my friend is teaching me how to drive stick on her integra, does anyone have tips that can help me? I'd really like to learn and not F#ck her car up. Ive been driving for like 3 years so i'm not a newbie.

thanks everybody,
BJ

 

umm what i tell people at first so they dont stall when i am teaching them (builds confedince) is to put it in nuteral and just practice getting it to hold in an RPM range of 1,500 - 2000

once they get the hang of that i tell them to put it in gear and slowly let out the clutch pedal and to continue to give gas so the RPM's dont drop below 1,000... once they have the clutch out i tell them to push the pedal back in and apply the brake... and make them do the same in reverse... once they get the hang of starting and stopping the rest is cake

 

I'd agree that getting it rolling is the tough part. Find a big parking lot to practice starting off. Also, you need to get used to starting from a stop heading uphill. It's nice to know you can do it once you get in that situation with a car sitting behind you.

Practice downshifting too, but make sure to go slow enough to drop into the next lower gear, especially first gear.

 

Practice starting and stopping on a hill. Its very important skiil to have. Remember, practice makes perfect.

 

very important...

i remember the first time i stopped on a very steep hill, slipped the clutch @ 6000, my bad.

but just keep practicing and within a couple weeks in should be very easy, when shifting into another gear, apply a bit of gas to ease the transition.
you should get very familiar with rpm matching or what mph to shift at so you know when to downshift or whatever. you will alaso realize that keeping the car in gear will shorten the braking distance, because you are also using the lag of the engione to slow you down, as long as you are in the right gear.
thus using less of your brake pads.

 

one of the most important things (besides starting uphill) is to remember that u have to depress pedals very slowly, if you're pushing one, don't let go of the other one, don't panic and let go with the same speed.

It's like a balance scale, when u're stopped, the weight is on the left side (clutch pressed). As you let go of the clutch, imagine that u're slowly putting weights on the right side of the scale. As soon as you feel that letting go of the clutch is affecting the car (the left scale goes up), start pressing on the gas pedal. Find the balance.

Also a good exercise is to come up to a slight (later it can be steeper) hill and stop, then put the car into 1st gear and try to stay in place balancing by pressing only gas and clutch (no breaks). If you can do that, then u won't be afraid of rolling.

Good luck, and don't burn your clutch (or your friend's)!

 

also, i think for the teg's (depending what year, i drove a 2nd gen with a stage one clutch) the range is very short compared to my accord, so that means its a bit more sensitive. also, if you can start the car from a stop in 3rd gear, it means u got it...

finally, if the cars about to stall or vibrating, then just press the clutch in

 

just hold it at 3000 rpm and drop the clutch and floor the gas...garanteed way of not stalling =)

 

put it in first, hold the clutch in and slowly let it out. dont apply any gas. this will allow you to feel where the clutch engages. chances are the first time you do this the car will stall b/c you wont expect it. you really dont even need to apply gas and you can get the car to start moving.

now that you know where the engaging position is, apply some gas. 2000 rpms is a little too high. you really dont need to be above 1500 when starting from a stop. when i was learning to drive, my dad frustrated me too much so i would go out with my mom. the thing she always told me was gas before clutch. apply a slight amount of gas and then slowly let out the clutch. if you need to give the car a subtle rev just to get the feel of the gas pedal (between idle to about 1200). that should help you out a little.

 

:lmao: yeah thats how everyone does it