Hey guys iono if you all know i got a new a4 blue fwd 1.8T 5 speed. Ok here the thing its my first car thats stick shift i got to finally drive it for the first time yesterday when it was in my uncles shop(sadly i cant pick it up for about a month). Any way i remmeber reading a post on here about someone blowing their clutch and other people said that the a4 clutch is pretty sensitive or something? Any way my question is what should i watch out for? what should i do or not do to keep the clutch from blowing on me. I didnt stall at all when i drove it but i mean my launchs were pretty rough cause i burned out everytime i took off. Any tips for a new stick driver? ne thing that might make things easier on me and easier on the car cause i dont want to mess anything up on the car. Oh the car has 36k miles on it if that makes any difference.


Thanks guys

 

Don't dump your clutch, dont launch consistently over 2k rpm..

 

what do u mean my dump your clutch? oh and is it bad to like realease the clutch just enough where the car starts to shake(about to stall) then give it alittle gas? cause when i was realeasing the clutch and pressing onthe gas i couldnt get the rpms to stay low enough so by the time i was off the clutch the car was at 3500 rpm so i ended up peeling out.

 

the guy who said that his clutch blew up probably has a quttro, with fronttrak you have alot less of pressure on the clutch thus prolonging its life.

 

really? i didnt know that thats better for me i guess since im a newb

 

The first thing I would do is get comfortable with where the clutch grabs. Just move it slowly out until the car starts easing forward. A good exercise you might try out of traffic would be to try and get the car moving from a dead stop without using any gas. It should familiarize you with the clutch.

I imagine you are burning out because you are letting the clutch out too fast. I did the same thing in my buddies FWD Jetta when I was learning. Try to keep the RPMs under 2k when you are starting from a stop. Also make sure that when you are downshifting, you match the engine speed to the wheel speed. It reduces clutch wear compared to letting the clutch spin up to speed as you let it out.

A good tip (although pretty obvious) would be to have someone that drives stick every day teach you. I had my dad teach me, but he only started driving stick again because we bought my car. Before that, it was ateast 9 years. I just learned the basics from him and then ended up teaching myself the rest at the expense of my clutches life. I don't like to sound cocky, but I'd say that experiementing with the car and the transmission has made me better at driving it than my dad is.

 

yeh i had my cousin who i bought the car from to sit next to me in a open parking lot at night show me. The car when i realease the clutch to where it grabs it doesnt move it starts shaking is that normal? yeh for some reason the gas felt alot easier to push in than my zx2 i think i needa get used to that. do you guys start realeasing the clutch out abit and start pushing the gas it right before it grabs? or do you guys press the gas and realease the clutch at the same time?

 

Wow... everybody owned me in the time it took me to post my reply...

Anyway, go easier on the throttle.

try and keep a balance of clutch to throttle. It's easier to imagine on these clutches too... there is only about 3/4" of engagement, so only use 3/4" of pedal pressure. When the clutch is at 1/2" to full engagement, the gas should be at 1/4" from full release. Thats sort of how I was taught.

 

yeh i just got some advice on drviing it from someone else he was like. realse the clutch till u start to see the rpm drop a bit and start gasing it up to keep it at idle or alittle bit higher than idle and keep realeasing the clutch and gasing it more is that right?

 

YOu just gotta get used to it man. first give the gas about 2k rpm then slightly release the clutch. Once your car start rolling then give it a little more gas and let go a little more clutch until you're off. It's that simple. Now all clutchs are different because of how worn it is, so you just gotta get used to your own.