I was reading a thread regarding clutch longevity and a couple of folks said that the trick is speed matching and heel/toe driving. What is that? Also, curious about what is harder on the clutch and related parts while waiting at a red light intersection.... push in clutch and hold until light turns green or put in neutral and let out clutch, once light turns green step on clutch and go

 

I'm not good enough at heel and toe to help with that one, but I can give you a quick breakdown on rev matching (which is related.)

Say you're on the highway in 5th gear at 3000RPM and you want to pass someone, so you want to be in 4th gear for that extra power. To ease wear on components and to make a smooth downshift, you want to engine to be at the correct RPM for your anticipated gear, ie, 4000RPM for 4th gear.

So, you push the clutch, and while the clutch is depressed, you blip the throttle with your right foot, bringing the revs up to 4000RPM or a little over. While you've got the revs at your target range, you move the shifter into 4th, and let up the clutch. Now you're in 4th gear, at 4000RPM, and you've made a smooth gear change.

I'm now in the habit of doing this with all downshifts. Sounds cool, decreases wear, no lurching and bucking when dropping gears.

For the sake of your car, it's best to leave it in neutral and then shift into 1st when the light is about to change. Some people advocate leaving it in gear in case you're rear ended. The car won't go as far into the intersection when the impact inevitably knocks your foot off the brake.

 

The book Motoring; Getting The Maximum From Your New Mini (ISBN 978-0976578000) has a nice introduction to heel-and-toe driving, and related performance techniques. The purpose isn't to make your car last longer, it's to shift fast and accelerate quicker. If anything, that style of driving is more likely to cause various bits to wear out and break sooner. Ultimately, if your goal is to learn to drive fast, I'd be signing up for track days, preferably the kind with coaching included.

For longevity you want to match engine speed appropriately with your gear whenever shifting, but doing that doesn't require you to heel and toe. And trying to shift faster would generally make it harder to get the speeds matched right. You're giving yourself less time, right? Which is the point. And putting the car in neutral doesn't do anything I'm aware of to make the car last longer -- it just relieves the strain on your left leg, and possibly causes a delay in starting when the light turns green.

Personally, I'm a strong believer in treating cars gently and not using any performance driving techniques on the street. If I want to go 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds, that's why I have a bike. If you share this approach, I'd follow the advice of The Car Guys on how to drive a stick. If you take the opposite view and you do want to drive like hell on the street, then start with the Motoring book above, and then get thee to some track days.

 

As I understand it, putting it in Neutral helps minimize wear on the throwout bearing, because you don't have to keep the clutch depressed for entire light cycles every time you hit a red.

 

It sounds plausible, but is there evidence? I've seen discussion of lots of other Mini drivetrain parts wearing out -- CV joints, clutches, gearboxes -- but not much about throwout bearings.

Since in normal driving, most everyone holds the clutch down with the car in 1st then pulls away immediately when the light turns green, you'd expect them to design the throwout bearing to survive that treatment for the life of the drivetrain. Or if not, they'd warn you in the owners manual.

 

I've read a couple of threads about bad throwout bearings. I can't say if it's related to stop light behavior though, who knows? In any case it can't hurt, but yeah, I often leave it in gear so I don't think it's a big worry.

 

I heard the throwout bearing is plastic and spinning while you hold the clutch in... Which causes extra heat and wear.

I believe I heard this on woofcast.

Jackson

 

In cars with adjustable clutches, usually mechanically operated clutches (cables and linkages), (not MINIs), the throwout bearing is only in contact with the clutch pressure plate fingers when the pedal is depressed. Clutch pedal free-play must be adjusted as the clutch wears. If it wasn't, the engagement point would move.

On modern manuals, hydraulically actuated clutches, the clutch is auto adjusting, meaning no regular adjustment of the clutch pedal is needed. In this type, the throwout bearing is actually in constant contact with the clutch pressure plate fingers. However, there is very little if any load on the bearing. Load is only applied when the pedal is depressed. Engagement point on an auto adjusting clutch should stay very consistent as the clutch wears.

The release bearings are always metal, like any anti-friction bearing. The plastic you may have heard about is plastic bushings that help to support the clutch release fork shaft.

Anyway, it is good practice to keep the car in neutral at stop lights, to minimize wear on the release bearing. You should not have the clutch pedal depressed for more than 15 seconds at a time. The release bearing will die in short order once it starts to fail. Who knows when it will fail though.

 

Thx! Knowledge is power.

 

i never hold the clutch down the whole cycle i'll rev match to a stop then leave it in neutral, watch for the yellow for the opposing traffic light put it in gear and go on my way so its only depressed for a few moments....unless i intend to launch from the light in sport with another tuned car

 

OK. Fine. You're right, indeed. Happy motoring...

 

I do this as well. I usually double clutch to fourth or third and then go to neutral. It feels awesome when you get it right.

 

MINI has their own pamphlet on driving techniques that gives a good overview on heel-toe.

 

[QUOTE=Dennis Bratland;3377927]The book Motoring; Getting The Maximum From Your New Mini (ISBN 978-0976578000) has a nice introduction to heel-and-toe driving, and related performance techniques.

Bought it on Amazon for 1 cent, plus $3.99 shipping.