can pretty easily change gear without using the clutch at all...

Original post by Andylol

I'm intrigued... how would you go about doing that?

Original post by abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

something to do with matching the revs

To change UP without clutch:
>Off throttle
>Gently push gearstick to neutral
>Gently push gearstick into next gear while letting revs drop from prev' level
>When engine speed & gearbox speed are about equal, the gearstick will slot into place.

To change down, its the same but accelerate slightly instead of letting the rev's drop.