Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

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SykoRedhead
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Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by SykoRedhead »

That pretty much sums it up.

Over the years I've had a few stick driving experiences, mostly bad. My husband has tried to teach me many many times, but he gets so upset when I stall the car and he just generally is not a great teacher. Every driving experience usually ends with me in tears because I'll stall at an intersection and then the cars behind me get upset, and I get upset, and then I just keep stalling over and over because I get more and more upset, and then usually it ends up rushing to switch sides so he can just get me out of it.

But I just bought a brand new 2009 Honda Fit Sport with a manual transmission. I love it and I want to drive it so bad! I've spent the last couple of days trying, and I've read everything on the internet and watched videos and practiced to death and I'm just not getting it. My biggest problem is launching the car. Upshifting I'm a little rough and jerky, but I have plenty of time to deal with that. But if I can't launch the car at an intersection on my way to work by myself, than I can't drive it. I've spent an hour in a parking lot trying various methods. I try the no gas start but I only have 107lbs of torque so it barely happens, and it has to be 100000% level to happen. My biggest problem (and what frustrates the hubby to no end) is that sometimes I do it *perfectly*, sometimes it's "not bad", sometimes it's "bad", sometimes I just stall, and I HAVE NO IDEA WHY. I don't know what I'm doing differently between those. It feels like I'm doing the exact same thing over and over and sometimes I just get lucky. I try doing it super slow motion to see the difference and I really just don't know. If I try doing it fast I just stall. He's pretty much told me that he's given up on me. I have no one else that can teach me, and I need him to at least drive me to the parking lot because I'm afraid of getting stuck. We're fighting because he feels like he's less of a man because he can't teach me, I'm crying because he's yelling at me for just not getting it, and it's just a horrible experience. And of course, as soon as I leave the parking lot and try to do it in the "real world" I panic and forget everything I know because there's cars coming and I have to do it quickly and then I just stall it.

I know that I need to practice practice practice, but does anyone have any other random advice?
Last edited by SykoRedhead on Sun Sep 21, 2008 12:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by watkins »

Welcome!

Two big things:
1) Stop worrying
2) Stop thinking

The more you worry, the harder it is to relax and just drive.
The more you think about what youre doing, the harder it is to just concentrate on your senses and drive by feel rather than by mental process.

Go out to a parking lot, dump the hubby out of the way, and just go at it alone for a while. You seem to have the knowledge in your mind to accomplish this. Now you just need to get it out of your head and to your limbs where the real work is happening.

Good luck, and dont stress it.
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Re: Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by Prodigal Son »

SykoRedhead wrote:I know that I need to practice practice practice, but does anyone have any other random advice?
Well, it's not quite so simple as that. Practice if essential, of course, but you have to practice the right thing. So, the first thing you need to do is to establish whether or not you are doing the right thing. Once you know you are, then you need to practice it.

I believe the most common cause of constant stalling is a misunderstanding of how the clutch works. It is easy to regard it as a kind of big on/off switch on the floor. But this is not correct. The clutch is actually what is called a friction coupling. When you operate the clutch, you are actually operating a big spring that pushes two plates together, the clutch plate and the flywheel. How much pressure that spring applies determines how much torque is transferred from the flywheel to the clutch. So, when you are letting out the clutch, what you are really doing is allowing that spring to push those plates together harder and harder, so that the friction between them moves the car.

Why is there a clutch in the first place? Because the engine in your car has to maintain a certain speed or it will stall. When you launch you car, the car starts out stationary. If you just connected the engine directly to the wheels, the engine would simply stall. What the clutch does is let you apply a little of the engine's power to start the car moving. The clutch does this by slipping. The clutch slips against the flywheel under light pressure and friction makes the car begin to move.

This is where most stalling occurs. The driver is edging off the clutch (which is allowing that big spring to press the clutch plate against the flywheel just a bit, and transferring that power to the wheels to move the car). Feeling the car move, the driver pulls their foot off the clutch. Suddenly, the full pressure of the spring forces the clutch and the flywheel together. There is so much force that the clutch stops slipping and grabs the flywheel. This forces the engine to drop down to the speed of the wheels, and since the engine can't run that slowly, it stalls.

How do you fix it? Simple: when you feel the car start to move, don't jump off the clutch. Continue to release the clutch smoothly and slowly. You will feel the car continue to accelerate as you continue to release the clutch. By the time you fully release the clutch, the car will be traveling fast enough that the engine can be fully connected to the wheels without stalling, and off you go.

The purpose of the clutch pedal, therefore, is to make sure that the wheels are not fully connected to the engine until the car is traveling fast enough that the engine won't stall. A lot of people talk about finding the catch point, as if the most important thing in launching the car was to get it to start moving. But that isn't the most important part. The important part is what happens between the time it starts moving and the time that it is moving fast enough to fully connect the engine to the wheels.

Once you understand that you don't use the clutch just to get the car moving, but that you use it to accelerate the car all the way from zero to about 5mph, you should have an easier time developing the right technique. Then practice will make perfect.

So remember, don't jump off the clutch the moment the car moves. Continue to let it out slowly and smoothly. Pay attention to how the car is accelerating as you do so. Remember that your aim is to get the car up to about 5mph before allowing the clutch to fully engage. Use your clutch to make that acceleration smooth and steady and you should quickly get past your launching problems.
Last edited by Prodigal Son on Sun Sep 21, 2008 12:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by wannabe »

plus one to getting hubby out of the way...husbands/boyfriends usually make it worse.

hi. i'm a girl too :)

when the people behind you get upset, IGNORE them. they don't exist *does jedi mind wave* they don't know you, you may never see them again, if they honk, so what? you're learning how to drive again (pretty much what it is). i don't drive stick often (last time was 2+ years ago :P) but what i remember (and what the folks here'll tell ya) like watkins said, stop worrying, stop thinking, just drive. :)

and listen to prodigal son :) he's really really really smart :)
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Re: Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by .insane »

yea and dont bother reading anything that sonyAD posts, and if you ever have car trouble roman(hockeystyx) should be able to diagnose it in about 5 minutes :p and ps is the old wise bearded man on the forums maybe not bearded but old and wise
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Re: Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by potownrob »

+1 PS is a Jedi Master :D
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Re: Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by AHTOXA »

Welcome to SS, please enjoy your stay. There are many well-respected and knowledgeable members here with tons of info. The FAQ section is also helpful.
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Re: Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by jomotopia »

welcome to the site. :)

first off, it sounds like you are doing all your learning/practicing on the streets. get out of traffic and into a parking lot! practice away from traffic until you can start without stalling reliably. you will still stall once you go back into traffic, but it won't be as often and you won't get as nervous b/c you will know that you can do it.

then, in the parking lot, practice some no-gas launches to get a feel for the clutch.
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Re: Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by Nychold »

I didn't bother reading everything that PS said, but chances are about 99% that he's right, and would say anything I could offer as advice. So welcome aboard, and enjoy driving the stick. If you don't enjoy it, you'll end up regretting it. So start enjoying. Now. I mean it. Right now! :lol:
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Re: Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by Johnf514 »

Hi SykoRedhead - welcome to Standardshift! :mrgreen:

You've come to the right place. Prodigal Son just gave you an excellent write-up on the basic mechanics of a clutch, which is absolutely necessary to understand why stalls happen. Jomo mentioned to get off the road and into a parking lot so you can concentrate solely on practicing starting from a stop (the hardest part). My post will be about you and the hubby.

If possible, I would recommend that you and your significant other don't work on this together. It is very difficult to remain objective during the process, and emotions can get in the way of learning.

If you need him to drive you to a parking lot, that's OK. He should then get out and go to a coffee shop or somewhere that the two of you aren't in visual contact. Then you can concentrate on the car and learning what we have taught you. When you are done, then the two of you can discuss what you have learned. :)

Good luck, and glad to have you on the board!
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Re: Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by Prodigal Son »

Johnf514 wrote:If possible, I would recommend that you and your significant other don't work on this together.
There is a TV program up here called Canada's Worse Driver, which basically tries to teach hopeless cases to drive better, and consists largely of various sorts of obstacle courses the the bad drivers have to negotiate. They do this with their significant other in the passenger seat giving advice, encouragement, criticism, yelling, etc. (The principle point of reality television is to get people yelling at each other.) Why this is relevant to John's point is that in one episode, they had two of the most impatient and critical significant others switch cars. The performance of both drivers improved immediately and by an enormous amount as soon as they had a stranger in the passenger seat. So did the demeanor of the passengers!

By and large, family should not teach family how to drive.
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Re: Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by Nychold »

Prodigal Son wrote:By and large, family should not teach family how to drive.
It really depends on the family, though. Both my brother and I are (well, were in my case) teachers, so when I had to learn to drive stick, I had no problem learning from my brother. He was patient and understanding, and I don't think I was too stressed out by it. Well, no more than when I was learning to drive.
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Re: Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by Johnf514 »

It will always be case-by-case; however, it sounds like Debbie's situation may be improved by having her s/o out of sight for practicing. He can offer encouragement and tips before or afterwards, but during is Debbie-time. :)
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Re: Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by SykoRedhead »

Hey, I just wanted to thank you all. Prodigals reply specifically really helped it click. I think one of the things I was doing wrong was feeling it start to catch and thinking I was done with the clutch so I'd just let it out quickly. If I wait until about 5MPH before it's fully out it seems to help.

I've actually managed to drive to work this week. Although I'm sure I'm quite entertaining to the other drivers. I still stall, but not as often. The last few times I've stalled has been when I've had it in 3rd and tried to launch. I also kicked the husband out while I was practicing.

We went out for a drive in our 2009 Volkswagon Wagon with much more torque, because he wanted me to see the difference between the two cars. In the Fit, the no gas start was really impractical, but I did it in the Rabbit and I can see the benefit. It was a much easier car for me to drive.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks. I'm still rough, my 1 to 2 shifts are horrid,, I'm going to get whiplash, but I'm able to at least drive it to work and back and I'm getting better.
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Re: Hello my name is Debbie, and I can't drive stick

Post by wannabe »

yay! congrats for being able to get back and forth to work. and also, congrats on kicking hubby out of the passangers seat :)
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