Riding the clutch in a yaris

[negev]

Hello everyone,

I am curious, I see a lot of people online talking about riding the clutch and that this wears the clutch out and is really expensive if you burn it out, but on this forum people seem to be saying that they've done hundreds of thousands of miles in their Yarises and never needed a new one.

I tend to hold the car on the clutch a lot when driving in London as there's a lot of stop-start and using the handbrake is annoying, is this bad for the clutch or does it not really matter in a car like this?

Ta much

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Riding the clutch on any car is bad. I wouldn't suggest doing it.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by negev

Hello everyone,

I am curious, I see a lot of people online talking about riding the clutch and that this wears the clutch out and is really expensive if you burn it out, but on this forum people seem to be saying that they've done hundreds of thousands of miles in their Yarises and never needed a new one.

I tend to hold the car on the clutch a lot when driving in London as there's a lot of stop-start and using the handbrake is annoying, is this bad for the clutch or does it not really matter in a car like this?

Ta much

Driving a manual transmission car (that you own) in London...... I feel for you. I am a nearly die hard manual transmission driver. My Yaris is manual and my clutch is original. I've driven in London in a rental car.....an automatic. If I repeated that exercise, I'd want it to again be in an automatic. I can't speak definitively for other high mileage manual transmission Yaris owners, only for myself, but I don't ride my clutch. If I had to guess, I would doubt any others do either.

[peckerhead]

Originally Posted by negev

Hello everyone,

I am curious, I see a lot of people online talking about riding the clutch and that this wears the clutch out and is really expensive if you burn it out, but on this forum people seem to be saying that they've done hundreds of thousands of miles in their Yarises and never needed a new one.

I tend to hold the car on the clutch a lot when driving in London as there's a lot of stop-start and using the handbrake is annoying, is this bad for the clutch or does it not really matter in a car like this?

Ta much

Riding the clutch = the kiss of death.

[why?]

to put it into perspective, to replace a clutch the book says 8 hours of labor. That is $600 just in labor costs, the replacement parts are probably around $500 as well. So $1100 total. No driving style can be worth that much money.

[Sparcoboy]

A clutch doesn't wear even a little bit by keeping the pedal depressed, only the throwoutbearing will get some extra wear on it, but on a Toyota they're built strong enough to last the lifetime of the car.

[edmscan]

Originally Posted by why?

to put it into perspective, to replace a clutch the book says 8 hours of labor. That is $600 just in labor costs, the replacement parts are probably around $500 as well. So $1100 total. No driving style can be worth that much money.

Boy .. I would love your rates. Around here .. labor rates are well over 100$ an hour.

[negev]

Originally Posted by Sparcoboy

A clutch doesn't wear even a little bit by keeping the pedal depressed, only the throwoutbearing will get some extra wear on it, but on a Toyota they're built strong enough to last the lifetime of the car.

What about keep it up just enough to keep the car stationary on a hill though?

[peckerhead]

Originally Posted by Sparcoboy

A clutch doesn't wear even a little bit by keeping the pedal depressed, only the throwoutbearing will get some extra wear on it, but on a Toyota they're built strong enough to last the lifetime of the car.

Nonsense.

[peckerhead]

Originally Posted by negev

What about keep it up just enough to keep the car stationary on a hill though?

Go ahead and do that. Show us the pictures of your smoked clutch disc, pressure plate, and flywheel in 10,000 miles.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by negev

What about keep it up just enough to keep the car stationary on a hill though?

Just use the handbrake or avoid driving in hilly areas (I avoided hilly areas until I got confident in using the handbrake on hills).

[DebbyM46227]

I've owned many cars with MT's and I've never worn out a clutch. I never ride the clutch, and I also don't hold it in at stoplights. I put it in neutral.

[Jabro]

Originally Posted by peckerhead

Nonsense.

Peckerhead, mechanically speaking I have to disagree with you. So long as the clutch is fully disengaged, no friction will be occurring whatsoever, equating to zero wear. Having the clutch fully depressed on a neutral incline shouldn't do any more damage than having the car in neutral. Now on an incline, that changes if your holding it at the "sweet spot", because the clutch is no longer disengaged and is encountering friction.

[Kal-El]

I admit that I never use the handbrake while driving. When stopped on an incline, I'm in neutral with the brakes depressed, and then balance the clutch and gas to proceed from a stop to prevent rollback. In other instances, I ride it briefly while in reverse. I think these practices are normal.

My original clutch works perfect with 132,000 miles on it.

[DebbyM46227]

Originally Posted by Kal-El

I admit that I never use the handbrake while driving. When stopped on an incline, I'm in neutral with the brakes depressed, and then balance the clutch and gas to proceed from a stop to prevent rollback. In other instances, I ride it briefly while in reverse. I think these practices are normal.

My original clutch works perfect with 132,000 miles on it.

That's what I do when stopped on a hill. Thankfully, we don't have many hills where I live as it always seems someone is stopped behind me as close as they can get! So there's no margin for rollback errors without hitting someone!

When I learned to shift gears, I never was taught to use the handbrake. That's only used when parked.

[thebarber]

Using the clutch to hold the car up on hills will wear the clutch disc, pressure plate and flywheel.

Havigeathe car in gear and holding the clutch pedal down will lightly wear the throwout bearing.

I usually have it in neutral at a light unless I know ill be pulling away soon-ish

[Amdkt7]

Two different situations. One, holding the clutch all the way in does not hurt the clutch it's self. It does add wear to the throw out bearing, but should last longer then the clutch it's self.
Second, riding the clutch to hold the car on a hill is a very bad practice, the friction will greatly reduce the life of the clutch.
Far better to use the hand break, although I just get of the brake and onto the gas quick enough that I don't need too, on most hills.

[Kar98]

Originally Posted by negev

What about keep it up just enough to keep the car stationary on a hill though?

Smoke. Lots and lots of clutch turned into lots of smoke. Use your handbrake for hill starts.