Motors clutch wear question

what "damages" more your clutch and other parts?
(knowing you will stop for less than 8 seconds)

A: shift the gear box from 1st gear to neutral, wait 8 seconds and then to 1st gear again to make your car move.
B: use the clutch to stop for those 8 seconds and not shift gears (considering you are in 1st gear).

i know its a newby question, but several people say one and other people say the other.

 

B will cause more clutch wear, but is safer as you only need to lift the clutch up to regain control of the vehicle.

 

do you mean use the clutch to stop as in hold the car on the clutch on like a hill or something, or just depress the clutch pedal while you are stopped with your brakes on?.. either way B will have more wear, but its certainly the easier option.

 

I am considering the scenario were you press to clutch pedal during 8 seconds instead of shifting to neutral and back (using the clutch in the process) on a leveled road and waiting for the traffic light to change from red to green

 

From what I know about cars (little) it won't cause wear on the clutch itself but on a bearing that is part of the clutch.

 

you have me confused here,
so its a level road, at a red light. and you are going to be stopped. time isn't a *huge* consideration here, 8 seconds or 9, stopped is stopped.
If I am at a light, and I am stopped, the pedel will be all the way to the floor, and the car is in first.
if you want you can have the pedel to the floor, and the car in neutral.
Either way is fine, there will be no difference in wear and tear on the clutch.

If you want to sit at a light, with the car in neutral, and the clutch out, thats fine too.


did that answer your question or are we talking about two different things here?

 

option b is what i use, having a diesel to navigate Oxford is useful, lift big toe.. crawl forward poke big toe down 4mm and stop

 

There is a difference her but its tiny.

The clutch only wears when its between fully engaged and fully disengaged so reducing the number of times you press or unpress the pedal will reduce wear.

To wait in neutral you follow this sequence

driving-clutch engaged
stopped- clutch disengaged
gear to neutral- clutch engaged
gear to first- clutch disengaged
pulling away- clutch engaged

Thats four periods of wear

For the other scenario

Driving- clutch engaged
stopped- clutch disengaged
gear to first- clutch disengaged
pulling away- clutch engaged

Two wear periods

Having said that the wear involved with spinning up the first part of the transmission is tiny compared to the wear involved with accelerating from a standstill.

Moriquendi

 

If its uphill and I know that with a 6 or 7 secounds I would be move I'll properly rest on the clutch but this not good for the clutch but easier for me. All other times it's drop the clutch, on with the brake, stop into first hold the clutch down hold and brake on. when the light changes pull away in the usually manor. I do sometimes coast to stop which is a bad habit.

If you've got the clutch pedal to the floor there's no need to put it in neutral it wont wear the clutch when the pedals to the floor

 

I'm no expert, in fact im taking driving lessons now, instructor has taught me to stay in first with the clutch to the floor, bring it up to crawl forward, shift from clutch to throttle to pull away... In my lessons, I neer enter neutral unless I'm parking or something else goes terribly wrong... lol

 

that is what i was thinking.... if you are pressing the clutch pedal then the clutch disk is not in contact with the flywheel, then it is not being "consumed".

 

Sorry, but all that is rubbish. Press the pedal to disengage clutch and depress it to engage. As it is a friction disc, it will gently grip the flywheel upon engaging it again. You use that slip to engage with out driving like Captain Kangaroo. If your clutch has no outer lubrication on it (oil, water, grease and the likes), meaning just the flywheel and the clutch disc connect and full contact is made. Which means no wear of the clutch takes place. The only time there is wear is between fully engaged and fully disengaged, where you use the more or less slipping friction between the flywheel and the clutch pad itself. There is also a roller bearing in the middle and that is normally what wears out, the car sounds awful with the clutch pedal down. There are there some springs that keeps the clutch engaged, that can fail from age and heat. Age being the predominant factor. If you drive sensibly that is. IF however you want to do 1/4 dragrace stuff, with a beefed up engine, get another clutch. Standard does not cut it. The engine will overcome the spring force on the pad, and you burn your clutch instead of your tires.

 

crappy video but your answer is there at 3:30

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc9HIzFLO0w

 

So basically the act of moving the clutch 4 times to shift to neutral and back will consume marginally more clutch material than pressing down on the clutch, making it not contact with the flywheel, while producing the same effect... this is of course on a flat and leveled road and considering you will move your car in less than 8 seconds.

right?

 

Yes but were talking about a tiny difference here.

BTW, Spaceraver, press and depress mean the same thing... isnt english great?

Moriquendi

 

Maybe, but pressing/releasing the clutch when the car is not in gear will cause hardly any wear because it will not be slipping for long (like it would be if you were doing a hill start). I would say you could discount that 'wear' when the car is not in gear as it will be so small compared to pulling away.

If you leave the clutch pedal pressed down (when in or out of gear) then I think it will wear the release bearing. When stopped at traffic lights I always take the car out of gear, put the handbrake on and take my foot off the clutch. My dad has been driving for many years, he does the same and has never had to replace a clutch...

 

why do you use the handbrake? as opposed to the normal brake?

 

Because that's what you do when you don't drive an automatic...?

 

um, no. When I am stopped at an intersection I dont have my handbrake on. level road or pointing up a hill. There is no need for it, the regular brake works just fine.
So why would you use the hand brake?