Driving my manual GTI to reduce wear on Tranny / Clutch

Hello everyone,

this is an up shift question:

new GTI owner here. First manual car in quite awhile so I thought I would ask you guys for pointers to prevent unnecessary wear on the transmission and clutch.

When I first got the GTI (2 weeks ago), I started driving it by letting the clutch slip a little on up shifts to try and get as smooth a result as I could. Not only did I fail in being completely smooth on about 20% of my shifts (mostly 1-2 and 2-3 shifts), I realized that doing this might be wearing out the clutch for no good reason.

2 days ago, I decided to switch things around a bit and I started shifting using very fast footwork (almost race fast) but without applying more throttle than normal. Using this technique (fast footwork and fast shifts), I have been able to achieve shifts which are a lot smoother (especially the 1-2 shift which is trickier).

However, I am afraid that doing this might be every worse on the transmission and the clutch but I am not sure hence my coming here. I would describe my clutch work on shifts as one fluid motion that is very fast (minimal slip) but I am afraid that I am being too violent with the shifter (result of aggressive foot work is more aggressive hand work on my part). Would that be a bad thing to do on a daily basis?

Thanks for the pointers!

try letting the rpms drop to where they are supposed to be before letting off the clutch.
For example shifting from 1st to 2nd :
you're in 1st gear at 3000 rpm - > clutch in - > wait a sec until the rpms drop down to 2000 rpm - > now slowly let go of the clutch with some gas -> by now the rpms should be at 1800 ish and you're good to go. the jerk or lurch you get when shifting is the when you get a large difference in rpms (Rpm you're at - Rpm you're supposed to be at) . The larger the difference, the larger the jerk

So according to what you are saying, shifting fast (i.e not letting the revs drop) damages the clutch or the tranny? When I do shift fast like that, I do not feel any jerks. Granted it might be because I concentrate on the shifts...

Shifting (too) fast damages the tranny. Let the clutch slip damages the clutch.

Just shift up 'normal' and shift down with some gas to raise revs before you let the clutch go.
Do it slow, precise and smooth but with lees slip as possible.

Guess you don't want to win races.

what do you mean I dont want to win races??? To me, the less idle time between gear shifts, the better the overall acceleration. Shifting slowly but precisely in races doesn't cut it... All in all every time you race, you damage the transmission?

I understand there is an "in between" slipping the clutch like crazy and dropping it really fast. I guess the dilemma here is do you want to wear the clutch or the transmission? What exactly does an automatic transmission do then? On up shifts it will not wait for the revs to drop 500-1k rpm before shifting..how does it prevent tranny damage?

Just trying to maximize the performance I can get out of the car all the while making sure I am not prematurely damaging either the clutch or the transmission...

when you engage the clutch/foot off the clutch, do you see RPM jumping, i.e. RPM was decreasing from 3000, it reaches 2500, at which point you engage the clutch and the RPM 'jumps' to 2000? just an example...

for me the problem has been when I lift foot off gas & depress clutch pedal, sometimes the RPM hang longer, sometimes it almost didn't hand at all... now if I were to use the same footwork, i.e. same timing, I will get inconsistent results - sometimes smooth sometimes jerky...

that is, I think, one of the reasons I am getting inconsistent results...the rpm do not seem to drop at the same rate every time I shift but my footwork is pretty consistent....as a result, sometimes it is smooth, sometimes it is jerky...

the timings required probably on a gear basis? I seem to get a bigger jerks from 1-2 and 2-3 but I think this is mainly due to the fact I am disengaging the clutch during acceleration...wouldn't disengaging during acceleration jerk you forward as you are cutting off your acceleration while the clutch is engaged? This is the main reason why I thought changing gear fast would "reduce" this jerk forward effect

arthnox said:

that is, I think, one of the reasons I am getting inconsistent results...the rpm do not seem to drop at the same rate every time I shift but my footwork is pretty consistent....as a result, sometimes it is smooth, sometimes it is jerky...

the timings required probably on a gear basis? I seem to get a bigger jerks from 1-2 and 2-3 but I think this is mainly due to the fact I am disengaging the clutch during acceleration...wouldn't disengaging during acceleration jerk you forward as you are cutting off your acceleration while the clutch is engaged? This is the main reason why I thought changing gear fast would "reduce" this jerk forward effect

Click to expand...

I'm not an expert but here are my thoughts, and please someone correct me if I'm wrong.

when you are changing gears, there will be a period of time where no power is going to the tranny, the car is moving forward, for that period, because of momentum. DSG shifts really really smooth, and i think it's because that period is minimized to a point where you won't feel it and RPM matches 'perfectly'.

I don't think you are supposed to disengage clutch while you are still giving it gas, but don't get your foot off of gas pedal completely and then disengage the clutch either. i guess you will just have to find the 'near perfect' point in between.

differences between 1-2 and 2-3 should be due to different gear ratios, i think.

I disengage the clutch and let go of the gas at the same time both in a smooth motion. I understand the DSG has to match the rpm perfectly but I do not understand how it can achieve that in 200ms...the engine's rev do not have time to go back down to the tranny's rev in those 200ms...

arthnox said:

I disengage the clutch and let go of the gas at the same time both in a smooth motion. I understand the DSG has to match the rpm perfectly but I do not understand how it can achieve that in 200ms...the engine's rev do not have time to go back down to the tranny's rev in those 200ms...

Click to expand...

That I dont know, time to google

I'm not sure if this makes a difference to tranny wear but when I shift, I do no not grasp the shift lever in the palm of my hand. Instead, I hold it by the fingers so that there's some give. It seems by doing this, the lever drops into position when it is ready, rather than when I demand it. Probably this is not the way you would shift in competitition but for around town it makes sense to me.

Smooth is key. Try not to slip the clutch much and don't shift too fast, ESP in low gears. Easier to shift fast in high gears. Don't slam gears around either. Winning races is utterly meaningless in the real world if you are older than 17, unless you race cars for a living. To my knowledge, there are no pro drivers on this forum (paying for a track day doesn't count)

arthnox said:

I disengage the clutch and let go of the gas at the same time both in a smooth motion. I understand the DSG has to match the rpm perfectly but I do not understand how it can achieve that in 200ms...the engine's rev do not have time to go back down to the tranny's rev in those 200ms...

Click to expand...

DSG is an entirely different beast and is not comparable in the context of manual shifting technique. A Direct shift gearbox effectively has two gear boxes in one and consequently dual clutches. The outer clutch drives gears 1/3/5 and inner clutch drives 2/4/6. In other words, when DSG is in 1st gear, it's already got 2nd gear engaged as well and need only switch drive to the other clutch. The transmission ecu uses a pile of predictive software to anticipate what gear you'll want next (i.e. if you're braking, it'll expect to have to down shift). But sometimes it doesn't predict your next gear choice and that's when DSG loses its touch and is very slow to shift (I think it takes just over 1 second in such case).

Point is that there's no sense in trying to drive your manual like a dsg cause it ain't one. Not that I'm saying I prefer it, but the two are entirely incomparable (FYI I own a manual tranny GTI).

Oh and DSG can shift in more like 8-10ms.

Lastly, I will just say that your clutch was designed to slip and smooth out the transition from one gear to the next. So don't worry about it unless you're really abusing it, such as burning it excessively when going up the parking garage ramp, or doing clutch drop launches. You'll know there's a problem with what you're doing when you smell burnt clutch lol - although it's a bit late at that point to undo the damage with better technique.