Riding the clutch

Bravehearted_2

What is the correct meaning of riding the clutch?

I have heard so many explanations of this, I've lost count. Surely, they can't all be right?

Is it when you are stopped in traffic and you fully depress the clutch perhaps in readiness to go?

Or you are stopped in traffic and you find and hold at the biting point again in readiness to go?

Or you're driving and resting your foot on the clutch (even though I'm baffled at why you'd do this)

Or something else? This is driving me crazy as people seem to be calling different things "riding the clutch" :undecided

Strider590

Excessive used in traffic or on hills, but PRIMARILY people who don't fully lift off the clutch when driving.
Often women unfortunately, as a larger percentage of them drive in kangaroo mode (too close to the wheel), which leaves insufficient room to lift off the clutch fully.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

if a car if fitted with a hydraulic clutch just resting your foot on the pedal can engage it slightly (riding).

pulling off not fully releasing the clutch car has high revs (most of the elderly do this) and going about 5mph.

sat at lights fully depressing the clutch causes it to over heat if its a long period. always select nutral and release the pedal and stay off it untill the lights become atleast amber.

most people ride the clutch in reverse. im guilty of not fully releasing the clucth when reversing into a pasking space, but you have to have control or the car will race away from your control. when revershing round courners etc etc i crawl backwards release the clutch fully and allow the car to push itself backwards with little acceleration.

Road_Hog

Bravehearted wrote: »

What is the correct meaning of riding the clutch?

You effectively have four states for the clutch (please, no pedants to make it complicated, I'm trying to answer the question, not write a dissertation on the inner workings of a clutch).

1) Completely disengaged and the car is in neutral and the clutch pedal not depressed.

2) Clutch pedal fully depressed and gear selected

3) Clutch pedal released and gear engaged.

In between 2 & 3, is when the clutch pedal is released, but not fully (gear selected). The clutch plates make contact, but not fully and are spinning against each other and wearing each other out. This is riding the clutch.

Usually done by nervous/unconfident drivers who use excess revs and are afraid to release the clutch fully, for fear of stalling the car, especially on hill starts.

The sign of a good driver, as regards clutch control, is one that can enable the car to pull away in first gear (on level ground), whilst not using the accelerator pedal at all (just engine tickover). I don't recommend using this idea in normal driving, but if you can practise it somewhere, it can help get over your fear of the stall and using excessive revs.

Hintza

When teaching 4x4 the scariest thing is getting someone who rides the clutcfh or at least hovers their foot over the clutch. The first thing they will do if things start going wrong is depress the clutch losing all control of the vehicle normally on slope greater than 45...........:eek:

jase1

Road_Hog wrote: »

The sign of a good driver, as regards clutch control, is one that can enable the car to pull away in first gear (on level ground), whilst not using the accelerator pedal at all (just engine tickover). I don't recommend using this idea in normal driving, but if you can practise it somewhere, it can help get over your fear of the stall and using excessive revs.

My instructor taught me that one, can be quite useful in some circumstances.

It's hard not to ride the clutch really in reverse -- it's unlikely you'll be going fast enough for long enough to get to the point where you release the clutch for the most part.

Strider590

^^ I wasn't riding the clutch in reverse when I braved a narrow country lane only to be confronted by a 50 something woman in a small KIA who couldn't reverse just 5m into a safe passing area (she hit the embankment twice).
When I saw her husband taking his seatbelt off to swap seats I realised it would be faster if I reversed the full 400ft (yes really), clutch fully engaged to previous road junction.......

Rare though that anyone ever need to fully engage the clutch in reverse.

mikey72

I had an SD1 V8 auto. No problem with the clutch, and it did 40mph backwards.

Notmyrealname

Bravehearted wrote: »

What is the correct meaning of riding the clutch?

I have heard so many explanations of this, I've lost count. Surely, they can't all be right?

Is it when you are stopped in traffic and you fully depress the clutch perhaps in readiness to go?

Or you are stopped in traffic and you find and hold at the biting point again in readiness to go?

Or you're driving and resting your foot on the clutch (even though I'm baffled at why you'd do this)

Or something else? This is driving me crazy as people seem to be calling different things "riding the clutch" :undecided

All of the above are riding the clutch.