10 things you should NEVER do when driving a manual car

How to drive manual car: Driving a manual car is not hard as it seems initially. When it comes to driving a manual transmission vehicle, the act can be seen as both an art and a science wrapped up in one gear-banging package. While driving a car with a stick shift can be a load of fun, there are some natural tendencies that you might do out of habit and you should avoid. Read below and find out which ones they are.

Don’t use the gear lever as hand rest

We only see the gear lever, what’s happening within the manual transmission is not visible to us. While changing gears with the gear lever, the selector fork, which is stationary within the manual transmission is pushed against the rotating collar, and the collar is pressed into the gear that you want to choose.

Resting your hand on the gear lever may cause the selector fork to come in contact with the rotating collar and thus causing premature failure of the selector fork.

Beginner’s mistakes to avoid when driving a manual car

Don’t use the clutch to hold yourself on a hill

It wears out your friction material and clutch. There are many ways to avoid rolling down a hill without holding the clutch in. This practice will not only wear down the car’s transmission mechanism but also influence the car’s free roll practice that is supposed to let the car move swiftly

Don’t rest your foot on the clutch pedal

Resting your foot on the clutch pedal would cause the clutch to engage only partially and hence result in slippage. This would not only reduce the fuel efficiency due to loss in transmission energy, but it would also cause the clutch to wear out prematurely. Another component that may get damaged due to this is throw out bearing that may contact the diaphragm bearing only partially

Don’t floor the gas pedal when your engine is at a low RPM

Flooring the gas pedal is meant to make the car pick up speed and move faster. However, for that to happen, the car needs to pick enough gas to able to pick speed and go through the normal shifts. Flooring the gas pedal while at low RPM is bad for the car. It’s unhealthy for your engine. Rather than flooring it while you’re in 5th gear, just downshift! If you don’t, it will cause major problems for you in the long run.

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Don’t rest your foot on the clutch when driving

The clutch aids in picking the right gear for the right speed gain. Most people have a tendency of keeping their foot resting on the clutch pedal as the car moves so that they don’t have to move their leg at the point of gear change. This is wrong. It will wear out your clutch. Resting your foot on the clutch is a bad habit to get into, so try and avoid it as much as possible.

Don’t use clutch bite point to hold on an incline

While on an incline, many people release the clutch until the bite point and feather the throttle to stay steady on the incline and keep the car rolling backwards. This would result in the great wear of the friction material of the clutch and you would need to replace it prematurely. Cars with the hill hold feature tend to hold the car for about 2-3 seconds after driver release the brake pedal.

The top gear of your car would let you cruise at higher speed at low engine RPM and thereby save fuel. However, to gain speed you would need to go through the gears progressively to prevent the engine from undue strain.

You may strain the engine in two ways, first, if using a lower gear at higher car speed causes the engine to reach the red line. It’s better to progress to a higher gear before reaching the red line or when the gear indicator tells you to do so.

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Don’t keep your car in gear when you are at a stop light

For most city dwellers, there will be an average of traffic stops every 1km in the city centre. Keeping your gears engaged while at the traffic lights has an effect on the car since the gear engaged and the vehicle isn’t moving. Your clutch will suffer from unnecessary wear and tear. When you put your car in neutral at a stop light, you’re lessening the general wear on your clutch.

Do not shift without engaging the clutch

The clutch disengages the engine from the transmission every time you push in the pedal. The clutch unit is the friction disc that is used to transmit power from the engine to the transmission, so in order to shift gears, you have to disconnect the engine from the trans so you can shift. Shifting gears without engaging the clutch not only damages the transmission system but has dire consequences on the engines as well.

Do not brake without your clutch

The clutch helps in gear engagement. It is also important when toning down greats to stop. When braking, do not dis-engage the clutch until the very end. By keeping the motor engaged for as long as possible in a break maneuver, you use as much of the natural resistance of the car as possible, creating a shorter stopping distance and reduced wear on your brakes.

Final Verdict

We can say the ultimate test of a “real man” is one who can drive stick (A manual transmission car). The art of driving a manual transmission car in an era where automatic cars are very popular is critical.