Ever heard people talk about not granny shifting and wondered what they meant? #grannyshifting #manual #shifting #driving #tuning #enthusiast #car #cars
A long time ago I asked a buddy why he always double clutched, and he told me he didn't want to wear out his synchros. It reminded me of how I always end video games with an inventory full of really awesome stuff that I never used because I was worried I might need it later. Anyway, that dude's car took a dirt nap a few years ago and I bet the synchros are still mint.
The best example I've heard of that is if you don't use your car is like you're not sleeping with your girlfriend; you're just preserving her for the next owner😂😂😂
And you're also putting twice as much wear on the throwout bearing, master-cylinder etc. Not only is double-clutching unnecessary since the late 1970s, it's demonstrably more damaging to the clutch assembly than standard manual shifting.
@@AlexJHatesGoogleclutch assembly moron not the clutch itself. You are wearing out several transmission components excessively when double clutching in modern vehicles.
I am a professional racing driver in auatralia, i've also built many high powered engines and done many engine swaps. Double clutching is a fad. It is simply not true. When you downshift on the racetrack you heel tow downshift. When you downshift on the road you revmatch. When you upshift you put it straight into gear and press the throttle. Stop trying to act smart by overcomplicating things.
You don't need the double. You can use just the blip. The wear on the clutch is negligible if you do it right. Match the engine to the shift point and drop the clutch for the downshift. It isn't that complicated.
General advice when blipping is just find the point where the transmission engages the lower gear with minimal resistance. There's a feel between having to slam it and gear and sliding it in gear, kinda like... where's that meme of a hydraulic press and matchbox...
@@tarksammonsable I'm reposting this due to heavy editing... I don't know what you're referring to because the engine speed is irrelevant (it is disconnected) when the stick is moved to the new gear. Looks something like this: 1. The clutch goes in. 2. Almost immediately the throttle gets blipped. By the time the clutch fully disengages, the engine is starting to respond to the blip. 3. The input shaft, now isolated from the engine, is still spinning at the speed of the higher gear, and as the stick is put into the new gear, the synchro pulls it up to the speed the new ratio dictates. 4. The selector fork then slides over the dogs and "locks in" the new gear. 5. As the engine approaches the higher speed, the clutch pedal is released and the little bit of speed difference between them is made up within the clutch. 6. Engine braking begins, augment with friction brake as necessary. This is why it's important to know the shift points (where you need to get the new RPM for the new gear from where it is in the higher gear at a given speed, as well as how to get it there (the blip). That's one of the most difficult parts of downshifting for someone learning how to do it. Because of how gear ratios work, it isn't something as simple as "just add 1k RPM", it essentially "moves around" with the different gears and speeds. This means you have to feel them out and it can only come with experience both in general but also specific to the vehicle in question. A sensible instrument cluster is also set up so the tach and speedo needles "point the same direction" (regardless of indicated values) so that this pattern is easier to see. This is sorta hard to describe but those that have utilized it know what I'm referring to. In a nutshell, when it is done, typically the 1:1 ratio (4th in a normal car historically) has the needles pointing at the same angle. Lower gears will have the tach "above" the speedo, higher will be below. Course after a while it's all done by feel and the happenings on the dash don't really get "used" much unless you're coming in hot and worrying about a money shift.
@@MadScientist267 damn you hold true to your name. That's an excellent explanation! You doing better explanations than me, you might wanna think about starting a RUclips Chanel 😂
Wrong!! By not driving your car it will still take damage. Think about what happens when the oil drips down into the bottom of the engine/transmition. You lose lubrication and the engine/transmition will take damage. Happens to the brakes and suspension too.
Yes!! Absolutley, just get to know your car and over time you will get better and better. Although it helped me to hear about stuff like heel toeing and Rev matching, because noone taught me to do that. But even to learn those things it's just about figuring it out!
Not to mention most people don't drive manual cars like race cars. Shifting and clutching techniques have their place but it doesn't mean it's practical for light duty use. Driving smoothly overall is something I like to see more people do. Not try to show off with double clutching or heal toe shifting or skipping gears or riding in low gears excessively for no reason. That by the way I make fun of particularly when ricers ride their 1st gear out way to far while driving in a parking lot. As if you really need that much engine breaking and regular brakes somehow don't work? It's also very rough and jerky to drive this way just hanging your revs at 3,000 rpms doing like 15 mph.
Exactly! The clutch is literally designed to wear. Not saying you should be replacing it every 30,000 miles, but it is by design, a wear component.@@salami99
It's a heck of a lot easier than driving a car without gears :) But, there's more to it than experience. You have to know what the heck you're trying to do, why you're doing it, to drive manual decently. Thing is, some people can actually drive manual for a very long time without ever really getting the hang of it. There's more to it than experience.
I’m so glad I watched until the end and you made the point about modern synchromeshes. It’s amazing to me how many people like to critique others shifting that don’t actually know how to drive a car with a manual transmission to begin with.
That's not granny shifting though... Granny shifting simply refers to shifting at really low rpm as you might expect a grandma slowly driving to church on Sunday with her turn signal on the whole way might do. That also makes the quote nonsensical but keep in mind it was from the first The Fast and the Furious movie which also featured a dozen shifts per quarter mile race and the implication that 2 big "naws" bottles were better than one. Using that quote is purely a meme now and hopefully anyone who knows how to drive knows it's just a racey sounding word salad invented by script writers who didn't care if it was gibberish. That said, double-clutching really is a complete waste of time and effort in any street car built in the last half-century that doesn't have severely worn syncros.
100% agree. I always knew granny shifting as simply being single clutching, thanks for telling me I'm wrong; the way you described it makes way more sense. And yes most of the people commenting stuff like that are simply using it as a meme, I mean the whole F&F universe has become a meme at this point, but I still see a lot of people who think that double clutching is actually superior! And always keep an eye out for that danger to manifold warning ;)
Damn I heard it wrong too then, I was originally told that granny shifting is bouncing off the rev limiter cause ur taking forever to shift. Guess no one really knows what granny shifting is. 🤷♂️
I think "Granny shift" a common enough set of words that (especially pre-internet) different regions probably created the combination for different things without knowing. @@Mika-ph6ku
I'd always thought granny shifting was really slow low rpm sequential shifting. Like always going 1-2-3-4-5 no matter what, instead of occasionally skipping a gear. I don't think granny shifting has a real set meaning.
Automatics will deliberately granny shift when accelerating gently, it saves fuel and there's nothing wrong with it. It isn't used for normal driving in a manual though. Just reach the speed you want and put it in the gear you need to cruise at, possibly skipping one if need be.
Double clutching will just cause more wear on the clutch. To downshift smoothly, simply Rev match. Engage clutch, blip the throttle to desired rpm, shift down and release the clutch. The whole sequence takes no more than a second. If the car stays settled and smooth, you’ve executed it correctly.
You dont even have to rev match. Its just a waste of fuel. I have had second hand vans since 2009 which have all been 8 years old when i bought them, took them all above 100k miles with original clutch in them and it wasnt the clutch that was wearing out or the engine, the body was rusting in them. Its all about the driver being gentle and smooth, knowing to use brakes to slow and stop rather than gears, and shift at the correct point. I do drive fast from time to time, but driving fast is not about taking your engine to the red line, its about reading the road, knowing how to corner at speed, where to carry speed and most importantly when to speed and be safe as well as keep others safe. Thats where a lot of people get it wrong, they feel they need to take the engine to the max, putting more strain through the gearbox to make progress.
You should watch a video titled "Spinning levers - How a transmission works (1936)" by Chevrolet IIRC. It's in a channel called US Auto Industry and it's simply brilliant!
Wow!! It’s almost like driving a modern manual transmission has become a lost art and lots of kids out there “read how to do it on the internet”. Thank you for talking about synchros. You’re spot on. Sure old transmissions you needed to double clutch but synchros have been a thing for quite some time now. Gotta love the internet “experts”. 🤦🏻♂️
@@tuesdaysgone2379 My first car had a bad synchro on 5th, so I got into the habit of double clutching 5th in every car lmao. It would grind so bad but if I double clutched, smooth as butter.
Sorry to disappoint you, but there are supposed to be about 1.5 billion registered vehicles in the world. Many tens of millions of people still drive manual, if not hundreds of millions. It's less common than automatics but tons of people still do it all the time. It is not a "lost art", just like plenty of people play instruments instead of just programming everything into a machine and clicking 'play', although it's possible to do so and it's done that way very often.
I like your presentation a lot, cool choice of medium. Double clutching also puts twice the wear on the throw out bearing, so that's another reason to just use the synchros. I will say this though: after my 4th gear shift started to grind, double-clutching once or twice solved the problem somehow. Same method worked for 2nd gear when it started to grind at higher RPM shifts.
Thank you for the feedback, wasn't too sure about this presentation style, but I had a lot of fun making the video! And yes you're absolutley right and regarding your transmission I'm just guessing that the synchros are getting worn, but sometimes gearboxes are a little weird, so who knows
@@SamukaNGL sorry I think I don't quite understand your question. If you keep the clutch pedal to the floor for an extended period of time, the clutch will start to engage by itself?
@@MichelsGarage yes pretty much that, i was once reversing in a hard spot full of cars, and i was reversing for around 3/4 minutes and it started biting the clutch lower and lower to the ground until it fully engaged with the clutch fully down, had to push the gear to neutral with loads of force, otherwise i would crash, but pumping the clutch after and it was back to normal, and i have no idea what is the problem
Double Clutching should be done on large trucks with heavy loads, or if you are towing a heavy load with a pick up truck, but only when starting or when down shifting after you have already started to slow down. On a regular vehicle or unloaded truck, you are only adding more wear and tear on the clutch and drivetrain.
If you enjoy having a functional left knee, you don't double clutch a semi truck either. I use the clutch for coming to a stop, and starting from a stop.
@@CRneu I disagree. Try double clutching on a twin stick and see what happens. High probability of hitting double nothing and the only real way to correct that is to stop and start over.
your handmade special effects on paper are more effective than some videos with Hollywood style graphics. well done . From the video I think it is a second generation jazz/fit, I have a first generation since 2005, they are very good cars.
My dad has been driving his 2005 Mustang GT. It's tuned as well. He has never double clutched and never replaced the clutch itself. It still works to this day. His shifting is very very smooth. Now, when it comes to his downshifting he doesn't rev match the transmission. I have told him multiple times how it is beneficial, fun, and useful although he is set in his old man ways.
As a european it is quite funny to see how americans see the importance in duoble-clutching or rev matching. Almost no one uses these techniques over here and we drive arguably way more manuals. It is just not necessary in normal street driving conditions. Even when you drive spirited normaly you downshift while braking so revs in the transmission are going down as well. i use rev matching on a motorcycle (significant different gearbox design to a car) ocasionaly especially when I downshift without braking, but I never felt the need in a car .
@@bohnito I'd like to say rev matching is important. Remember, the US is a big place and most people will be driving anywhere from 10000 km to 40000 km per year, wear and tear is much higher due to increased usage
@@bohnito I agree. I never found the use of double clutching in cars. In semi trucks and lorries that are not automatics I can see how they are needed for double clutching but most truck drivers shift the gears without using the clutch
@@bassbusterx longer distances means less shifting, I would worry much more if I lived in a city like NY or LA, getting stuck in those traffic jams and shifting up and down all the time, lots of 1st gear too.
Years ago, I had a '64 MGB, and I learned about double-clutching. I often used that method while downshifting. Now, many years later, I drive a 2017 Mini Clubman (manual). As I downshift now, the "auto-rev-matching" comes into play. It accomplishes the very thing that double-clutching used to do. I didn't know what to make of it, at first. But now I like it.
You need to double clutch only if you have an old car that doesn't have synchros or if your car has worn out synchros. Like my 1979 Spitfire has worn out synchro on third gear, so I double clutch only when going to third gear (or else it'll crunch)
The clutch gets increased wear no matter if you double shift or not, its just different parts that get worn out. The best of both worlds is to just kick the gas a bit without releasing the clutch. However, this only applies if your timing belt/chain is in decent condition, as rapid increase of RPMs puts an additional stress on that part. See, there are no improvements, only tradeoffs.
In practically every car produced from 1960 and on with a manual gearbox, these are synced transmissions. Reading this in 2024 I can hardly believe anyone would mention doubleclutching. Thanks for clearing up that myth.
@@MichelsGarage I was surprised when I was preparing for my advanced (IAM) driving test that the textbook "Roadcraft" still mentioned and recommended DDC (without telling you anything about mastering the technique, sadly) - and that was as recently as 1990, by which time I imagine most cars had full synchromesh. I've never driven a car, even my present car that has done 190,000 miles, where I've ever had the slightest difficulty in going from any gear to any gear as long as the clutch is down.
@@Mortimer50145 my car has a bit of weirdness with the 1st gear, where I have to sometimes hold the clutch, put in second gear and then quickly put in first gear for it to actually go in, but it's still the first clutch with ~220.000 miles on it so I won't complain haha. If only I had double clutched earlier... :P
Double clutching is needed in old gearboxes without synchronize rings and does not spare the clutch in any way. The way synchronize rings works in a modern gearbox is that as soon as you press the clutch and move the gear leaver there is a piece called friction cones that help to synchronize there rotation speed of the synchronize hub and blocker ring, sitting between the gears and the blocker ring. You will notise this as you wont hear any grinding noises from the gearbox. If you change gear with a single press on the clutch will do no harm or no "extra wear" of the clutch. If you downshift to use engine breaking the clutch will slip a bit as the engie revs goes up. This sliping of the clutch can be reduced to a minimum or none by blip the trottle and rev the engine to the correct RPM for the lower gear before engaging the clutch "revmatching". If you do the revmatching correctly you can also shift grears without even using the clutch at all. Just pull the gear lever to neutral and make sure the RPM match the gear you try to select.Then just push the gear lever gently towards the gear you want to select and if the wheels rotation speed and the engine RPM match it will just slip in to gear seamlessly because all rotating parts will have matching rotation. If you push to hard or missmatch the RPM you will hear the harsh noise of the synchros grinding. Try it on your own risk.
I have a 2007 Toyota Camry with manual transmission. 1- never have double clutched 2- I used the engine to slow down every day (engine brake) 3- I shift from 2 to 4 half the time (when don't need the torque) 4- I down shift to 1 even if not at dead stop (many have told me not to do so) however I'm talking about very low speed at which you need to rev up and wear the clutch to use the 2nd gear, and require more mental effort. 5- I drive slow with high gear which some have told me it's wrong (not to the point of engine stall or shake), but the rev goes down to nearly 1000rpm. My engine and gear are still in top condition, believe it or not, haven't changed or maintained the clutch yet! and I'm about to buy new car.
Also double clutching can be counter-productive for up-shifting because the engine could have a smaller inertia:friction ratio than the gears, so your gears might be better synchronised before you double clutch than afterwards. I enjoy double-clutching on downshifting though.
Paper special effects were 10000000% a great idea. I consume information with diagrams so this helped me greatly. I'll still granny shift in my economy car but as an up and coming technician knowing how everything works is worth more than gold.
My car has rev-matching which makes my life so much easier than the old days of manually rev matching. I used to think of double-clutching for the old trucks from my youth. I have never done it in a car though. Good video.
My driving trainer taught me to give a few moments for the synchronizer to properly engage and don't just jank it into the next gear. You can feel it as it happens. That's all. No double clutching.
I appreciate the effort in the video and the good explanation of how a transmission works. That being said, I’m gonna take Casey Putsch’s word on shifting, since he’s been a racing driver/mechanic for a long time and he seems to have a pretty good idea of what he talks about.
Great Video fella, you really got the point and delivered it perfectly for everyone to understand. I always tried explaining this to my friends, but they'd rather continue hating on me, saying i'd just be to lazy to double-clutch😂
Counterpoint: replacing a clutch cylinder or even a clutch is a lot less of a pain than rebuilding a transmission. Cylinder replacement can be done by an amateur in less than two hours. Replacing a clutch can be done by a pro in about two hours or an amateur in a weekend. Replacing synchros, though... much more pain. That said, the synchronizers are there to be used, so as long as you don't beat on them they should be fine. Do try to do a bit of rev matching, though: a lot of "granny shifters" will allow the RPM to drop all the way to idle, then forcibly ram the gear in, and bring the engine back up to RPM using the clutch, not just causing the car to jerk but also putting unnecessary wear on the entire drivetrain.
Thats pretty valid point. But yeah as you've pointed out, they are designed to be used, so just like with every part of a car; take proper care and you should be fine. I cry out for the clutch and all other components everytime someone downshifts without rev matching, sadly they don't teach stuff like that in drivers school. (Allthough this shouldn't really put any more stress on the synchros than downshifting, because nothing changes for the transmission)
I've never driven anything but a manual car my whole life and I've never heard of double-clutching, granny-shifting, nor did I really understand anything you were trying to explain.
The 1952 Porsche 356 was the first car to be produced with a synchronized transmission which was adopted by the entire auto industry in the following decade. Synchronizers do what the name says and matches gear speed to engine speed in both acceleration and deceleration, eliminating the need to double clutch.
3:37 My friend, the paper special effects may have been a bit awkward but they provide a visual representation of what is going on, which I think for a lot of people may make it easier to understand so thank you for the time and effort!
My only goal when driving a manual transmission car is that when I shift gears my passengers are as unaffected as possible. Due to that I've gotten pretty good at rev matching.
I never even knew that "double clutching" was a thing. Our family car lasted 32 years and neither my father nor I ever "double clutched". Hit the clutch well, hold it in place, hit the next or previous gear and (depending of what you want to do) let go of the clutch slow or fast (smoothly is better, but sometimes you need the extra oomph). Never had a transmission issue. The only thing that got damaged was "the good old" clutch wire, but that would have actually given away sooner if we double clutched all the time for no reason. :P
Double clutching feels too good to me though. When I double clutch cold gears, the stick goes right into position like cutting butter. Otherwise I have to shove it in. If I have to wear my clutch for that experience, then I will.
I've never had a car (Renault, VW, Peugeot, Honda) where I've ever had to "shove" it into gear. It's always "like butter" for me. And that's without DDC - I haven't the remotest idea how to do it - or at least how to do it properly. Some gearboxes are more notchy than others - when I drove a clapped-out Hillman Avenger once, every gearchange was clonky and very definitely a two stage movement from one gear to neutral and then neutral to the new gear, rather than straight from one gear to the other. Ford gearboxes also seem to be a bit more notchy. But there was no grinding of gears as such - ie the bouncing of the dog-clutch teeth because the synchromesh hasn't done its job properly.
@@kurticusmaximus I double clutch 4-5 on the upshift for the same reason. Not a grind but you can feel its just happier entering 5th with the double clutch. That happens to be a 1999 Corolla :)
I double clutch my modern economy car because it is fun to pull it off smoothly :). Doesn't have a practical application it's just like a fidget toy or mini game where you try to put it in gear without feeling the synchro resistance. Once I got good at rev-match downshifting I thought screw it, let's try and get good at this too. If there was a harder way to shift I'd be trying to learn it for fun.
Funny, I owned a 1993 Nissan Maxima manual back in 2003-2005 and never double clutched. I granny shifted and tried using the clutch as an "engine brake" when my brakes were bad. I think this is why I had to get the clutch replaced. Great video.
I use 3rd for engine braking like they quit making it. Every stop, every time. Been doing this for... carry the 2... 🤷♂️ Forever. If you feather it or don't rev match, yeah, your clutch will eat the difference. Blip, match, and drop works just fine.
I don't think double clutching was necessary on the Maxima as it should have syncrhos! But what you're reffering to with the braking sounds like "clutch braking" which is definetly not good for the clutch and will cause it to wear out rather quick! Anyway, thanks for the feedback, have a great day :)
As long as you match the revs while downshifting it shouldn't do anymore damage than normal driving. If you aren't matching revs then yeah that's pretty hard on your clutch.
i ran for months in a subaru with no brakes. downshifting was my only method of braking. the clutch and synchros were no worse for wear when i got around to fixing the brakes.
@@CRT4Dummies I wouldn't recommend that for other reasons but provided you never need to stop "NOW", you can get a car to a crawl (mine goes about walking speed) backing down to first... There's always the money shift if you need it to stop sooner but you usually only get one of those per engine when they are successful 🤣
I mean yes, double clutcing is unnecessary for downshifting one gear. But whenever I have to take a turn I am slowing down very quickly and thus I shift from 4th to 2nd. This is almost always too much for my synchros and I grind me gears if I just shift, so I have to double clutch to make it.
Your transmission "grinds" if you downshift from 4th to 2nd? That's not normal and has nothing to do with 'synchros'. (well, to be fair, you may have severely damaged synchros - probably from trying to double clutch). I suspect someday very soon you will be purchasing a new clutch ... or a new transmission. Good luck!
@@slamcrank reading all the comments really makes me wonder what people are doing behind the wheel :D never really heard about double clutching from any instructor... honestly no one ever said about rev matching when downshifting... you just slow down and then shift... i think people dont know what brakes are and just slams car from 5th to 2nd and waits for it to slow down... few years ago it was called money shift
I haven't found any comments about rev hang. Trying ro go into first even with revmatching is impossible above a certain speed unless you double clutch. Interesting what people consider high miles for a clutch... my 2003 Subaru Forester has 240000km on the original clutch and it doesn't slip in any gear under any load. Be smooth and clutches can last longer than you would think
Yep, that's literally what the synchros are there for. While they can wear out if abused, at that point, then you just decide to either rebuild/replace the transmission or just live with it and double clutch your downshifts. I found when driving a truck with worn synchros, I only had to double clutch on downshifts, for the upshifts it could be done by introducing a slight delay into the gear selection to allow the countershaft to get to the proper lower rpm by bearing friction
Double clutching doubles the use of the throw-out bearing (not good). Help the synchros do their job by not shifting too fast. Sensible shifting will get you over 200K miles on a clutch. Works for me.
"OMG you use the car as intended, and not clutching like cars of the 70's, you're so lame" Who is braindead enough to think like this ? A clutch is MADE to be able to wear, and modern cars are MADE to be shifted in one go and not with double clutching...
Double clutching is strangely fun sometimes on cars with really worn out synchros. Haven't done it in years but I had an RX-7 Turbo II with snail ass synchros, so I'd double clutch when I needed to downshift into second. It feels kinda cool when you get it just right. It's also completely unnecessary if your synchros are good! That's why they're there! Any decent modern passenger car manual tranny should have nice fast synchronizers. No reason to cheap out on something that, by design, is already pretty cheap!
The only car I’ve regularly double clutched in is my ‘00 Tacoma (104k) because the gearbox is really notchy so it makes it a bit smoother. In my Subarus (‘95 and ‘03 with 300k and 225k respectively) I don’t bother. They’re smooth to shift quickly with just rev matching or heel-toe if hard braking. The only gear that I’ll double clutch on them sometimes is 1st because the synchro had basically removed itself from this world. Oh, and all three vehicles don’t have reverse gear synchros.
Also, you can just learn to push the gas pedal a bit, BEFORE engaging the new gear. It only takes a week of driving to learn the sweet spot for every gear. Synchronise them manually by pushing the acceleration pedal. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
yes but you only need to do that after you've engaged the new gear. you don't also have to do it after the first raising of the clutch during DDC in order for the new gear to engage. not if the synchromesh is doing its job - and it is on my car even after 190,000 miles. I wouldn;t have the faintest idea how to judge how much to vary the engine speed *during* DDC to make it go in, because if the synchro works, it will go in no matter what your engine speed is during DDC. So the second down/up of the clutch is for effect only and just delays the process of going from one gear to another without needing to linger in neutral.
@Mortimer50145 I rev match usually when already in gear, or sometimes while shifting, it doesn't really matter I think. I do it primarily for comfort, however it's objectively important to rev match to save the clutch from wearing out too quickly. Also, if you want to accelerate and need to downshift, you need to rev match the engine, or else you will actually slow down. It becomes even more important when you're going downhill and want to use the engine braking method - you need high rpms, and if you use the clutch to go from idle to the red line you can actually overheat it.
I always no lift shift everywhere I go. Unless on some 2500 pickups and semi trucks. I know it's a bit hard on the clutch. Synchronizers were made a long time ago on most vehicles. Late 1960's were the last American cars without synchronizers.
I've driven everything from little Miata's to heavy duty box trucks. Only time I use the clutch is to get going. After that you don't need the clutch to shift in a modern synchronized transmission. Heck the box truck actually was easier to drive if you didn't clutch. One of my previous employers had a fleet of Ford Rangers and they were constantly replacing clutches on every truck but mine. Mine went over 150,000 on the original clutch and when they inspected it while doing some other work said it was like new.
life hack: always park on a downhill street so you can turn off the handbrake and let the engine spin up to speed the natural way before turning it on, boom you can now remove that annoying clutch pedal and make much-needed space for your left foot. Alternatively if you want to start on a level road, wait for someone to rear-end you at high speed and ask them to keep going, and remember to always rear-end parked cars to help them start their engine more easily👌👌
I was worried about how I was driving my 2020 VW Jetta manual transmission until I watched until the end of the video. Thankfully driving smooth is extremely beneficial whether I’m granny shifting or not
Great video explanation (I thought the paper FX worked quite well). I do like to use the double clutching technique purely because it's more engaging -- with my old Audi (B5 A4) the [I assume] inertia within the transmission is significant enough that there is a very noticeable tactile difference* when moving the selector if the synchros have to do the job vs. don't have to, even though the synchros are in good condition (so the significance is it's just satisfying to get it right). A few years back I had an opportunity to buy a very, very heavily discounted S5 of late year and with low miles, with the price being so low because whoever had it prior was dumb enough to completely grind down the 2nd gear synchro -- but at the time I wasn't comfortable w/ the double clutch technique. Not sure if I passed up a great deal, or if there would've been other things worn out from the previous owner abusing the car. All in all though people on social media telling you how you "should" drive are usually to be ignored for sure.
Absolutley, drive however you want, I don't care and frankly noone should care. I just like exploring the technical things behind it :) And taking a look at the reliability of older s cars, I think you did just fine😂
Clutches are a wear part at the end of the day. I float my car. My synchros are probably gonna shit the bed prematurely but i don't really care. ill drive my car the way i desire and fix stuff when it breaks.
I completely agree with you here. there is some benefit to be had to double clutch on the down shifts, but not a big enough benefit to be worth the hazzle. and trust me, I used to daily a 700 000 km car with the original transmission and the synkros were fine and worked like they should.
It's mostly Americans saying you need to double clutch. It's funny, they know how a manual is best driven in theory, but they don't actually know how it's driven normally. I'll tell you, nobody uses double clutch in Europe.
Clutches are relatively cheap, so I don't really care if I destroy it once every 4-5 years. That said, I have been "granny shifting" all my life, and on some ancient cars at that, and I have never damaged a clutch and I also switched to auto recently, so I don't have to worry about clutches at all.
I only double clutch when downshifting just because it saves me having to hold the clutch half-out for a few seconds while the engine speeds up. No I just remembered I don’t even double clutch, just rev-match without lifting the clutch
I really like the paper visuals, that was actually quite helpful in understanding how the clutch works! I'm curious, what about when downshifting to slow down, ie downshift without rev matching? Is this pretty bad for the clutch? Should I rev match downshift, then just let the lower gear slow down the car, or is it okay to downshift without rev matching?
First of all: thank you :) Second of all, downshifting without blipping is absolutley no problem. But blipping has two advantages: first it's faster, second it puts less stress on the clutch. Hope this helps
Downshifting without rev matching will wear the clutch a bit faster, yes. I think it would put a lot of wear on both the clutch and all the associated hardware from the shock applied when dropping the clutch with a big speed difference. Plus, the rev match blip is fun, so I recommend it.
Good explanation - imho anyone who goes on about granny shifting should take a modern all-synchro transmission apart at 100k miles and tell me where the problem is. It's just not an issue, even less so if you learn to rev match your shifts.
Granny shifting is shifting slowly, like when you’re accelerating in first gear. Once the revs are high enough you shift into second gear. The “ granny “ part is how it takes a full second and a bit for you to start the shift, move the selector into the next gear, release the clutch pedal and accelerate. You could easily cut the time between 1st and 2nd gear in half (.5 of a second) and not be damaging the clutch or the gears.
Thats correct, my definition of granny hsifting was a little wrong (Some people also pointed out, that granny shifting is generally shifting at lower rpms, which makes a lot of sense, bceause a granny is not going around bouncing off the limiters, at least if your granny ain't got a lot of swag)
just wanted to say wow these drawings helped me understand a lot more, love the way you show how things works and explaining it. You got a new subscriber
When i'm racing, it's different, but daily'ing I always double cutch to save my synchro's in the long run. It's multitudes easier to source and replace clutch components on my cars than it is compared to synchros. Also i've personally found that some transmissions react and behave differently to double clutching, so do whatever fits your situation
Absolutley, if your goal is to safe your synchros go for it! Although I personally never heard of synchros wearing out, but that might just be me. Anyways thanks for your comment :)
@@MichelsGarage I have worn out second and third gear synchros in my daily. The previous owner never learned to revmatch and just kept forcing the gear in. Downshifts seem to have fried it. It's fine when double clutched. :)
@@peterjohnson9438I still don't understand what it means when people say you have to rev match. Can you please explain? Forced the gear in when downshifting? If I'm in 5, and then I want to downshift to 3, I will only move the shifter into 3 when the speed the car is moving is appropriate for me to do so and I don't necessarily rev match each time I do this but there is no jerking or anything it's totally smooth transition if you downshift appropriately as your car's speed goes down. How is that gonna damage the transmission? That's just regular driving. Also never have I encountered any "resistance" like the gear shifter doesn't want to go into 3 from 5 in my life. I will never shift into 3rd gear if I'm moving at 140 km/h so I don't know what you mean when you say the previous driver "forrced" the gear in. I'd appreciate any explanation I'm just curious.
@@Vyantrirevmatching is what it says. Let's imagine a situation, say you're in 5th gear, maybe 90km/h, but rpms are... let's say 2800rpm. You want to downshift to 3rd gear and revmatch, so you press the clutch pedal, while holding it you press the gas pedal for a bit and get to, say 4300rpm and then put in 3rd gear and release the clutch pedal. Now you are still going that 90km/h, but in a lower gear with higher rpm. You have successfully revmatched and did not put unnecessary stress on your drivetrain. Of course, the revs you are matching to always depend on the car you are driving.
A nice way of getting to know your gear ratios is by changing gear without using the clutch. A very satisfying feeling when you've finally mastered it.
the in Europe LAST car without synchronized Transmissions is the Fiat Nouva 500 till 1977. Any Car after that has Synchronizers, or in newer Cars, another system to do the same work.
yes you can, in fact, you dont even need to use the clutch at all except for when taking off, you can simply rev match all the gears without even touching the clutch. But nobody does this cause why the hell would you do that.
Did you watch the video? You can match the engine but not the countershaft (layshaft). With non-syncro gearboxes (crash gearboxes) double clutching was essential when downshifting.
@@MichelsGarage Question: I have a honda crv Manual, I was driving and out of nowhere it started sounding like i was in neutral, No matter what gear i go in it wont drive it will just rev out.. I can start in gear 1 and it wont jump forward how it use to.. is my clutch gone?
A long time ago I asked a buddy why he always double clutched, and he told me he didn't want to wear out his synchros. It reminded me of how I always end video games with an inventory full of really awesome stuff that I never used because I was worried I might need it later. Anyway, that dude's car took a dirt nap a few years ago and I bet the synchros are still mint.
Glad I'm not the only one that did that while gaming; But yeah sounds like he should be taking the transmission out and sell it as barely used
amazing comment
The best example I've heard of that is if you don't use your car is like you're not sleeping with your girlfriend; you're just preserving her for the next owner😂😂😂
@@gcv10 That is disgusting
@@ShinkenKeruberosu I wouldn't talk with hair like that, mate
If you're double-clutching in virtually all passenger vehicles built since the mid-80's, you're just getting some extra steps in.
try and stop me, it's satisfying💀
@@Tensho_C haha, you do you!
And you're also putting twice as much wear on the throwout bearing, master-cylinder etc. Not only is double-clutching unnecessary since the late 1970s, it's demonstrably more damaging to the clutch assembly than standard manual shifting.
@@slamcrankWho cares? Just replace the clutch every 60-70k miles
@@AlexJHatesGoogleclutch assembly moron not the clutch itself. You are wearing out several transmission components excessively when double clutching in modern vehicles.
I am a professional racing driver in auatralia, i've also built many high powered engines and done many engine swaps. Double clutching is a fad. It is simply not true. When you downshift on the racetrack you heel tow downshift. When you downshift on the road you revmatch. When you upshift you put it straight into gear and press the throttle. Stop trying to act smart by overcomplicating things.
Well said man 🗿🗿🗿
Exactly!!!
I learned watching Best motoring videos. None of the racers did that shit of double clutch thing. And downshift with proper heel toe
Thank you, I was questioning if I've been doing this wrong, and I've been driving a stick for years
never heard of auatralia where is it located ?
You don't need the double. You can use just the blip. The wear on the clutch is negligible if you do it right. Match the engine to the shift point and drop the clutch for the downshift.
It isn't that complicated.
Yes! That's what I tried to convey, theres no need for double clutching in "modern" cars, just rev match while downshifting and you're perfectly fine!
General advice when blipping is just find the point where the transmission engages the lower gear with minimal resistance. There's a feel between having to slam it and gear and sliding it in gear, kinda like... where's that meme of a hydraulic press and matchbox...
@@tarksammonsable I'm reposting this due to heavy editing...
I don't know what you're referring to because the engine speed is irrelevant (it is disconnected) when the stick is moved to the new gear.
Looks something like this:
1. The clutch goes in.
2. Almost immediately the throttle gets blipped. By the time the clutch fully disengages, the engine is starting to respond to the blip.
3. The input shaft, now isolated from the engine, is still spinning at the speed of the higher gear, and as the stick is put into the new gear, the synchro pulls it up to the speed the new ratio dictates.
4. The selector fork then slides over the dogs and "locks in" the new gear.
5. As the engine approaches the higher speed, the clutch pedal is released and the little bit of speed difference between them is made up within the clutch.
6. Engine braking begins, augment with friction brake as necessary.
This is why it's important to know the shift points (where you need to get the new RPM for the new gear from where it is in the higher gear at a given speed, as well as how to get it there (the blip). That's one of the most difficult parts of downshifting for someone learning how to do it. Because of how gear ratios work, it isn't something as simple as "just add 1k RPM", it essentially "moves around" with the different gears and speeds. This means you have to feel them out and it can only come with experience both in general but also specific to the vehicle in question.
A sensible instrument cluster is also set up so the tach and speedo needles "point the same direction" (regardless of indicated values) so that this pattern is easier to see. This is sorta hard to describe but those that have utilized it know what I'm referring to. In a nutshell, when it is done, typically the 1:1 ratio (4th in a normal car historically) has the needles pointing at the same angle. Lower gears will have the tach "above" the speedo, higher will be below.
Course after a while it's all done by feel and the happenings on the dash don't really get "used" much unless you're coming in hot and worrying about a money shift.
@@MadScientist267 damn you hold true to your name. That's an excellent explanation!
You doing better explanations than me, you might wanna think about starting a RUclips Chanel 😂
@@MichelsGarage lol thanks. I try. Not sure about that channel thing but 🤣👍
Best way to preserve your synchros AND your clutch/throwout bearing at the same time is to simply not drive the car lol :)
On top of that you also save money on fuel, brakes and preserve a better resell value (:
On top of that, you’ll not pollute(:
@@mackenziecoulanges739 It's okay, China and all brown countries just pollute by 1,000,000-fold every time you're environmentally friendly.
@@mackenziecoulanges739 You can get GREAT insurance premiums too if you never move the car! Plus you even save a little bread on registering it :)
Wrong!! By not driving your car it will still take damage. Think about what happens when the oil drips down into the bottom of the engine/transmition. You lose lubrication and the engine/transmition will take damage. Happens to the brakes and suspension too.
I feel like people are making driving a car with gears a lot harder than it is. You learn to drive smoothly, its all about experience
Yes!! Absolutley, just get to know your car and over time you will get better and better. Although it helped me to hear about stuff like heel toeing and Rev matching, because noone taught me to do that. But even to learn those things it's just about figuring it out!
Not to mention most people don't drive manual cars like race cars. Shifting and clutching techniques have their place but it doesn't mean it's practical for light duty use. Driving smoothly overall is something I like to see more people do. Not try to show off with double clutching or heal toe shifting or skipping gears or riding in low gears excessively for no reason. That by the way I make fun of particularly when ricers ride their 1st gear out way to far while driving in a parking lot. As if you really need that much engine breaking and regular brakes somehow don't work? It's also very rough and jerky to drive this way just hanging your revs at 3,000 rpms doing like 15 mph.
people forget, everything causes clutch wear. just using the clutch causes wear. at some point the car was meant to be driven, which causes wear.
Exactly! The clutch is literally designed to wear. Not saying you should be replacing it every 30,000 miles, but it is by design, a wear component.@@salami99
It's a heck of a lot easier than driving a car without gears :)
But, there's more to it than experience. You have to know what the heck you're trying to do, why you're doing it, to drive manual decently. Thing is, some people can actually drive manual for a very long time without ever really getting the hang of it. There's more to it than experience.
they all heard it from fast and furious and thought they learned something 😂
Who didn't. 12 year old me didn't know better (:
I’m so glad I watched until the end and you made the point about modern synchromeshes. It’s amazing to me how many people like to critique others shifting that don’t actually know how to drive a car with a manual transmission to begin with.
That's not granny shifting though... Granny shifting simply refers to shifting at really low rpm as you might expect a grandma slowly driving to church on Sunday with her turn signal on the whole way might do. That also makes the quote nonsensical but keep in mind it was from the first The Fast and the Furious movie which also featured a dozen shifts per quarter mile race and the implication that 2 big "naws" bottles were better than one. Using that quote is purely a meme now and hopefully anyone who knows how to drive knows it's just a racey sounding word salad invented by script writers who didn't care if it was gibberish.
That said, double-clutching really is a complete waste of time and effort in any street car built in the last half-century that doesn't have severely worn syncros.
100% agree. I always knew granny shifting as simply being single clutching, thanks for telling me I'm wrong; the way you described it makes way more sense. And yes most of the people commenting stuff like that are simply using it as a meme, I mean the whole F&F universe has become a meme at this point, but I still see a lot of people who think that double clutching is actually superior! And always keep an eye out for that danger to manifold warning ;)
Damn I heard it wrong too then, I was originally told that granny shifting is bouncing off the rev limiter cause ur taking forever to shift. Guess no one really knows what granny shifting is. 🤷♂️
I think "Granny shift" a common enough set of words that (especially pre-internet) different regions probably created the combination for different things without knowing. @@Mika-ph6ku
I'd always thought granny shifting was really slow low rpm sequential shifting. Like always going 1-2-3-4-5 no matter what, instead of occasionally skipping a gear. I don't think granny shifting has a real set meaning.
Automatics will deliberately granny shift when accelerating gently, it saves fuel and there's nothing wrong with it. It isn't used for normal driving in a manual though. Just reach the speed you want and put it in the gear you need to cruise at, possibly skipping one if need be.
Double clutching will just cause more wear on the clutch.
To downshift smoothly, simply Rev match. Engage clutch, blip the throttle to desired rpm, shift down and release the clutch. The whole sequence takes no more than a second.
If the car stays settled and smooth, you’ve executed it correctly.
I do rev matching when upshifting too.
You dont even have to rev match. Its just a waste of fuel. I have had second hand vans since 2009 which have all been 8 years old when i bought them, took them all above 100k miles with original clutch in them and it wasnt the clutch that was wearing out or the engine, the body was rusting in them.
Its all about the driver being gentle and smooth, knowing to use brakes to slow and stop rather than gears, and shift at the correct point.
I do drive fast from time to time, but driving fast is not about taking your engine to the red line, its about reading the road, knowing how to corner at speed, where to carry speed and most importantly when to speed and be safe as well as keep others safe. Thats where a lot of people get it wrong, they feel they need to take the engine to the max, putting more strain through the gearbox to make progress.
What do you mean by blip
@@eeyyaakk6801means to hit it with a small bump. RPMs will "blip". Basiclly another way to say flutter the pedal.
Finally someone with common sense. @@douglasreid699
Tbh this is also the clearest explanation of how a transmission works that I've ever seen.
Thanks for the video!
Happy to hear that. Glad it was helpful to you :)
You should watch a video titled "Spinning levers - How a transmission works (1936)" by Chevrolet IIRC. It's in a channel called US Auto Industry and it's simply brilliant!
@@niceboi6364 agreed, they have some absolutley incredible videos
Wow!! It’s almost like driving a modern manual transmission has become a lost art and lots of kids out there “read how to do it on the internet”. Thank you for talking about synchros. You’re spot on. Sure old transmissions you needed to double clutch but synchros have been a thing for quite some time now. Gotta love the internet “experts”. 🤦🏻♂️
Pretty well summed up! Trying to spread a positive attitude and knowledge about these things :)
@@tuesdaysgone2379 - I wouldn’t be surprised. We’re living in the movie ‘Idiocracy’ in this country these days. 🫤
@@tuesdaysgone2379 My first car had a bad synchro on 5th, so I got into the habit of double clutching 5th in every car lmao. It would grind so bad but if I double clutched, smooth as butter.
@@tuesdaysgone2379 Europeans blamin everyone byt themselves
Sorry to disappoint you, but there are supposed to be about 1.5 billion registered vehicles in the world. Many tens of millions of people still drive manual, if not hundreds of millions.
It's less common than automatics but tons of people still do it all the time. It is not a "lost art", just like plenty of people play instruments instead of just programming everything into a machine and clicking 'play', although it's possible to do so and it's done that way very often.
I like your presentation a lot, cool choice of medium. Double clutching also puts twice the wear on the throw out bearing, so that's another reason to just use the synchros.
I will say this though: after my 4th gear shift started to grind, double-clutching once or twice solved the problem somehow. Same method worked for 2nd gear when it started to grind at higher RPM shifts.
Thank you for the feedback, wasn't too sure about this presentation style, but I had a lot of fun making the video!
And yes you're absolutley right and regarding your transmission I'm just guessing that the synchros are getting worn, but sometimes gearboxes are a little weird, so who knows
Could that be the reason my clutch starts engaging if I let it pressed down to much time?
@@SamukaNGL sorry I think I don't quite understand your question. If you keep the clutch pedal to the floor for an extended period of time, the clutch will start to engage by itself?
@@MichelsGarage yes pretty much that, i was once reversing in a hard spot full of cars, and i was reversing for around 3/4 minutes and it started biting the clutch lower and lower to the ground until it fully engaged with the clutch fully down, had to push the gear to neutral with loads of force, otherwise i would crash, but pumping the clutch after and it was back to normal, and i have no idea what is the problem
@@MichelsGarage but yes, its pretty much just that
Double Clutching should be done on large trucks with heavy loads, or if you are towing a heavy load with a pick up truck, but only when starting or when down shifting after you have already started to slow down.
On a regular vehicle or unloaded truck, you are only adding more wear and tear on the clutch and drivetrain.
Ah, on big trucks or farm equipment it’s quite common to have asynchronous gears, so you do actually almost always need to do so in big vehicles
If you enjoy having a functional left knee, you don't double clutch a semi truck either. I use the clutch for coming to a stop, and starting from a stop.
Float them gears
Double Clutching comes from older heavy rigs that didn't have asynch gears or synchros. Double clutching isn't necessary nowadays.
@@CRneu I disagree. Try double clutching on a twin stick and see what happens. High probability of hitting double nothing and the only real way to correct that is to stop and start over.
Thanks for taking the time to explain thoroughly. We all think we know something until we are asked to explain it ourselves.
your handmade special effects on paper are more effective than some videos with Hollywood style graphics. well done .
From the video I think it is a second generation jazz/fit, I have a first generation since 2005, they are very good cars.
Thanks a lot :)
And yes you're spot on, a second Gen fit; what great car
My dad has been driving his 2005 Mustang GT. It's tuned as well. He has never double clutched and never replaced the clutch itself. It still works to this day. His shifting is very very smooth. Now, when it comes to his downshifting he doesn't rev match the transmission. I have told him multiple times how it is beneficial, fun, and useful although he is set in his old man ways.
My dad also refuses to rev match, he's been driving since the early 80's, guess it really is just something they carry on
As a european it is quite funny to see how americans see the importance in duoble-clutching or rev matching. Almost no one uses these techniques over here and we drive arguably way more manuals. It is just not necessary in normal street driving conditions. Even when you drive spirited normaly you downshift while braking so revs in the transmission are going down as well. i use rev matching on a motorcycle (significant different gearbox design to a car) ocasionaly especially when I downshift without braking, but I never felt the need in a car .
@@bohnito I'd like to say rev matching is important. Remember, the US is a big place and most people will be driving anywhere from 10000 km to 40000 km per year, wear and tear is much higher due to increased usage
@@bohnito I agree. I never found the use of double clutching in cars. In semi trucks and lorries that are not automatics I can see how they are needed for double clutching but most truck drivers shift the gears without using the clutch
@@bassbusterx longer distances means less shifting, I would worry much more if I lived in a city like NY or LA, getting stuck in those traffic jams and shifting up and down all the time, lots of 1st gear too.
Years ago, I had a '64 MGB, and I learned about double-clutching. I often used that method while downshifting. Now, many years later, I drive a 2017 Mini Clubman (manual). As I downshift now, the "auto-rev-matching" comes into play. It accomplishes the very thing that double-clutching used to do. I didn't know what to make of it, at first. But now I like it.
You need to double clutch only if you have an old car that doesn't have synchros or if your car has worn out synchros. Like my 1979 Spitfire has worn out synchro on third gear, so I double clutch only when going to third gear (or else it'll crunch)
thank god someone went into deep details on downshifting instead of jumping all over the place about rev matching at the same time job well done
Thanks a lot! Glad you liked the content :)
The clutch gets increased wear no matter if you double shift or not, its just different parts that get worn out. The best of both worlds is to just kick the gas a bit without releasing the clutch. However, this only applies if your timing belt/chain is in decent condition, as rapid increase of RPMs puts an additional stress on that part.
See, there are no improvements, only tradeoffs.
In practically every car produced from 1960 and on with a manual gearbox, these are synced transmissions. Reading this in 2024 I can hardly believe anyone would mention doubleclutching. Thanks for clearing up that myth.
It's an honor :)
"Double-clutch?" That ain't what they told me at the high speed driver school!
Exactly, double clutching is a useless technique in modern vehicles!
@@MichelsGarage I was surprised when I was preparing for my advanced (IAM) driving test that the textbook "Roadcraft" still mentioned and recommended DDC (without telling you anything about mastering the technique, sadly) - and that was as recently as 1990, by which time I imagine most cars had full synchromesh. I've never driven a car, even my present car that has done 190,000 miles, where I've ever had the slightest difficulty in going from any gear to any gear as long as the clutch is down.
@@Mortimer50145 my car has a bit of weirdness with the 1st gear, where I have to sometimes hold the clutch, put in second gear and then quickly put in first gear for it to actually go in, but it's still the first clutch with ~220.000 miles on it so I won't complain haha. If only I had double clutched earlier... :P
I have a feeling most people saying double clutch are just memeing fast and furious quotes and dont even drive manual cars
Double clutching is needed in old gearboxes without synchronize rings and does not spare the clutch in any way. The way synchronize rings works in a modern gearbox is that as soon as you press the clutch and move the gear leaver there is a piece called friction cones that help to synchronize there rotation speed of the synchronize hub and blocker ring, sitting between the gears and the blocker ring. You will notise this as you wont hear any grinding noises from the gearbox. If you change gear with a single press on the clutch will do no harm or no "extra wear" of the clutch. If you downshift to use engine breaking the clutch will slip a bit as the engie revs goes up. This sliping of the clutch can be reduced to a minimum or none by blip the trottle and rev the engine to the correct RPM for the lower gear before engaging the clutch "revmatching". If you do the revmatching correctly you can also shift grears without even using the clutch at all. Just pull the gear lever to neutral and make sure the RPM match the gear you try to select.Then just push the gear lever gently towards the gear you want to select and if the wheels rotation speed and the engine RPM match it will just slip in to gear seamlessly because all rotating parts will have matching rotation. If you push to hard or missmatch the RPM you will hear the harsh noise of the synchros grinding. Try it on your own risk.
Exactly, just like I said :) Double clutching is only going to put more stress on all clutch components and is absolutley useless
I have a 2007 Toyota Camry with manual transmission.
1- never have double clutched
2- I used the engine to slow down every day (engine brake)
3- I shift from 2 to 4 half the time (when don't need the torque)
4- I down shift to 1 even if not at dead stop (many have told me not to do so) however I'm talking about very low speed at which you need to rev up and wear the clutch to use the 2nd gear, and require more mental effort.
5- I drive slow with high gear which some have told me it's wrong (not to the point of engine stall or shake), but the rev goes down to nearly 1000rpm.
My engine and gear are still in top condition, believe it or not, haven't changed or maintained the clutch yet!
and I'm about to buy new car.
Also double clutching can be counter-productive for up-shifting because the engine could have a smaller inertia:friction ratio than the gears, so your gears might be better synchronised before you double clutch than afterwards. I enjoy double-clutching on downshifting though.
Brilliant explanation!! Really helped me understand 1000% more clearly than any other video I've seen. Thanks for posting! 👍👍💪💪
Glad it helped! Thanks a lot my man :)
Finally I found a video explaining how synchros work. I knew they were there, but I didn't know how they worked. Thanks for the explanation!
Its a pleasure. Glad it helped! Always good to hear :)
Paper special effects were 10000000% a great idea. I consume information with diagrams so this helped me greatly. I'll still granny shift in my economy car but as an up and coming technician knowing how everything works is worth more than gold.
Glad it helped! I wonder why Hollywood doesn't use these new effects (:
Ironically, "granny shifting" is the method that my grandparents' generation *didn't* use.
My car has rev-matching which makes my life so much easier than the old days of manually rev matching. I used to think of double-clutching for the old trucks from my youth. I have never done it in a car though. Good video.
Thanks a lot :)
That's no fun though, I had to sell my newer car and went back 3 decades searching for SOVL.
"Most of the people who comment to stop granny-shifting they don't know what they're talking about"
Who would have guessed!
Best YT instructions to double clutch and what the workings do I've seen in a while
Thanks a lot Logan :)
if you worry about shifting wearing out the clutch, you shouldn't drive because the wheels, suspension, breaks, rotors, ect. will wear out as well
If you don't put it into a gear all the way and release your clutch you can let your car make a funny sound, i do it all the time.
My driving trainer taught me to give a few moments for the synchronizer to properly engage and don't just jank it into the next gear. You can feel it as it happens. That's all. No double clutching.
Exactly!
I appreciate the effort in the video and the good explanation of how a transmission works. That being said, I’m gonna take Casey Putsch’s word on shifting, since he’s been a racing driver/mechanic for a long time and he seems to have a pretty good idea of what he talks about.
Great Video fella, you really got the point and delivered it perfectly for everyone to understand. I always tried explaining this to my friends, but they'd rather continue hating on me, saying i'd just be to lazy to double-clutch😂
Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it (Better show your friends this video then :) )
Counterpoint: replacing a clutch cylinder or even a clutch is a lot less of a pain than rebuilding a transmission. Cylinder replacement can be done by an amateur in less than two hours. Replacing a clutch can be done by a pro in about two hours or an amateur in a weekend.
Replacing synchros, though... much more pain.
That said, the synchronizers are there to be used, so as long as you don't beat on them they should be fine. Do try to do a bit of rev matching, though: a lot of "granny shifters" will allow the RPM to drop all the way to idle, then forcibly ram the gear in, and bring the engine back up to RPM using the clutch, not just causing the car to jerk but also putting unnecessary wear on the entire drivetrain.
Thats pretty valid point. But yeah as you've pointed out, they are designed to be used, so just like with every part of a car; take proper care and you should be fine.
I cry out for the clutch and all other components everytime someone downshifts without rev matching, sadly they don't teach stuff like that in drivers school. (Allthough this shouldn't really put any more stress on the synchros than downshifting, because nothing changes for the transmission)
No need to double clutch, just blip. Job done. Good habit. Love how the video says how not to shift.....end of video still shift like you shouldnt
Correct, just blip and you're done (:
Excellent video my friend! Thanks for explaining it with the great visuals
My pleasure! Glad you liked it :)
I've never driven anything but a manual car my whole life and I've never heard of double-clutching, granny-shifting, nor did I really understand anything you were trying to explain.
Well I guess, thank you for sticking around and commenting either way (:
The 1952 Porsche 356 was the first car to be produced with a synchronized transmission which was adopted by the entire auto industry in the following decade. Synchronizers do what the name says and matches gear speed to engine speed in both acceleration and deceleration, eliminating the need to double clutch.
3:37 My friend, the paper special effects may have been a bit awkward but they provide a visual representation of what is going on, which I think for a lot of people may make it easier to understand so thank you for the time and effort!
Thanks a lot my man! I'm happy to hear you liked my sketchy paper effects :)
My only goal when driving a manual transmission car is that when I shift gears my passengers are as unaffected as possible. Due to that I've gotten pretty good at rev matching.
The challenge to see just how smooth you can drive. Seems to be a manual driver thing (:
I never even knew that "double clutching" was a thing. Our family car lasted 32 years and neither my father nor I ever "double clutched". Hit the clutch well, hold it in place, hit the next or previous gear and (depending of what you want to do) let go of the clutch slow or fast (smoothly is better, but sometimes you need the extra oomph). Never had a transmission issue. The only thing that got damaged was "the good old" clutch wire, but that would have actually given away sooner if we double clutched all the time for no reason. :P
Exactly! Double clutching is uselss :)
Double clutching feels too good to me though. When I double clutch cold gears, the stick goes right into position like cutting butter. Otherwise I have to shove it in. If I have to wear my clutch for that experience, then I will.
Clutches and throwout bearings are replacement items, much more so than syncro's :) Plus that butttter
I've never had a car (Renault, VW, Peugeot, Honda) where I've ever had to "shove" it into gear. It's always "like butter" for me. And that's without DDC - I haven't the remotest idea how to do it - or at least how to do it properly. Some gearboxes are more notchy than others - when I drove a clapped-out Hillman Avenger once, every gearchange was clonky and very definitely a two stage movement from one gear to neutral and then neutral to the new gear, rather than straight from one gear to the other. Ford gearboxes also seem to be a bit more notchy. But there was no grinding of gears as such - ie the bouncing of the dog-clutch teeth because the synchromesh hasn't done its job properly.
I had a 1999 Toyota solara that unless you double clutched, 5th gear would grind. Even after new transmission fluid.
@@kurticusmaximus I double clutch 4-5 on the upshift for the same reason. Not a grind but you can feel its just happier entering 5th with the double clutch. That happens to be a 1999 Corolla :)
I double clutch my modern economy car because it is fun to pull it off smoothly :). Doesn't have a practical application it's just like a fidget toy or mini game where you try to put it in gear without feeling the synchro resistance. Once I got good at rev-match downshifting I thought screw it, let's try and get good at this too. If there was a harder way to shift I'd be trying to learn it for fun.
More power to you :)
Next is shifting without the clutch. That way you don't wear it, right?
Funny, I owned a 1993 Nissan Maxima manual back in 2003-2005 and never double clutched. I granny shifted and tried using the clutch as an "engine brake" when my brakes were bad. I think this is why I had to get the clutch replaced. Great video.
I use 3rd for engine braking like they quit making it. Every stop, every time. Been doing this for... carry the 2... 🤷♂️
Forever.
If you feather it or don't rev match, yeah, your clutch will eat the difference.
Blip, match, and drop works just fine.
I don't think double clutching was necessary on the Maxima as it should have syncrhos! But what you're reffering to with the braking sounds like "clutch braking" which is definetly not good for the clutch and will cause it to wear out rather quick! Anyway, thanks for the feedback, have a great day :)
As long as you match the revs while downshifting it shouldn't do anymore damage than normal driving. If you aren't matching revs then yeah that's pretty hard on your clutch.
i ran for months in a subaru with no brakes. downshifting was my only method of braking. the clutch and synchros were no worse for wear when i got around to fixing the brakes.
@@CRT4Dummies I wouldn't recommend that for other reasons but provided you never need to stop "NOW", you can get a car to a crawl (mine goes about walking speed) backing down to first...
There's always the money shift if you need it to stop sooner but you usually only get one of those per engine when they are successful 🤣
Thanks for the visual for the synchro. I didn't know what was actually happening till today.
I mean yes, double clutcing is unnecessary for downshifting one gear. But whenever I have to take a turn I am slowing down very quickly and thus I shift from 4th to 2nd. This is almost always too much for my synchros and I grind me gears if I just shift, so I have to double clutch to make it.
Absolutley true! Forgot to mention it in the video. Thanks for pointing it out :)
Your transmission "grinds" if you downshift from 4th to 2nd? That's not normal and has nothing to do with 'synchros'. (well, to be fair, you may have severely damaged synchros - probably from trying to double clutch). I suspect someday very soon you will be purchasing a new clutch ... or a new transmission. Good luck!
What abbout rev matching?
Rev match.
If the RPMs allow it and you're sufficiently skilled you can downshift from 5th(or even 6th)to 2nd gear no problem.
@@slamcrank reading all the comments really makes me wonder what people are doing behind the wheel :D never really heard about double clutching from any instructor... honestly no one ever said about rev matching when downshifting... you just slow down and then shift... i think people dont know what brakes are and just slams car from 5th to 2nd and waits for it to slow down... few years ago it was called money shift
Just got back into a manual after 8 years. Thanks for the breakdown
Awesome! I hope you have a ton of fun driving it!
I haven't found any comments about rev hang. Trying ro go into first even with revmatching is impossible above a certain speed unless you double clutch. Interesting what people consider high miles for a clutch... my 2003 Subaru Forester has 240000km on the original clutch and it doesn't slip in any gear under any load. Be smooth and clutches can last longer than you would think
As long as it's not slipping, then you don't need anything more for a commuter vehicle.
I learnt to DDC when driving an 02M 6spd with knackered synchros, made shifting much easier. Still do it now after having the gearbox refurbished.
Yep, that's literally what the synchros are there for. While they can wear out if abused, at that point, then you just decide to either rebuild/replace the transmission or just live with it and double clutch your downshifts. I found when driving a truck with worn synchros, I only had to double clutch on downshifts, for the upshifts it could be done by introducing a slight delay into the gear selection to allow the countershaft to get to the proper lower rpm by bearing friction
Double clutching doubles the use of the throw-out bearing (not good). Help the synchros do their job by not shifting too fast. Sensible shifting will get you over 200K miles on a clutch. Works for me.
Only time I've heard of someone double clutching was when I went with my dad in a 1932 Volvo fire truck, as the gearbox was unsynchronized.
I rev match my down shifts for a smoother and quicker down shift. So I figured I'm saving my synchros half the time. Good enough
"OMG you use the car as intended, and not clutching like cars of the 70's, you're so lame"
Who is braindead enough to think like this ? A clutch is MADE to be able to wear, and modern cars are MADE to be shifted in one go and not with double clutching...
I actually really like your paper fx.
and I feel like you did a really good job explaining how everything works!
Thanks a lot! Glad you liked it :)
"Paper"?!
I learned how to rev match right away and was never told to double-clutch
Yeah I think most people got the idea to do so from the fast and the furious
Double clutching is strangely fun sometimes on cars with really worn out synchros. Haven't done it in years but I had an RX-7 Turbo II with snail ass synchros, so I'd double clutch when I needed to downshift into second. It feels kinda cool when you get it just right.
It's also completely unnecessary if your synchros are good! That's why they're there! Any decent modern passenger car manual tranny should have nice fast synchronizers. No reason to cheap out on something that, by design, is already pretty cheap!
You got it! And yes double clutching perfectly makes you feel pretty cool (:
The only car I’ve regularly double clutched in is my ‘00 Tacoma (104k) because the gearbox is really notchy so it makes it a bit smoother. In my Subarus (‘95 and ‘03 with 300k and 225k respectively) I don’t bother. They’re smooth to shift quickly with just rev matching or heel-toe if hard braking. The only gear that I’ll double clutch on them sometimes is 1st because the synchro had basically removed itself from this world. Oh, and all three vehicles don’t have reverse gear synchros.
Also, you can just learn to push the gas pedal a bit, BEFORE engaging the new gear. It only takes a week of driving to learn the sweet spot for every gear. Synchronise them manually by pushing the acceleration pedal. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
It's still important to rev-match the engine before letting off the clutch.
yes but you only need to do that after you've engaged the new gear. you don't also have to do it after the first raising of the clutch during DDC in order for the new gear to engage. not if the synchromesh is doing its job - and it is on my car even after 190,000 miles. I wouldn;t have the faintest idea how to judge how much to vary the engine speed *during* DDC to make it go in, because if the synchro works, it will go in no matter what your engine speed is during DDC. So the second down/up of the clutch is for effect only and just delays the process of going from one gear to another without needing to linger in neutral.
@Mortimer50145 I rev match usually when already in gear, or sometimes while shifting, it doesn't really matter I think. I do it primarily for comfort, however it's objectively important to rev match to save the clutch from wearing out too quickly. Also, if you want to accelerate and need to downshift, you need to rev match the engine, or else you will actually slow down. It becomes even more important when you're going downhill and want to use the engine braking method - you need high rpms, and if you use the clutch to go from idle to the red line you can actually overheat it.
Bro got more knowledege than those who than most of the car enthusiast out there💀
Thanks a lot my man!
@@MichelsGarage no prob ma g
I always no lift shift everywhere I go. Unless on some 2500 pickups and semi trucks. I know it's a bit hard on the clutch. Synchronizers were made a long time ago on most vehicles. Late 1960's were the last American cars without synchronizers.
Not the biggest fan of no lift shifting but yeah synchros have been there for a long long time!
Obviously you can't no lift shift when you have to double clutch. If someone can, let me know.
I've driven everything from little Miata's to heavy duty box trucks. Only time I use the clutch is to get going. After that you don't need the clutch to shift in a modern synchronized transmission. Heck the box truck actually was easier to drive if you didn't clutch. One of my previous employers had a fleet of Ford Rangers and they were constantly replacing clutches on every truck but mine. Mine went over 150,000 on the original clutch and when they inspected it while doing some other work said it was like new.
double clutching, triple rev matching, and left foot braking. Senna would be proud.
this is the first time i came across this channel and probably the last time I will but thanks, this is actually very helpful
Good on you for the honesty. Glad I was able to help :)
Have a good spin around RUclips ;)
Just revmatch every gear like a true gigachad, and don't use the clutch at all to shift aside from taking off.
life hack: always park on a downhill street so you can turn off the handbrake and let the engine spin up to speed the natural way before turning it on, boom you can now remove that annoying clutch pedal and make much-needed space for your left foot. Alternatively if you want to start on a level road, wait for someone to rear-end you at high speed and ask them to keep going, and remember to always rear-end parked cars to help them start their engine more easily👌👌
@@justalonelypoteto Or just leave it in 1-st while turned off, and take off with the starter.
I was worried about how I was driving my 2020 VW Jetta manual transmission until I watched until the end of the video. Thankfully driving smooth is extremely beneficial whether I’m granny shifting or not
Better for the syncros worse for the throw out barring because of the extra clutch actuation.
Great video explanation (I thought the paper FX worked quite well). I do like to use the double clutching technique purely because it's more engaging -- with my old Audi (B5 A4) the [I assume] inertia within the transmission is significant enough that there is a very noticeable tactile difference* when moving the selector if the synchros have to do the job vs. don't have to, even though the synchros are in good condition (so the significance is it's just satisfying to get it right). A few years back I had an opportunity to buy a very, very heavily discounted S5 of late year and with low miles, with the price being so low because whoever had it prior was dumb enough to completely grind down the 2nd gear synchro -- but at the time I wasn't comfortable w/ the double clutch technique. Not sure if I passed up a great deal, or if there would've been other things worn out from the previous owner abusing the car. All in all though people on social media telling you how you "should" drive are usually to be ignored for sure.
Absolutley, drive however you want, I don't care and frankly noone should care. I just like exploring the technical things behind it :)
And taking a look at the reliability of older s cars, I think you did just fine😂
Imagine synchronizing gears with synchronizers.
The lower the gear the higher the RPM
Clutches are a wear part at the end of the day. I float my car. My synchros are probably gonna shit the bed prematurely but i don't really care. ill drive my car the way i desire and fix stuff when it breaks.
Thank you for clearing this up!
Glad it was helpful!
Hilarious that people think shifting normally is granny shifting while the slower double clutch shift is closer to what a granny would do...
I completely agree with you here. there is some benefit to be had to double clutch on the down shifts, but not a big enough benefit to be worth the hazzle. and trust me, I used to daily a 700 000 km car with the original transmission and the synkros were fine and worked like they should.
It's mostly Americans saying you need to double clutch. It's funny, they know how a manual is best driven in theory, but they don't actually know how it's driven normally.
I'll tell you, nobody uses double clutch in Europe.
Clutches are relatively cheap, so I don't really care if I destroy it once every 4-5 years. That said, I have been "granny shifting" all my life, and on some ancient cars at that, and I have never damaged a clutch and I also switched to auto recently, so I don't have to worry about clutches at all.
"Granny Shifting" is just the way to go!
I only double clutch when downshifting just because it saves me having to hold the clutch half-out for a few seconds while the engine speeds up.
No I just remembered I don’t even double clutch, just rev-match without lifting the clutch
I really like the paper visuals, that was actually quite helpful in understanding how the clutch works!
I'm curious, what about when downshifting to slow down, ie downshift without rev matching? Is this pretty bad for the clutch? Should I rev match downshift, then just let the lower gear slow down the car, or is it okay to downshift without rev matching?
First of all: thank you :)
Second of all, downshifting without blipping is absolutley no problem. But blipping has two advantages: first it's faster, second it puts less stress on the clutch. Hope this helps
Downshifting without rev matching will wear the clutch a bit faster, yes. I think it would put a lot of wear on both the clutch and all the associated hardware from the shock applied when dropping the clutch with a big speed difference. Plus, the rev match blip is fun, so I recommend it.
I appreciate the replies, I'll get into the habit of rev matching on slowdown downshifts :)
Good explanation - imho anyone who goes on about granny shifting should take a modern all-synchro transmission apart at 100k miles and tell me where the problem is. It's just not an issue, even less so if you learn to rev match your shifts.
Deine Videos sind so gut gemacht, vielen Dank!
Vielen Dank dir!
Granny shifting is shifting slowly, like when you’re accelerating in first gear. Once the revs are high enough you shift into second gear. The “ granny “ part is how it takes a full second and a bit for you to start the shift, move the selector into the next gear, release the clutch pedal and accelerate. You could easily cut the time between 1st and 2nd gear in half (.5 of a second) and not be damaging the clutch or the gears.
Thats correct, my definition of granny hsifting was a little wrong (Some people also pointed out, that granny shifting is generally shifting at lower rpms, which makes a lot of sense, bceause a granny is not going around bouncing off the limiters, at least if your granny ain't got a lot of swag)
Everyone should watch this lol, you explained it perfectly
Thank you :)
just wanted to say wow these drawings helped me understand a lot more, love the way you show how things works and explaining it. You got a new subscriber
Thank you :) Glad you liked my sketchy drawings😂
When i'm racing, it's different, but daily'ing I always double cutch to save my synchro's in the long run. It's multitudes easier to source and replace clutch components on my cars than it is compared to synchros. Also i've personally found that some transmissions react and behave differently to double clutching, so do whatever fits your situation
Absolutley, if your goal is to safe your synchros go for it! Although I personally never heard of synchros wearing out, but that might just be me. Anyways thanks for your comment :)
@@MichelsGarage I have worn out second and third gear synchros in my daily. The previous owner never learned to revmatch and just kept forcing the gear in. Downshifts seem to have fried it.
It's fine when double clutched. :)
you are more likely to wear out synchro's because of improper maintenance
@@peterjohnson9438I still don't understand what it means when people say you have to rev match. Can you please explain? Forced the gear in when downshifting? If I'm in 5, and then I want to downshift to 3, I will only move the shifter into 3 when the speed the car is moving is appropriate for me to do so and I don't necessarily rev match each time I do this but there is no jerking or anything it's totally smooth transition if you downshift appropriately as your car's speed goes down. How is that gonna damage the transmission? That's just regular driving. Also never have I encountered any "resistance" like the gear shifter doesn't want to go into 3 from 5 in my life. I will never shift into 3rd gear if I'm moving at 140 km/h so I don't know what you mean when you say the previous driver "forrced" the gear in. I'd appreciate any explanation I'm just curious.
@@Vyantrirevmatching is what it says. Let's imagine a situation, say you're in 5th gear, maybe 90km/h, but rpms are... let's say 2800rpm. You want to downshift to 3rd gear and revmatch, so you press the clutch pedal, while holding it you press the gas pedal for a bit and get to, say 4300rpm and then put in 3rd gear and release the clutch pedal. Now you are still going that 90km/h, but in a lower gear with higher rpm. You have successfully revmatched and did not put unnecessary stress on your drivetrain.
Of course, the revs you are matching to always depend on the car you are driving.
In general synchros do the job and won't wear out too much. When downshifting I just do a rev-match and it all goes well
noooo not the wear item Lmfao.
Double clutching is silly.
A nice way of getting to know your gear ratios is by changing gear without using the clutch. A very satisfying feeling when you've finally mastered it.
why double clutch like a weirdo cant u just rev match when down shifting?
the in Europe LAST car without synchronized Transmissions is the Fiat Nouva 500 till 1977. Any Car after that has Synchronizers, or in newer Cars, another system to do the same work.
I might be wrong on this one but I am pretty sure that some 25 year old vans don't have a syncromesh in Europe.
That doesn't make any sense. You can rev match with the clutch depressed. There's no need to let it out in neutral in order to rev the engine.
yes you can, in fact, you dont even need to use the clutch at all except for when taking off, you can simply rev match all the gears without even touching the clutch. But nobody does this cause why the hell would you do that.
Fax
Did you watch the video? You can match the engine but not the countershaft (layshaft). With non-syncro gearboxes (crash gearboxes) double clutching was essential when downshifting.
@@HughCStevenson1 WAS old ass man
@DukeFerris Yes you absolutley can and should! Double clutching is just increasing the wear on all clutch components.
I respect you for eharting every comment and responding to them up to this day
Of course my man! That's how it should be :)
@@MichelsGarage Question: I have a honda crv Manual, I was driving and out of nowhere it started sounding like i was in neutral, No matter what gear i go in it wont drive it will just rev out.. I can start in gear 1 and it wont jump forward how it use to.. is my clutch gone?
The clutch is a comsumable part. Use it appropriately.
"Don't use the clutch it'll wear it out!"
yes, always find a steep decline to park on so you can quickly roll to speed and start the engine without needing the clutch 👍