Bare With Me Here..What are Clutch Pedal For on Manuals??

[solaris=amazing]

Yeah i know..this is real dumb, but i never drove a manual transmission car. Do you shift the from 1-2 then step on the clutch pedal?? How does all this work..?? I seen some manuals (i think) with manual shifting, but no clutch pedal. Also, how much of a pain is it to get used to manual?? Are manuals generally stronger then autos-mechanically??

[Zoxygen]

hmm...wow...

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Well every manual has a clutch, you press it in to shift gears, the whole clutch system in kinda complex so im not gonna explain it. but you need to press the clutch in to shift from one gear to another.

[solaris=amazing]

Thanks..

[ec437]

yeah, very WOW.

Alright, the clutch disengages the engine from the rest of the drivetrain so that you change from one gear to the next without damaging the selector mechanism. It is theoretically possible to shift without the clutch, but I won't get into that. You really should understand how a clutch works before I explain anything else, so go to howstuffworks.com and read the article on clutches and the article on manual transmissions.

Alright, done reading those? Ok, so you have to push in the clutch whenever you want to change gears (push in before you move the stick, let out after you move it) and basically whenever you use the brake pedal. You have never seen a true manual without a clutch, because ALL TRUE MANUALS HAVE A CLUTCH. If you think you saw one without, you basically saw an automatic transmission that allows you to override the automatic part of it. Companies such as BMW, however, have begun making transmissions that are not completely manual, but are almost mechanically the same (if not the same as) a fully manual transmission, it is just that a computer controls the clutch and gear selection mechanism instead of you doing it directly. That is why if you buy a new M3 with the SMG transmission, you have paddle shifters and no clutch pedal. I believe that there is no torque converter in that car, correct me if I am wrong. I know the new M5 will be like this. I also think that acura, audi, and possibly subaru have started in this direction as well. Probably some other companies too.

[solaris=amazing]

Thanks alot.. Very helpful, i apreciate it guys. BTW, yeah howstuffworks.com is excellent.

[SaabJohan]

Saab had a system back in the mid nineties that operated the clutch automatically when you changed gears, it used a normal manual gearbox, the only difference was how the clutch was operated.

BMW:s SMG is basicly a road version of the system used in F1. I'm not sure how and if the SGM system operates the clutch, but in F1 and other racing transmissions the gear is changed without using the clutch since the gearbox use "dogs" instead of normal synchros. The transmission is also sequential like on a motorcycle and the gear is changed by rotating a "cylinder" which causes the gears to change places. This "cylinder" can then be operated manually like on a motorcycle or with for example hydraulics like in F1.

The system Audi uses is a twin clutch system, first used by Audi in group b rally during the eighties, which then was used under the name PDK; Porsche Doppel Kopplung.