Learning to drive stick

[Pardesi_bhai]

Whassup peoplez. I know how to drive a stick but I don't really practise it cause I don't got a manual car. Thing i get messed up is with, for eg, if your in 4th and you slow down, now which gear do you go into, 3rd or straight in to 2nd. Is there like a website or something where they teach you to drive manuals like a professional. I saw some races which I downloaded from Kazaa. There were some skylines, rx-8's and nsx's. They were showing the inside of the driver and how he shifts gear, and damn they do it fast, but I know they got those sports clutches. I mean they changed gears in split seconds, thats fast. So any input bout the manual learning process and also how long did it take you guys to learn it perfectly??

[sweetdude]

hey ...well id say dat drivin manual cars is easy ...fun and da best ...welll ..if u need to ask anything bout manual cars u can ask me i got a lottta experince in manual cars ......


take it ezzzzzzzzzy

javu

[sKyLiNe]

whaddup bro. u can say im pretty decent wit drivin manual tranny cars, heh heh. well ur question was how do u know which gear to downshift into from 4th gear after u slow down, right? most manual transmission cars come with a tachometer, the device that displays the RPM of your car. naturally, it'll jus take experience to subconsciously decide which gear to downshift into. lets say you're tachometer is hitting 4500RPM or so and you're in 4th gear amd hit you the brakes to slow down for a ... sayy, a toll on the high way. it all depends on how low the needle is on your tachometer to decide which gear to shift into. what i do is everytime my needle hits 2500 - 3000 RPM, i downshift 1 gear only. the more you drive stick shift, the more you'll learn which gears to shift into just by looking at which speed you're at, you won't even have to listen to the engine or look at the tach.

for 5spd transmission cars such as my Civic, here is when i shift according to my speed:
1st gear - obviously you start off here
2nd gear - roughly 14 to 15 mph
3rd gear - about 30mph
4th gear - roughly about 43 mph
5th gear - about 56mph

now if i'm in 5th gear doin 65mph and i slow down to 30mph, then i'd shift to 3rd gear. if i'm doing 40mph and i slow down to 5mph, i'd shift into 2nd gear. never downshift into 1st while moving, u can fuck up your transmission. do u see any pattern here? it doesnt really matter what gear you are in, it all depends on what speed you're going when you want to downshift gears. if that was confusing, lemme kno and i'll try and rephrase it. lemme kno if any of it made sense as well, good luck bro

[sKyLiNe]

oh btw, anyone can shift gears quickly. it just depends on how much someone's gotten used to their car. im a real good shifter for example. i own a slightly-modded up 17 second 1991 Civic Dx hatchback with a stock clutch/stick shift. my friend owns a 2000 v6 Mustang. when we raced, of course he spanked me bad but i was shifted much better than him even tho the new mustangs come with performance/racing quality clutches. you'll eventually get used to it and start shifting gears subconsciously. it's definitely tough at first. ignore all the hardasses that say "yeah dawg, it's mad easy". anyways, u get the point...haha i promise, this is my last post for now...peace

[ilikecheese]

i learned how to stick shift playing racing games set to manual instead of auto.. yeaa videogamess!

[Pardesi_bhai]

Yo, thanks Skyline, I really appreciate it. And you are definately right about the experience part. I drove a friends 2003 mustnag cobra. It was nice. He actually was suprised how smooth i was runnin it, since it was my secong time in my life i was driving a manual tranny. But no doubt, its mad fun. Also learnin from video games, i dont buy that. You need real life experience. I mean youre not hittin the clutch in the video games, just some buttons! Peace

[sKyLiNe]

Np bro, if you ever have any more questions, jus ask away. yea the part bout video games...ehh....anyone n their grandma can figure out when to actually change into the next gear, and changin gears is all about feelin the vibrations of the car n the engine. i guess i can sumwhat see wut he means tho but anyways....im surprised u were able to drive a cobra stang smoothly since their clutches r different from any normal car. gj..ur probly jus a quick learner

[Pardesi_bhai]

Fo real man, the clutches was like a feet deep. I couldn't change the gears first, then my friend told me that you gotta push it all the way down. When i did, i almost came off my seat and had to re-adjust my seating position. But once i got it, it was tight

[sKyLiNe]

haha! yeah that's so true. i own a 91 civic dx and 89 accord lx-i and my dad drives an 02 porsche boxster...all 3 cars are stick. with my civic & accord, my seat is almost all the way back and the clutch needs only to be pressed down about 6" to shift gears but in the porsche, i have the seat all the way up almost n the thing takes forever to change gears unless im going fast and i shift quickly.

[Pardesi_bhai]

Damn, you must be loaded, so why you hangin on the 89 and 91 fo? Get some 2000 ish. What does yo dad do?

[sKyLiNe]

haha....nah he's jus an AT&T employee doin some telenetworkin ish. hey if it was up to me, i'd tell my dad to get me a new car but unfortunately, im handlin my own car stuff. oh did i mention we also have a 95 corolla? it's the only automatic car we have...it's for my momz. yea so...trust me, we aint loaded, jus slightly well off

[Pardesi_bhai]

Thats tight, but come one now, slightly well off with a house and 4 cars and one of them bein a porshe!! I don't know bout that. Aight man, Peace

[eckochic212]

ok i've been driving stick since 9th grade. this is how i learned. when u start the car and press the cluth put it in first let go of the clutch a little till the car moves forward and then give some gas. then let go of the clutch completly take it up about 4000 r go into second and etc etc. never go from 4th to 2nd that will screw up ur trans and never press the clutch and keep giving it gas that will burn ur clutch. also when say u slow for a red light and put the car in neutral and it turns green put into second not first because that will screw up ur trans. don't let go of the clutch too fast either. once a car's cv's are screwed up the trans is gone. i hope u have fun driving stick because it is great. hey by the way ur cute r u muslim?? ok byee

[eckochic212]

oh it took me an hour to learn stick its genetic lol

[Pardesi_bhai]

oh it took me an hour to learn stick its genetic lolcome now, an hour??? :? and yes, im a muslim :oops:

[eckochic212]

well it took me about an hour because i use to watch my parents and bros drive stick whenever we would go on road trips...lol i didn't even know what automatic was until i took my 6hrs driving lessons.

[sKyLiNe]

ok i've been driving stick since 9th grade. this is how i learned. when u start the car and press the cluth put it in first let go of the clutch a little till the car moves forward and then give some gas. then let go of the clutch completly take it up about 4000 r go into second and etc etc. never go from 4th to 2nd that will screw up ur trans and never press the clutch and keep giving it gas that will burn ur clutch. also when say u slow for a red light and put the car in neutral and it turns green put into second not first because that will screw up ur trans. don't let go of the clutch too fast either. once a car's cv's are screwed up the trans is gone. i hope u have fun driving stick because it is great. hey by the way ur cute r u muslim?? ok byee

hey when in 4th gear and ur slowing down, as long as the speed of your transmission is close to the speed of the engine, downshifting won't hurt. also, if you downshift too much, it'll put pressure on your engine, not the transmission. pushing down the clutch and hitting the gas also won't do anythign since your car is in neutral when your clutch is pushed down all the way. however, if the clutch is PARTIALLY pressed and you hit the gas pedal, then you burn your clutch. or if you're pressin the gas and you switch gears at the same time, that also burns your clutch.

[Pardesi_bhai]

well it took me about an hour because i use to watch my parents and bros drive stick whenever we would go on road trips...lol i didn't even know what automatic was until i took my 6hrs driving lessons.
Actually i didnt even take any driving lessons, long story, but yea, i had my license given to me without me doing the driving lessons and stuff, so i learned to drive on my own. But it was automatic, so that wasnt hard. I also see people driving stick, which is why i know a lot about driving stick but have very little experience.

[sKyLiNe]

nothin's a better teacher than experience :D

[Samirr76]

Nobody can learn how to drive stick by reading a book. You have to get out there and just practice. With time and experience you will get better.

Someone once told me, you never stop learning stick. Its like martial arts, you keep getting better and better throughout your whole life. :)

[himynamesmo]

actually changing geras has abouslty nothing to do with speed. It has to do with ur rpm. A civic has about 115 HP so obviously a car with more hp u would change at a higer gear. if u had a 911 turbo ud be goin 60 and still be in 6th gear, but ina civic ud be at 5th when ur at like 50. I jus recetly started driviin my bimmer and its a HUGE differnce then driving a civic. I change gears at higher speeds im dont chnage into 3rd untill im past 50, and i never use 5th gear cause u dont need it. I usually drive around 80 and im at like 3000 rpm so i jus keep it in 4th. The trick u should keep ur rpm under 3000, if u start shiftin at like 5000 or even if u redline it, u'll fuck up ur tranny. o and i leraned how to drive stick when i was 15 :P

[Samirr76]

u wont mess up your tranny by redlining if you know how to drive. :roll:

[eckochic212]

i can only take my car up to 4 or max 4.5 rpm or else i feel like imma throw up...wen i went for a test drive..the guy changed into 2nd at 35mph i thought i wanted to die or yell at him or sumthing....my brother took it up to like 5 or 5.5 nd my mom took it up to 5 today...man i should hide my keys...pretty soon everyone will b redlining...

[sKyLiNe]

u wont mess up your tranny by redlining if you know how to drive. :roll:

um...that's why it's redline..b/c the red is there to indicate you that you're putting too much pressure on your engine. ppl r more likely to blow their motor @ 7000RPM than at 3000

[sKyLiNe]

actually changing geras has abouslty nothing to do with speed. It has to do with ur rpm. A civic has about 115 HP so obviously a car with more hp u would change at a higer gear. if u had a 911 turbo ud be goin 60 and still be in 6th gear, but ina civic ud be at 5th when ur at like 50. I jus recetly started driviin my bimmer and its a HUGE differnce then driving a civic. I change gears at higher speeds im dont chnage into 3rd untill im past 50, and i never use 5th gear cause u dont need it. I usually drive around 80 and im at like 3000 rpm so i jus keep it in 4th. The trick u should keep ur rpm under 3000, if u start shiftin at like 5000 or even if u redline it, u'll fuck up ur tranny. o and i leraned how to drive stick when i was 15 :P

shifting gears according to your speed is a helpful tactic, it helps you get to kno when you can upshift or downshift into specific gears. the tachometer will show u the RPM ur at now, not what it's gonna be after u switch into the next gear. i mean that if u downshift a gear at the wrong time, u'll redline ur car and it'll hurt ur tranny. therefore memorizing which speeds get u to what gear is helpful, it works both ways...jus dpeneds on wut methods u wanna use.

i own a civic...assuming i shift at 6600 RPM from every gear, here are the max speeds my gears take me:
1: 35 mph
2: 61 mph
3: 92 mph
4: (took it to 130 and only hit 5500 RPM, never maxed it)
5: God knows

now for regular driving, which i shift at 2900 RPM, here are the speeds I shift at:
1: 11 mph
2: 30 mph
3: 42 mph
4: 55 mph
5: (i only use gear this when i need to save gas) 75 mph

u see? there's a big connection between your RPM and your speed. i dunno how much hp my civic has but me n my entire racin crew think it's somewhere around 125-130...dyin to get it dynoed.

and also, mustangs are quicker than civics. my friend even owns one. but he gets his max torque gains by shifting mad early. he chirps his tires while shifting at 4000 RPM...so jus cuz a car is fast doesnt mean u shift earlier or later, it all depends on each car's gear ratios

[djsyedinfinite]

well... for starters...if you have a hard time starting intially.. rev up to 2500 and release clutch.... after that what you should know is.. where the sweet spot is on your clutch... some cars are different than others.. once you find the sweet spot then you can start rolling.... the sweet spot is where you hold the clutch for a second while releasing to make it a nice shift.. after that you can release the clutch quick it doesnt matter.. after you find that.. you can worry about shifting.. damnn you people kill your engines.. i change at 3000rpm... i dont like killing my car.... want it to last as long as possible.. when you want to burn someone out you take it to 4000+.. and down shifting takes practice... usually i never down shift only 1 gear.. because it puts load on the engine...... and if someone tells you to use down shifting to slow the car down.. DONT DO IT.. brakes are cheaper than a engine.. so spare your engine... and use your brakes.. what else..... when in doubt for down shifting go into neutral.. and look at your speed and shift to the that gear.. when in doubt in general always go to neutral... haha... never pop it into reverse while rolling forward.. because you tran will go....... always try to come to a stop and then shift between reverse and 1st...... the rest of the tips everyone left.. i just added the ones i didnt see.... one last one.......biggest problem is handling hills.. they take practice.. cant give you any advice on that one...you just have to keep giving accel... while releasing depending on how steep the hill is........ well thats about all the advice i can give... but in the end.. its practice practice practice..... good hunting dude... another person added to the stick family.. good good.. autos are boring.. unless your stuck in traffic... then you LOVE them.... hahahaha 8)

[sKyLiNe]

well... for starters...if you have a hard time starting intially.. rev up to 2500 and release clutch.... after that what you should know is.. where the sweet spot is on your clutch... some cars are different than others.. once you find the sweet spot then you can start rolling.... the sweet spot is where you hold the clutch for a second while releasing to make it a nice shift.. after that you can release the clutch quick it doesnt matter.. after you find that.. you can worry about shifting.. damnn you people kill your engines.. i change at 3000rpm... i dont like killing my car.... want it to last as long as possible.. when you want to burn someone out you take it to 4000+.. and down shifting takes practice... usually i never down shift only 1 gear.. because it puts load on the engine...... and if someone tells you to use down shifting to slow the car down.. DONT DO IT.. brakes are cheaper than a engine.. so spare your engine... and use your brakes.. what else..... when in doubt for down shifting go into neutral.. and look at your speed and shift to the that gear.. when in doubt in general always go to neutral... haha... never pop it into reverse while rolling forward.. because you tran will go....... always try to come to a stop and then shift between reverse and 1st...... the rest of the tips everyone left.. i just added the ones i didnt see.... one last one.......biggest problem is handling hills.. they take practice.. cant give you any advice on that one...you just have to keep giving accel... while releasing depending on how steep the hill is........ well thats about all the advice i can give... but in the end.. its practice practice practice..... good hunting dude... another person added to the stick family.. good good.. autos are boring.. unless your stuck in traffic... then you LOVE them.... hahahaha 8)

when on a hill, wut i do is i pull my e-brake up all the way and keep the clutch up almost all the way, meanwhile pushing down the gas slightly. so basically, all i need to do when the light hits green is just let off my e-brake.

[Samirr76]

you can also kill your car by shifting at too low rpm (engine speed) by "lugging" the engine your putting alot of stress on it too.

[sKyLiNe]

you can also kill your car by shifting at too low rpm (engine speed) by "lugging" the engine your putting alot of stress on it too.

if that's referring to me, im not damaging my car by doing that. i stay in 1st gear with the e-brake up

[Samirr76]

what being in 1st with the e-brake on have to do with shifting? Thats a good technique for starting on a hill if your learning how to drive a stick. Thats how I got my gf used to driving a stick on the hills. Now she doesnt need the ebrake anymore.

What i was talking about is shifting at too low of engine speed. Like say you dont want to be in 5th gear at 30mph. You'll hit the gas and you'll hear this awful noise and vibration and the car wont accelerate. Thats called lugging the engine and the sound and vibration you are hearing is detonation. That casues way more damage than revving it up once in a while.

Rngines are designed to operate safely up to redline. thats what redline means. Don't get me wrong you dont want to redline all the time but it doesnt hurt to let the engine breathe a bit.

[sKyLiNe]

Yea it's a good technique alrite, it saves alot of energy instead of rolling back and forth. it's also safer for the cars around you. don't get me wrong, i've been driving stick almost every day for the past 3 1/2 years but i just find the e-brake method to my liking the most.

Rngines are designed to operate safely up to redline. thats what redline means. Don't get me wrong you dont want to redline all the time but it doesnt hurt to let the engine breathe a bit.

Couldn't have ever been sed better ... NOREEN, READ THAT [/quote]

[djsyedinfinite]

ive been driving stick for about a year.... so im not an expert..haha... im just giving advice which i think might help.... my engine only lugs when i start intially from 3rd gear... hahahhaha.... used to happen to me before when i was a newB... instead of going into 1st i would go into 3rd and start... ouch!... haha.. but my car wouldnt shut off because its a powerful car.... and once i was stuck on a hill for 20 minutes... it was a steep one... haha... backed up traffic.... at one point i felt like getting out and asking someone to move it.. but i got it....... and i dont like the sound of the engine when its around 4k rpm... makes me uncomfortable.... i start feeling bad.. haha... like im torturing the car......forget redlining... i have yet to do that..... and
you can also kill your car by shifting at too low rpm (engine speed) by "lugging" the engine your putting alot of stress on it too.
i think was directed to me.. not you omar.. hahah....

[Samirr76]

it depends on the kind of car and what kind of torque curve you have. If you have a NA 4 cylinder you can forget about starting in any gear besides 1st. You really shouldnt start in any gear but first no matter what, because that puts stress on your clutch and you'll probably wear it out. Anyways some cars like Hondas and Subarus operate better when the revs are kept up. V6 and V8 engines tend to be happier at lower rpms. I wont get into the physics of it because...well half the people here wont get it :p