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Learning to drive a stick in 5 easy steps

22K views 123 replies 96 participants last post by  jsok2 
#1 · (Edited)
learning a stick in 5 easy steps

i taught a friends mom, my daugher, and my wife how to drive a stick by using the techique im going to explain here. within an hour or two, all were doing it pretty good. none knew how to drive a stick or drive on hills, but by the end of the day, you would of never known this.

heres how

NOTE : YOU SHOULD BE ALONE (or with me :wink: ), NO FRIENDS, NO GIRLFRIEND/NO BOYFRIEND, NO MUSIC, NO DOOBIES, NO BEER.. NO TRAFFIC AT ALL CAN BE AROUND YOU !!!!

YOU DONT WANT ANY DESTRACTIONS ... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!!!!!

The first few steps can even be learned in your driveway.

-step one-

come to a stop, put it in neutral.. pull the Ebrake.

dont give it any gas.. just put it in 1st gear with the clutch in and Ebrake pulled.

now... slowely let up on the clutch (still no gas) when you feel the car wanting to go, and the RPM drop, push the clutch back in. do this alot, then do it some more. do not give it gas. only work the clutch pedal.

you're learning exactly WHERE the clutch engages at on the pedal... nothing more.

dont let the clutch out all the way, the RPM will drop or stall the car. dont release the clutch quickly. dont try to move the car, and DONT BURN YOUR CLUTCH UP. as soon as you feel the pull, push the clutch back in. your feeling for this pull/RPM drop only.

if you smell a brake/clutch burning smell, your letting the clutch out too far and not paying attention to the car pull feeling. let the clutch cool for a bit.

after you have done this a bit and you have learned 'where' your clutch engages at on the pedal.. go to the next step.... gas.

-step two-

with car in neutral and Ebrake on ... step the RPMs
no clutch action, you're still not moving, nor do you want to... you are in neutral !!!!

press the gas to get the RPM to stay at 1000, then 1500, then 2000, then 2500 thats it...

you're learning exactly WHERE the gas pedal is to get a certain RPM.. nothing more.

no racing, no redlining, no fast and the furious shit.
so you think you got this ? lets move on.....

go back to step one... you remember where the clutch engages at ?

step two... you know how to get the RPM to stay at 1500 rpm (or any RPM) ?
(stay at.. not race over, then under, then over again.. but stay)

ok... on to step three..

-step three-

pull Ebrake, put car in neutral, clutch in, give it a touch of gas (1000,1500 rpm) let the clutch out in neutral .. you should have an idea of where the clutch will engage at on the pedal. but your not in gear, nor should you be.

you're learning how to move the pedals simutanously.. nothing more

do this a bit.. you want to be able to move clutch in and out while being able to control where your gas foot is. get gas to 1500 rpm, release clutch untill its where you remember it starts to engage, then increase your gas to 2000 rpm as you move the clutch the rest of the way out. imagining where the clutch engages while your giving it gas at the same time. no pedal racing, no clutch slapping, get use to moving both at the same time. car is in neutral, leave the stick alone.
palying with both pedals pretty good ? lets move on....


-step four-

you know where the clutch engages, you know how to give it a set amount of gas, and you just learned how to move both pedals simutanously.. lets put all this together. (return to the step where you are having trouble before going on)


(you should know EXACTLY how this feels and where your foot is on the clutch by now, its the first thing you learned ).. car stopped, clutch in, shifter in first gear, give it 1500 rpm. release clutch and when you feel it engage, increase gas to 2000 rpm and let clutch all the way out, foot off clutch out. you should move forward smoothly (maybe even a little quick.. this is fine, your alone on some backroad, remember.. no traffic at all). as RPM drops, give it the gas needed to go to 2000 rpm (you should know where this is by now as well)

if you BUCK, press clutch back in quickly, stop car, and try again. do not try to recover from your car bucking. start over.

you need to learn where the pedals are and how they feel without looking or guessing. are they stiff, smooth, easy, hard, etc.

you need to learn exactly where the clutch starts to engage.

you need to learn exactly how much gas is needed to get a certain RPM.

you need to learn how to work both pedals together. this is very important.

then you just need to practice.

use neighborhoods, parking lots, side streets, back roads, etc. to get use to the stick before hitting traffic and multi-lane roads or high speed highways.

-step five-

....hills....

come to a stop, car in neutral, Ebrake pulled
clutch in, put car in first gear, give it 1500 rpm, let clutch out
car will try to move move forward (the 'pull' feeling you learned in step 1), release Ebrake as you increase the gas to 2500 rpm and let clutch completely out. car will move forward without rolling back.

practice this ONLY AFTER YOU CAN OPERATE BOTH PEDALS WELL AND CAN DRIVE THE CAR DOWN THE STREET.

with some practice, you will be able to pull off from hills with out the stupid rolling back people do.

**note**
If you find this thread useful. some rep points would be nice :)
rep points are always nice... but only if they are earned.
 
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#9 ·
very good article. i didnt have much difficulty learning myself, but i have tried to teach a few friends with my car. SCARY! after reading this, my girlfriend could probably learn. that says a lot.
***

On another note, i taught myself how to do three pedal driving. Although I am a little rough at it, it would be nice to see something on here about it. a new thread. (maybe there already is)
 
#12 ·
wow this is a great write up, i wish i wouldve read this before chirping my tires a million times in an empty parking lot before i figured out how to drive a clutch, so many dumped clutches, and jerky starts....
 
#13 ·
this is definitely helping me out,

i consider tonight as day 1 as learning to drive a stick and i only stalled approximately 3 times.. one of them was just because i was accidently in 3rd gear!!! i stalled like 10 times straight before i noticed that.. but it doesnt count as single stalls haha. Tommorrow night I will practice some more, i can actually launch now its just getting that smooth launch i care about!
 
#15 ·
I was taught to drive stick in an old 1970 Ford F100 stepside that my grandfather restored, the "Three on the tree", was moved to the floor though so it was more conventional. No one could get that truck to move or successfully shift, but he was so silky smooth, and at 14 I wanted to drive everything. I used to try and shift through all the gears on our tractor when I went down the road, finally got them all down. I taught two of my friends, and my ex-gf how to drive stick in my old del sol. I'll def use this when I teach my gf now.
 
#16 · (Edited)
I finally got the confidence to hit the urban roads.. I barely stall now.. only time it happens is when I forget to add enough gas or its just me thinking too much. I drive for about 30 mins tonight all around town and only stalled once, and thats because I dumped the clutch

Thanks cadster!!!

The only problem I have now is mastering down shifting and going over speed bumps (my car starts to vibrate hard and it feels like its going to stall going over them) Any write ups on those?

I just got back from praticing upshifting to reduce my throw and shift time. It went pretty good. I am no longer bucky when I go from 1-2.
 
#17 ·
for speed bumps you should hit the brakes before you hit the bump, then with the little bit of momentum the car still has, roll over them.

hitting them at a slight angle also helps. you dont want to hit it - front wheels, rear wheels, but - front wheel, front wheel, rear wheel, rear wheel.
 
#18 ·
The bit about the hill was extremely useful to me, and i copied and pasted this and emailed it to my girlfriend (trying to learn a stick) Thanks man.
 
#19 ·
The bit about the hill was extremely useful to me, and i copied and pasted this and emailed it to my girlfriend (trying to learn a stick) Thanks man.
 
#20 ·
The bit about the hill was extremely useful to me, and i copied and pasted this and emailed it to my girlfriend (trying to learn a stick) Thanks man.
 
#21 ·
I learned by keeping the e-brake down and slowly letting off the clutch, enough where it rolled but didn't turn off and would go from 1 line in the middle of the road to the next and stop, then do it over again. once i got that, then i just went to changing gears and then i just figured out the hills for myself. Good write up anyway.
 
#22 ·
i really can't learn. I know the basic's but its been years. Honestly i really cant learn if i dont have a 5spd in the first place, nor will anyone let me learn in their car for frear of burning the clutch and griding in their car. One guy told me to just stop after 5 mins of trying.
 
#26 ·
nice tutorial, i already know how to drive stick, but i have problems teaching, my friend wanted to learn i'll try this technique (using my bros car haha), good job breaking down the diff steps, this is exactly how i learned from my dad 4 yrs ago (i can still hear him screaming CLUTCH! CLUTCH! as the car bucks and stalls hah)
 
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