Do you think it is bad to coast up to lights!

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morrisman1, Sep 6, 6:46am
well if you match the engine speed with the gearbox speed perfectly each time you will only wear the clutch plate when you initially take off. Of course you still have wear on components like the clutch cable, release bearing, pressure plate springs etc.

bashfulbro, Sep 7, 4:13am
use ya jake brake mate

mazzyz, Sep 7, 4:19am
Last time I coasted up to the lights I coasted straight into the back of one of those v8 Merc SUVs. My first car crash ever, $8 K later (Insurance)I'm not in any hurry to repeat that debacle.

lookoutas, Sep 8, 12:50am
Jeez - just drive the bloody thing!

moosie_21, Sep 8, 4:48am
lol, you realise they don't cjeck brake pads on inspections (well atleast at VTNZ, don't know if your mechanic does)! I thought that way for awhile too, turns out my pads were nearly down to the bone when I got them checked by my mechanic because of the horrible screeching they were making!

fryan1962, Sep 8, 5:14am
Go for it coast,if these other guys are loosing control of there cars its pretty scary, as someone said it is like an auto and I don't see many spinning out of control

chris_051, Sep 8, 5:25am
Coasting with the car in gear and foot on clutch, the reduction in gearing from the g.box and diff causes the clutch plate/input shaft to rotate at speeds up to 10 times faster than the engine/flywheel causing the clutch plate to shatter worse case senario, If coasting slip in into neutral.

lugee, Sep 8, 5:33am
Yeah well lets face it, how many of the general public actually do that.

lugee, Sep 8, 5:34am
Forget to use the brakes or something!

mazzyz, Sep 8, 6:38am
Wasn't used to driving an 'auto' truck, I'd slowed down but obviously not enough, both Merc & truck where able to be driven away- sh!t happens sometimes. Got offered a permanent position with the company whose truck I bingled though, so things turned out pretty good in the end.

sr2, Sep 8, 6:44am
I'm interested in hearing the logic behind that one!

crzyhrse, Sep 8, 4:14pm
Yeah, well, not 10x. but assuming 3rd gear road speed that would equate to 3000rpm on the input shaft with the engine at idle of say 800rpm nearly 4x. The friction plate moves along the spline of the input shaft to be pressed up against the flywheel and doesn't stray much from there when the clutch is disengaged. So it'll still have contact with the flywheel simply due to the fact it's captive between the pressure plate and flywheel but obviously not with the same load as a 2200rpm takeoff. But the release bearing will get a hard life if it's holding the pressure plat fingers for sustained periods even only at the 800rpm it would be doing.

tigra, Sep 8, 4:31pm
I live up a hill with lights at the bottom. It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who dont make much of an attempt to slow down until about 20 metres from the lights.So with the extra inertia of coming down a steep hill, and the late braking, brake pads are a frequent cost.

sr2, Sep 9, 1:17am
Working your way down through the gears when approaching the lights in the vain hope of extending the life of your thrust bearing makes little sense to me.

r15, Sep 9, 1:32am
get an auto - heaps cheaper to buy, lower cost of running than a manual, no slipping clutches or grindy gearboxes, with the added bonus of making it easier to eat and drive etc

crzyhrse, Sep 9, 5:22am
You miss the point entirely.

sr2, Sep 9, 6:38am
We are still waiting for you explanation for (quote), "Coasting with the car in gear and foot on clutch, the reduction in gearing from the g.box and diff causes the clutch plate/input shaft to rotate at speeds up to 10 times faster than the engine/flywheel causing the clutch plate to shatter worse case senario"

yudasgoat2000, Sep 9, 7:44pm
I'm not crzyhrse, but I thought I would get out the calculator to see what numbers it spat out.

Say a car has an outer tyre circumference of 2m, a 4:1 diff and a 3.5:1 first gear ratio. That gives an overall 1st gear reduction of 14:1.

Now, say the car is moving forwards fast enough to turn the driven wheels once every second (2m/s or 7.2km/h), that would give a rotational speed for the input shaft of the gearbox of 14 revolutions/s or 840 rpm, which would be close to warm engine idle speed for most cars. To get a factor of 10 you'd have to be coasting at 72km/h with 1st engaged.

Alternatively, say top gear is 0.75:1 with a 4:1 diff, giving a 3:1 overall reduction. At 108 km/h, the gearbox input shaft would be rotating at 2700 rpm. If engine idle was 800 rpm, that would give a factor of 3.375 to the difference between the rotational speeds of the plates in the clutch. You'd have to do that with 2nd engaged in most cars to get a factor close to 10.

tigra, Sep 10, 2:55am
Lost me whenyou said calculator

johnf_456, Oct 19, 6:05pm
A very well worded good point there