using to much clutch

Mint Sauce

and trying not to.

basically the problem is, say i'm preparing for a turn or roundabout, i'm braking slightly, droping down through the gears to 2nd, but am then keeping foot on the clutch for too long between the gears and sometimes whilst making the turn, have this thing at the back of my mind that am going to stall if foot is not on the aceleator or clutch, can also feel the car juddering sometimes as if its going to stall as well whilst dropping down gears, any tips.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

af_thefragile

I think you're leaving your gear change till too late then.
Make sure you change down to 2nd a good bit before you approach the roundabout so when you're approaching the round about, you're already traveling in 2nd gear and all you have to do is to observe for other people coming across and indicate and all that.

Same thing goes for making turns. Make sure you've changed down to the gear a good bit before you approach the turn. Like about 20mts before the turn. So when you're approaching the turn and making you're turn, you're already in right gear and you're just controlling the speed of the car with the break + accelerator.

If at the junction or roundabout there is someone coming and you have to come to a complete stop, then you can simply come to a stop like you'ld do at traffic lights, shift into first gear and move off when the junction or roundabout is free.

Just make sure you've done with the gear changing and are off the clutch before you approach the roundabout/junction so when you're approaching it, you're traveling slowly in 2nd (or whatever gear is appropriate).

If when you're making a turn slowly and you're in 2nd gear and you feel the car is juddering and would not cope with the speed in 2nd gear, then there is nothing wrong with shifting down into 1st gear and completing the turn in 1st gear. Just don't keep your foot on the clutch while making turns.



You will not stall the car as long as you're moving at some speed. You'll only usually stall it when you're traveling very slow or stationary. Rest of the time the wheels will keep the crank spinning and the engine can't stall while the crank is spinning. So don't worry about stalling the car. You can only really stall the car while taking off or while going really slow when the engine revs are below 700-800rpm.

The car will judder when its not in the right gear or you've change gear too early or too late. There's nothing much to worry about here. You just have to work on getting your gear changes at the right time. Also it helps if you start pressing the accelerator as you start letting off the clutch. This way you've built up some revs as you're disengaging the clutch and the gear change will be smoother. You get the smoothest gear change when the engine revs match the speed of the car at this point you could even change gear without engaging the clutch, if you were Michael Schumacher! But as you're not Michael Schumacher and you don't know what exact revs match what speed and gears, you need the clutch to do the gear changing for you.

So yeah, every car is different as you just have to get used to changing gears on your car. Learn what gear works best at what speed and what revs would give you the smoothest gear change. Generally changing gears around 1500-2000rpm will give you pretty smooth gear shifts. Just make sure the engine revs don't drop below 1000rpm when you're getting off the clutch or else you'll feel the car juddering. You prevent this by maintaining the revs over 1000rpm while disengaging the clutch, which you do by pressing in the accelerator as you lift your foot off the clutch slowly.
But then if you're in a race or going up a hill, you need more power from the engine and hence you'll need to be at higher revs, so you'ld be leaving the gear change till around 3500rpm before you change the gear and you need to be fast while changing gears to make sure the engine revs don't drop too low as to cause juddering when you select the new gear.

ha-ya-said-what

That juddering your feeling if from not being at the right speed for the gear your going into, basically if your coming down from 4th into 2nd you should be braking to slow you down to take the turn & make the change of gears. You can keep your foot on the brake to slow you down more as your changing the gear, but come off the clutch when you have the gear changed the car won't stall so no need to stay on the clutch.

The juddering happens, it happens me still at times when taking turns or changing down at roundabouts. It just one of them things you have to get out & practise as much as you can to work out at what speed & revs you should be at changing down gears at, once you have that worked out, you can then learn the sound of the engine to know when to change. People say you should go by the sound of the engine but some people don't know what sounds to be listening out for so I always say it's easier to practise the changes by looking at your dials to know its right to change & listen to the sound of the engine at that time so you'll tune your ear to the engine sound for knowing when to change & not have to be looking at the dials.

Lol on another note, if you realise that by spending to much time on the clutch will wear it out over time & cost alot to fix, you won't be long at coming off that clutch after a gear change!

DrivingTestTips: Brian

To add to what has been said;

Go to http://www.drivingtesttips.ie/Irish-Driving-Test-Video-Tutorials.php and look at "How to use your Brake and Clutch:"
Very common as I just pointed someone else to this.