Hey guys, I picked up an 03 WRX with a 5 speed a couple weeks ago and am learning to drive stick-shift. After a week of stalling and bouncing around I'm starting to get a little more confident in my clutching and shifting but still think there is a lot of room for improvement. I was wondering if the pros of the forum could offer some advice to help me preserve my clutch and syncros. Here are some specific concerns:

*On a hill - I usually let the clutch pedal up enough so that the flywheel is just starting to engage and use some gas to keep it from rolling back when getting ready to go - is this the best way to do it? I imagine this isn't very good for the clutch.

*rev-matching - any info on this would be great...

*when I shift (especially from 1st to 2nd) I still get a bit of bouncing/bucking - is this normal or am I letting the clutch out too quick or is the syncro on 2nd gear in bad shape?


I'm sure I got other questions I'm not thinking of but that's good for now I guess.

Thanks!

 

Ok I read some more and I know my last question about the bouncing may be "clutch shudder"?? Also, when I'm at high rpms in a low gear and let off the gas - causing a bit of the bouncing - I also get a bit of a winding/crunching noise. I'm new to manuals so I'm wondering what noises are normal and what noises should worry me... probably a tough question to answer but thought I'd give it a shot anyways.

 

I'll try and answer the best I can, here goes:

* Never partially press your clutch as you will burn it out. I either have it all the way it or all the way out. Remember to press it and let go of it smoothly.

* I wouldn't worry about rev matching at this point, but if you are curious do a little search on rev matching or heel and toe on the forum there is tons of info ...

* I think you may be letting to too quickly. Remember to shift smoothly, without applying too much pressure on the shifter, let the synchros do their job. And let go of the clutch smoothly. The whining sound is normal but crunching is not .... you might be crunching because of several reasons:
1. shifting too fast
2. mis-shifting
3. letting go of the clutch pedal too fast
4. Or possibly a bad synchro, if you are not doing any of the above ...
Hope this helps

Its all about tackling corners

 

for up hill this is the way i learned from my pops. i think its the safest way to keep you from rolling back into some one.

-when at a stop pull the handbrake.
-slowly drop the ebrake as you are letting off the clutch to move forward
- in the event that you are moving too slow or about to stall pull the hand brake and step down on the clutch

yeah this is a lot of steps but this saves the clutch a bit until you get better driving manual

 

Thanks for the responses... I don't know if crunching is the right word really... but this is not necessarily during a shift... it's when I'm in say 2nd gear on the throttle and then let off and you get the bouncing kind of action as the transmission slows the car down... on the bounces is when I hear that "crunching". It kind of goes hand in hand with the whining sounds... don't know if that makes any sense - tough to describe sounds over the internet - I'll probably just have to show someone. Hopefully it's normal.

I've heard about the ebrake trick and tried it a few times... is this what everybody does on hills or is there a better way for those that are not inexperienced with a manual? Just curious....

 

I know what you are talking about, that happens when you don't time the shifts properly and let go of the clutch too quickly ... the whining is normal ...

 

One other thing, is it normal that it's impossible to downshift into first unless your almost stopped?

 

i have the same noises with my 05 wrx. it's a crunching/grinding noise usually when i'm going at a slow speed in 1st or 2nd gear wo any throttle. also have the whining noise

 

my 05 would shift to 1st very easily when it was brand new. now with 1700 miles on it you have to be almost stopped or match the revs a little that seems to help get it into 1st sometimes. most of the time if it doesnt go I return the shifter to Neutral and let the clutch out push it in again and it goes into 1st.

 

It is normal on the WRX to have difficulty going into 1st. You could try adding a quart of Pennzoil Synchromesh to your front tranny fluids the next time you have it changed. It will enable your synchros to work better due to the added friction. Shifts will be a lot smoother. Do a search on the forum about it, there are people with tons of positive feed back. If that doesn't help with your down shifts into first, you might have a first gear synchro going bad. But to get into first you have to either double clutch or rpm match while applying gentle pressure on the shifter.