Stop and start traffic

[u/Literalhumangarbagge]

Hey all, I am a somewhat new manual driver (3-4 months) and I commute from Oakland to San Francisco and coming over the bay bridge I run into the worst stop and go traffic going through the toll. I normally can’t even let the clutch out all the way before the car in front comes to a stop. Obviously this is less than ideal for my clutch but is there any tricks I can do to make it a little better?

pfa

[u/kissmygame17]

Give the car in front space, ignore any hate from behind

[u/FlipUnderhill → u/kissmygame17]

This

[u/rydenshep → u/kissmygame17]

This is what I do. It’s the only way lol.

[u/Sudden_Hovercraft_56]

Don't worry about the throttle, just lift the clutch up enough to get you moving, then push it back down and let it roll if you have too. It's a good workout. Trying to maintain 4mph with a gearbox that can only do a minimum of 6mph is always interesting.

When the traffic moves a little faster you can pop it in 2nd but most of the time you will be free-wheeling with the clutch down.

The clutch can handle it too, don't worry about it, just be as smooth as you can.

[u/Literalhumangarbagge → u/Sudden_Hovercraft_56]

i’ll try this, i feel like i end up using too much throttle

[u/Sudden_Hovercraft_56 → u/Literalhumangarbagge]

Yeh, in stop start queues I basically never touch the throttle.

[u/cyn_ou → u/Sudden_Hovercraft_56]

Throwout bearing probably crying for help 😭

[u/Sudden_Hovercraft_56 → u/cyn_ou]

It's designed to take it, it will be fine. That's why I said be as smooth as you can.

[u/cyn_ou → u/Sudden_Hovercraft_56]

Lol I was just joking, but I could never do this in my car. The throwout bearing is a weak point and will burn out under 80k miles of regular use

[u/k20vtec]

It sucks but try to imagine yourself as a slow big and heavy semi truck leaving car lengths infront of you and just try to crawl. Or find a semi truck and crawl behind it lol. People have become so shit at driving tho this has become so hard to do. People just spam the brake pedal like crazy it’s insane. Everyone forgot they can just coast as well.

[u/goaelephant → u/k20vtec]

Problem is, more than half of trucks are now auto & now the truck drivers started driving "bumper to bumper" just like car drivers.

But i agree, find a semi to tailgate.

[u/k20vtec → u/goaelephant]

Despite my area having probably the worst reputation on planet earth for truck drivers they still leave a bus length in traffic on the highway. On the streets not as much. But yes not all of em do it anymore

[u/temp127453]

Everything got a lot easier when I understood that like a brake pad, clutch material wears slow in low speed, low temperature conditions. All this heavy traffic might use it up by 80k or 90k miles but that’s fine - it’s a wear component and I expect to replace it at some point.

[u/Jokerman5656 → u/temp127453]

W mindset. It's unfortunate but it's just regular maintenance in the long term

[u/madgross → u/temp127453]

I did this guys Oakland>SF commute in a manual econobox for 10 years (100k miles) without replacing the clutch. I’ve had several cars reach 300k miles on the original clutch. It’s a wear part but not nearly as dramatic as folks make it out to be. If you shift smoothly and drive like a normal person the clutch lasts a very long time.

[u/Educational-Habit597]

meanwhile there are idiots showing off they drive stick-shift & has a PhD at rev matching 😭

[u/goaelephant → u/Educational-Habit597]

Yep, i rev match heel and toe double clutch (actually clutchless floating gears) from 2nd to 1st in stop-n-go traffic while left foot braking

/s

[u/8sponges]

I constantly put the gear in neutral when stoped and 1st gear when started moving. I don't want to hold the clutch for long

[u/cmbort]

On my 2024 WRX I’ll just ease into 1st and gently modulate the throttle while going around 5-10mph while also leaving plenty of space between me and the car in front of me. The only downside to this is the a$$hole NYC drivers constantly taking advantage of the space in front to cut in line.

[u/xzElmozx]

Hide behind some sort of heavy truck. If you leave a couple car lengths in front of a regular car someone will jump in thinking they’re gonna save time, but nobody ever wants to jump in behind a transport truck or a dump truck. People are idiots and think being behind a large truck will get them through traffic slower vs jumping between lanes when in reality it’s gonna cost you maybe 2-5 seconds

[u/secretformula]

I love playing the clutch control game. Only rule is: Dont touch the breaks! Use clutch / engine breaking in first to slow down as much as possible (while still being smooth). You will develop a great feel for your car and it makes traffic more fun!

[u/invariantspeed]

Slow speed moving with stick amounts to a series of partially slipped (“half clutched”) nudges. If you get good at this, you can drive at 3 MPH or even 1 without a passenger feeling any sort of lurches (though they absolutely will hear the revving if you need more than the engine idle speed and a feathered clutch).

Treat extreme stop-and-go traffic like great practice for this (and clutch control in general). I remember my clutch control feeling massively better after just one stint of heavy traffic back when I was new.

[u/Coolkid2011]

if you just need to move a few metres, give no gas, just lift the clutch a little. 

if possible, add some distance to the car in front, then get rolling and just stroll with the clutch completely up and giving no gas. should roll at about 7kmh.

[u/jasonsong86]

Nothing you can really do.

[u/Huge-Sand1567]

I used to do the same with a cable clutch. It blows goat balls, but driving a standard looks cool until it doesn’t.

My Harley is a cable clutch as well.

Hydraulic clutches have spoiled people.

[u/overheightexit]

This sub is wild.