# How hard do you clutch?



## ebackhus

How hard do you press the clutch pedal in your car?


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## Volt-Schwibe

i push it all the way down usually, and then let it back up as slowly as is needed.

the thing about this question, is that on some cars, you have to push it to different points to make it disengage.

but, i always just push it all the way down, to be 100% sure it's disengaged.


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## yustr

The real trick is letting up on the clutch without applying any gas. After 100K miles on my Subaru I can do it at will. (The clutch is new so don't accuse me of cheating.  )

Anybody ever driven a car/truck with a clutch so stiff that when you go to let it up it practically drives your knee into your chin?


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## crazijoe

yustr said:


> Anybody ever driven a car/truck with a clutch so stiff that when you go to let it up it practically drives your knee into your chin?


A buddy of mine had a 63 Impala SS with a Ram 3200 lb pressure plate. You could actually see the dash bow out a little when he pushed the clutch in.


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## ebackhus

In my sister's old Civic you just had to breath on it to disengage it. On my Dad's (soon to be mine!) MG it requires being floored.


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## bry623

I floor mine unless I need to beat somebody off the line then I hold it up with the gas part way down. My clutch is new as well.

For those of you who don't know what a clutch is, it is the left pedal in a three pedal car. :chgrin:


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## Spektyr

I clutch according to what I need to do.

When I'm stopped I push it to the floor. Not hard, not soft, just push it down until it's all the way down.

Shifting, I push it well past disengage, shift, and then bring it back up to use the next gear. I've never driven a car with a particularly stiff clutch, but I certainly wouldn't and haven't applied more pressure than necessary to operate the clutch (well, not since I learned to drive stick).

It's just a lever. No reason to beat up the metal rod when it's not even physically attached to the thing it moves.


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## sinclair_tm

being i'm the only one that voted that real drivers don't need a clutch, i assume that none of you have slip-shifted a car. that takes real skill.


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## bandit109

I would shift w/o the clutch w/ my camaro occasionally just to do it, but I never could get a straight answer as to weather or not you could damage anything by doing it. When you catch the rpm's right it was smoother than the clutch.


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## sinclair_tm

the answer is that the synicros wear out alittle more than normal when you don't use the clutch. and if you use the clutch, then the clutch wears out faster. but i've never known anyone haveing to have the synicros replaced just because of it. and my cuz is a truck driver, and he told me that most truck drivers don't use the clutch. so take it as you want.


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## oldmn

Shifting with out the clutch is easer on parts than shifting with because you dont have the additional load applied that you do when the clutch engages. It is a little hard to get off the line with out one though. unless you have an old Dodge fluid drive (Standard transmission with a clutch and torque converter).:4-dontkno 
The last one I owned was a 1955 dodge pickup with a RedRam hemi and a 3 speed.
We will not mention how long ago that was.:sayyes:


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## Rashiki

I don't exactly 'mash' it through the floor, considering my camaro only has a few inches of travel. I've never owned an automatic, and all my cars/trucks i've put it to the floor to make sure it's disengaged all the way.


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## AngelWings

I'm another one of those that depends on what I'm doing. Am I cruising, or am I proving a point to the dude who simply put an exhaust on his civic that makes it so you can hear it 20 miles away (I drive a WRX, by the way)?


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## tehdigit

yeh it completely depends on what im doing
i drive a 200sx se-r btw


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