Am I ruining my clutch?

Got my first manual car a "mazdaspeed 3 or MPS" about 5 months ago. First few weeks were a bit shaky but up and downshifting seems a lot smoother now. I usually can catch the clutch fine on small slopes without the handbrake but today I felt like I burnt my clutch way too much. I was basically on a really steep hill with about 15-20 cars ahead of me and they were stopping and moving quickly. I dunno why I guess I was a bit nervous with all the cars so close behind me but I was reving it at about 4-5k rpms slipping the clutch to creep up the hill so I didn't fall back on anyone. I just can't seem to feel the gas under my foot in this car and it just goes up way too much and felt like I was burning my clutch.

Usually on a flat surface I bring the gas up to around 1.5k-2k rpm with the clutch coming out, small hills 3-3.5krpm. Others telling me to use as little or no gas with the clutch as possible on a hill and I have no idea how you would do that. Theres a light and heavy part of the clutch and I feel like I need more gas then the car I learned in unless you're in a parking lot to get the car moving.

Maybe I should stick to the handbrake? then others are telling me that burns the clutch more? how do you guys handle hills in a manual transmission?

I don't use any gas when taking off, even on small hills. Steep hills I Rev it to 1500rpm at most.

Find your clutch's bite point and use that.

Found your problem

Mazda

Just get an auto, your not ready for a manuel

retard post

Retard

I mean, it's normal to panic on hills when you're new to manual and doing as you did. However you should be able to get to the point where starting on a hill is no different from starting on a flat surface. Just practice some place without traffic and you'll improve.

If you don't smell the clutch btw you're fine, but I'd definitely practice a bit more to prevent as much wear as possible

What car/engine do you have? Not op here.

Rev to 6k, drop the clutch, people leave big gap behind you coz there scared, win????

I disagree with this, you should be applying gas as soon as you hit the bite point, or a little sooner, its too easy to stall out with no gas unless you release the clutch super slowly or you have a torque monster.

you are a fucking idiot, kill yourself.

OP, on hill starts, your feet should be on brake and clutch while in first gear when you are about to go(dont leave it in first for obvious reasons), then release the clutch and break around the same time, then smoothly apply gas. you dont need to rev before you pull out the clutch, just while you do it. unless someones sitting directly up your ass, you shouldnt roll back enough to hit someone

also by "at the same time i dont mean the clutch should be fully engaged, you should have it just before the bite point when you begin to apply gas

2016 GTI.
I've done the same method in almost every manual I've owned.
Besides a miata with a practically dead clutch.

I also have a MS3.

The clutch is very tricky to get down. I've had mine for about 4 years and there are times when i'm not real smooth.

I'd recommend using the hand brake method for hills until you get the feel of it. Eventually you'll be driving in stop and go traffic on hills in no time.

>dfw always drive shitboxes that take 5 seconds of cranking + foot on gas to start
I never worked up the courage to do hill starts from clutch bite point, I always drift backwards several inches while shitting my pants

Yes

Same color gen2 as mine. yeh like I can do it fine on most hills but yeh the steep hills get me with traffic behind me. The manual car I drove first to learn the basics was so much easier I could drive effortlessly without gas to move off. In the MS3 I gotta use more gas I guess its a finesse thing and I gotta get that balance between the light and heavy part of the clutch. Bit of gas always prevents a stall but I'm afraid its gonna kill the clutch sooner. I just don't understand how anyone could move off with just the clutch without it being very slow.

Its all muscle memory. All you can do is practice and practice. Like I mentioned before, these cars have very tricky clutches. You'll get it eventually. I love in Pittsburgh with a lot of hills and I'm often stuck on very steep hills in bumper to bumper traffic. I don't even think about it anymore

Use the handbrake to hold you while you take off. I even do this with DCT cars.

do you put it in neutral too?

DCTs? No, they're still automatics. I can't even shift to neutral without applying brakes. Manual I would just to not keep the clutch in.

Everyone just needs to find some quiet Hill or slope to practice on. Just do it over and over again until you can do it incredibly easy. This is the only real way to learn, repetition. Go out at night so it'll be extra quiet and you can roll as far as you need. Handbrake is the easiest way to Hill start so watch a video or two on YouTube to get the basics. Learn to hold your car on a slope without rolling back or moving forward but just be stationary without brakes on this helps you learn where the bite point is, then you can start practising Hill starts without the handbrake. You have to be quick and know where the bite point is for this to be effective, personally I heel toe when on a slope but everyone always says that it's a weird way of doing it, but I find it easy.

Once you learn it you'll be able to do it very easily.

this is good advice, i would just add - try and see how little gas you can get away with.
you should be able to tell if your car is struggling and react smoothly.

He's not wrong. If you've been driving stick for 5 months and you still don't know what is going on you should consider suicide

if this is one of his first times hill starting then its not weird that he's going to have a bit of trouble, jesus christ you're fucking stupid

He hasn't hill started in 5 months? Fuck off. I've had my first manual car for 5 months and I hill started the first day and learned to not be afraid.

I never understood the handbrake thing.
Some guys I work with are from the DR and they grew up with manuals only and told me to just get really fast with the clutch and gas.
I practiced on a steep ass hill for 15 minutes after work for acouple days and it's never an issue now.
I rev to 2k at most when moving even on steep hills, so what if I'm not launching I'm not rolling back and I'm going forward so there's no issue.

the handbrake is for safety as rolling backwards into the traffic behind you is generally a bad thing. i'm not saying it happens to everyone, but for people who don't hill start very often mistakes can happen.

This is dumb, don't do this. Your clutch wears when excess friction is apllied. Dumping the clutch or letting it off without any gas causes the clutch to heat. Apply only a little gas when hitting the bite point to achieve this.

Sorry I know why people do it, I meant that I fucked up more trying to use the handbrake for hillstarts.
I found just being quick with the pedals was easier for me.

i've barely done any hillstarts but they've all been in Bath, if you've ever seen the parking on the hills there the handbrake is a must. i'm sure i could do it with pedals but i wouldn't fully trust myself to not roll back enough to bump the car behind me the first few times i try.

the clutch is a wear item. unless you smell burning it's probably fine.

man I had my first legit hill start the other day and I am new to driving manual. I fucked up the first time and stalled it. had to brake immediately to catch myself from rolling back. revved that bitch up to 2.5k and just dropped it and took off flawlessly

I doubt it

OP this might help you if you're still here... I had no idea I could use the regular foot brake while doing hill starts for the longest time until someone suggested.

You can practice this yourself, especially if you're just slipping to set off instead of gassing... should be easy. You hold the brake firm and let off the clutch until you feel a shake, hold the clutch foot and drop the brake slowly. This will usually mean you either hold steady or roll forward a bit. Keep practicing until this is the case (sometimes you will roll back means obv you need to clutch out a bit more). I use this a lot in drive-thrus since people are right up on your ass and you don't want to risk any roll back.

I've been driving stick for 5 months too! It's fun, isn't it?

this will only work if you're driving a non-shit box. my mx-5 doesn't make enough torque idling to slip the clutch like that and make any meaningful difference

>foot on brake
>release clutch to just under the bite point or if its a really big hill most of the way into the bite point
>get on the gas right away but only enough to get rid of the shake

Just make that transition as smooth as possible. Stop giving a shit about the people behind you, as long as you don't roll into them who cares. I mean this probably is a lot more difficult for cars with absolutely no torque. My shitbox 07 mazda 3 made 155ftlbs off the line. Don't know what it makes now.

There are Zero(0) hills where i live, I encounter maybe one every 6 months if im lucky. so im really not surprised he woudlnt encounter any hills if he lives in a flat area