Stick Tips

sup everybody. ive been driving my 2001 camaro for a few weeks now, and am getting the hang of driving a stick. this is my first manual transmission car so im still learning. i was just wondering if those who drive stick can give me some important tips, or "cardinal rules", etc. my dad and my friend taught me the basics, but of course i need to practice them. i just want to pick it up faster. thanks a lot

the only way you'l get good is by experience and practice.. every clutch has its own "sweet spot" and every driver develops their own methods to driving.. Giver' a few weeks and you'l be drivin' with a smoke in one hand, a beer and a hotdog in the other, and a cell phone on your shoulder

try to make as smooth of shifts as possible and try to make sure your engine speed catch up for your gears, if you get good enough, you can shift without even using the clutch.

like everyone else says, you just need to get the feel of the car...I had to learn all by myself and I can't tell you how embarrassing it was to stall out in the Dairy Queen drive-thru like 10 times before I could drive away...sheesh - but I was a pro after 2 weeks.

learn to match teh rpm's when releasing the clutch and just pratice as much as possible you'll get it

Just practice, I practiced a lot on slight slopes on country roads to get the hang of it quicker. Imagine there is a bentley behind you, if you roll back, your done for. But it is a lot of fun!
jake

its easy, stop the gas and pop the clutch. you'll never stall out...

Here is a tip for driving a stick for the LS1 six speed car. GET RID OF THAT DAMN SKIP SHIFT!! and buy a short throw. We did it to my buddies TA and before we did it, third gear was always a bitch. well now it's a thing of beauty..

a tip: never drive with your foot slightly resting on the clutch pedal (even if it is just "slightly" resting). My girlfriend does it all the time and it drives me crazy. Now she wonders why her clutch makes a funny noise when she pushes it in and why it's so worn out.

You will get the hang of it but it does take a little bit. I knew how to drive a stick before I got my car but nothing that sensative. I just went backroading (Michigan = lots of dirt roads) and kept praticing. One thing I realized is that when your upshifting, you barely have to push in the clutch for the car to go into gear. My old truck ('85 F150 POS) had to have the clutch in all the way or lots of grinding would ensue. If you get the hang of putting in the clutch as little as possible, you will be shifting a lot quicker and a HELL of a lot smoother. Remember to make sure the clutch is ALL THE WAY DEPRESSED when your stopped, you don't realize it but if your foot lets the pedal lift up at all, the clutch is grabbing. Also, I know this sounds stupid but, wear shoes, not boots to get the hang of it. When your starting out, you can feel how much throttle your giving it through shoes (or even better sandels) than you can a pair of work boots. Finally, the SLP skip-shift eliminator is about $20 and you can install it in two minutes. I almost got rear-ended four times in two weeks because I wasn't expecting the lock-out, in short, it drove me nuts!!! Have fun!!!!

yea down wear boots. i had to learn on my own at work with customer's cars. it was fun for me but im sure people did like it when the car stalled because i couldnt feel the clutch or the gas through my steeltoes.

mike, what do you mean by match the rpms?

Let's say your going down the road at 1500 RPM's and you want to go from 4th to 3rd. If you put the clutch in, shift into 3rd and let the clutch out, your engine will climb to around 2000 RPM's but when it does, the car will lurch forward and it will slow down a bit. I'm sure you already did this so you should know what I mean.

To match the RPM's, you would put the clutch in, shift into 3rd, blimp the gas a little to bring the engine up to 2000 RPM's, AND THEN let the clutch out. You're matching the engine RPM's to what they are going to be when the clutch is released. If you do it this way, it's really smooth and not hord on the car. It's really not hard to do but get in the pratice of doing it because 4th to 3rd gear is kinda mild but when you're going from 6th to 3rd, it's a must.