Clutch control help

Hi,

I passed my test about 3 years ago, and pretty much stopped driving after that (limited use of my parents' car for a few months, then nothing for a couple of years). Now, I've got my own car, the clutch is VERY heavy, meaning I've had a lot of problems stalling and such when setting off. It's different to other cars that I've driven in that you can't move off just using the clutch, even on a flat road, which I was able to do in my instructor's car.

The thing is, my clutch control was never the best, and I'm finding it especially difficult having to use the accelerator while reversing, doing maneuvers etc. I've got better at moving off with the intention of driving away, my problem is with keeping the car at a slow pace using clutch control.

For example, today I was trying to reverse to park in front of my house, as there was another car parked in front of my neighbour's house so I had to drive past my house and reverse in front of the other car. I obviously wanted to reverse quite slowly so I didn't crash straight into their car haha, but I got the 'you're-about-to-stall' juddering while reversing. I thought I had enough revs and I was moving very slowly - was I lifting the clutch too much? I don't really understand what causes that judder and what to do to stop it apart from just pressing the clutch down all the way and starting again. Any tips on this, and on clutch control in general, would be great, especially anything your instructor might have told you that made things "click"!

Cheers.

Reply 1

Iqbal007

Original post by ooerr

What do you mean its heavier?
As in do you have to lift the clutch up a lot before the car starts moving when applying acceleration?

Reply 2

username1201943

Original post by Iqbal007

What do you mean its heavier?
As in do you have to lift the clutch up a lot before the car starts moving when applying acceleration?

I'm assuming it's harder to press.

Reply 3

Nice.Guy

Original post by ooerr

I'm not sure either what you mean by a 'heavy' clutch - if it's easier to stall i'd have thought it would be lighter?
Anyway, just try and change your mindset… from now on, don't just use the clutch on its own. Try to balance it with the accelerator, so if you let the clutch up a little, then press the gas a little to 'compensate' if you want to think of it like that. If the car judders, you'll get used to just depressing the clutch slightly (not all the way), and increasing the revs. Practise in quiet car park or something (reversing, manoeuvres etc) and hopefully it'll start feeling more natural :smile:

Reply 4

ooerr

Original post by Iqbal007

What do you mean its heavier?
As in do you have to lift the clutch up a lot before the car starts moving when applying acceleration?

There's a lot more "resistance" from the pedal. It makes it difficult to move only a small amount/slowly.

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Reply 5

bluemax

The clutch of some cars can be quite 'heavy'. You can take your a car to a mechanic and see if he can adjust the clutch to some extent. I'm assuming your problem is mostly with pushing the clutch all the way down. Its settings can be modified a bit.

Reply 6

Nuffles

Part of it is strengthening your leg muscles and improving your fine muscle control so you have more control over what the clutch and accelerator are doing. The other part is simply practice. A new clutch cable may improve the heaviness, but probably not. You'll just have to get used to it. As someone else has said, go to an empty car park and spend half an hour just moving slowly around and parking, you'll get better more quickly than you'd think.