New to driving stick

[Shadow]

if anything, it sounded like a blip. idk where you guys are coming from. what do your blips sound like?

Here's a better question:

What do you think his car would have sounded like if he didn't blip the throttle in that video? Think about it....

not like in the video thats for sure.

So what would it have sounded like?

[fr4n]

idk, never tried

however when i blip it sounds exactly as it does in the video

[Shadow]

idk, never tried

however when i blip it sounds exactly as it does in the video

Well, give it a try and let me know how it sounded. I bet it will sound a lot like it did in the video, of course allowing for the fact that you have a completely different car.

[fr4n]

idk, never tried

however when i blip it sounds exactly as it does in the video

Well, give it a try and let me know how it sounded. I bet it will sound a lot like it did in the video, of course allowing for the fact that you have a completely different car.

tried it. sounded like a power shift but in reverse. lol

i can see how its sounds similar though. if you do this quick enough, the continually rising revs sound like a blip in a way.

[rml605]

So I just drove home from class in this awful snow weather. My first time with stick.

Any tips?

I kept losing traction in starting in 1st and my traction alert kept coming up on my dash. And also what about hills? I came across a small one, but almost cried since I never drove in this snow before lol.

[theholycow]

The best tip I can give you is to drive in RI or CT where they treated/plowed the roads instead of MA where the roads are horrible.

There were a few winter driving threads last winter, chock-full of useful tips.

[Shadow]

So I just drove home from class in this awful snow weather. My first time with stick.

Any tips?

I kept losing traction in starting in 1st and my traction alert kept coming up on my dash. And also what about hills? I came across a small one, but almost cried since I never drove in this snow before lol.

If your car can handle it, try starting off in 2nd gear. You'll get less torque to the drive wheels, so you should be able to maintain more traction on those slippery roads.

As for hills, I don't know what to tell you. When you're going up them, do your best to maintain speed and try not to stop. When you're going down them, just take it slow and do whatever you can to maintain braking traction.

[potownrob]

you can also start in 1st but be gentle with the gas and then shift into 2nd as soon as you're moving. the starting in 2nd thing might work well though, especially if you truly have little to no traction.

edit: which car do you have again??

[theholycow]

you can also start in 1st but be gentle with the gas and then shift into 2nd as soon as you're moving.

Don't forget that you can also modulate torque with the clutch if you're not getting the control you need out of the gas...and that's how using 2nd works, it forces you to really finely modulate the clutch. You want to avoid spinning the tires in the first place, rather than try to recover from that traction loss.

When driving a manual in the snow, your goals are the same as an automatic (mainly, don't exceed your traction). Only the tools change slightly. In an automatic you'd be gentle with your right foot and hope the transmission shifts smoothly (or press the "Winter" button, if equipped, for smoother shifts); in a manual you shift smoothly using both feet and your brain.

Just as on dry pavement or in the rain, don't shift when you're near the limit of your traction...also, if you find yourself in that condition, be very gentle with your right foot. Get out of that condition and back to having extra traction ASAP. This is true whether you're turning or going straight (but usually only gets discussed in the context of turning because the consequences are more severe and, outside of snow, you rarely are near your limit of traction while going straight).

One thing that may need special attention when driving manual in snow is engine braking...you're much more likely to encounter significant amounts of engine braking when driving manual, depending on your shift habits and car configuration. Engine braking only affects your drive wheels and may only affect one wheel if you have a normal differential (not limited slip). You need to be aware of how it affects your reduced traction situation; it is better to use your brake pedal to brake all 4 wheels when you intend to brake, and avoid unintentional engine braking (through careful throttle usage, being in a high gear, or declutching). There are some situations where you might prefer engine braking, which you can determine with experience.

In a traction-loss event (oversteering or understeering) you do have one more tool at your disposal that an automatic doesn't have; you can declutch conveniently with a single foot stroke.

I got the RWD Buick up some nasty hills yesterday, even cruised right past a stuck FWD Malibu. Much more importantly, though, I didn't crash it like so many crashes that I cruised past. My wife passed a school bus full of kids against a tree.

A few tips I can think of off the top of my head:
- Be alert and look far far ahead.
- Know how much traction you have and don't use all of it, expect surface/traction conditions to change suddenly and without warning.
- Brake and steer very early and very gently. Accelerate very gently.
- Expect other drivers to do idiotic things and to come sliding at you from side streets/driveways. Do NOT expect them to be able to stop or steer even when it looks like they have traction.
- Don't hit a thicker line of snow between lanes (or along a highway on/off ramp) at speed at too oblique of an angle (you want to cross it as perpendicularly as possible) or at all if you can help it. (These lines of snow cast off by plows are called windrows.)
- Go uphill a bit faster than you might think necessary, go downhill a lot slower than you want.
- Go to an abandoned parking lot (with owner's permission) and practice recovering from skids, spins, etc. Practice various techniques, including declutching, powersliding, etc.
- Leave so early that you will not feel any pressure to drive faster than necessary, even after you get stuck waiting in traffic or behind a crash that needs to get cleared from the road.
- When the road is wet, you often can't see the difference between liquid water and ice (this is what is meant by "black ice).

Here's a couple searches that will take you directly to old threads full of this stuff:

search.php?keywords=snow&terms=all&auth ... mit=Search

search.php?keywords=winter&terms=all&au ... mit=Search

[bk7794]

Also just slow down and be patient.

[Squint]

Also just slow down and be patient.

This should really be important for all driving times, not just poor conditions.

[rml605]

I just can't being fully consistent. I'm not stalling at all, but im still botching shifts, engaging 1st very smoothly, and hills without the e-brake if I want to go quick with limited roll back, I give it too much gas.

I feel like my car is kind of hard to drive. It's so frustrating.


Also, not sure if it's normal, but if I shift to reverse without putting it into a gear first, it will grind. Not on a cold start, but even if im driving for awhile and then need to reverse, I need to put it into 1st first and then reverse so it doesn't grind. Is this normal?

[tankinbeans]

You're likely doing fine. It takestime, and I'm not fully there yet myself. Your car may very well be picky; my Kia was. Try not to think about your minor goofs, since they'll just make you self conscious and make you mess up more.

[IMBoring25]

I just can't being fully consistent. I'm not stalling at all, but im still botching shifts, engaging 1st very smoothly, and hills without the e-brake if I want to go quick with limited roll back, I give it too much gas.

I feel like my car is kind of hard to drive. It's so frustrating.

It seems like early EFI makes a vehicle more forgiving but the heavily computerized vehicles are more finicky because they're more and more optimized and go into different maps and modes at different times, demanding different handling with little perceptible cue that anything's changed.

Regardless of the vehicle, it's frustrating to be a perfectionist. Terrain is especially tricky because it adds one more factor that's a little different every time. Just don't worry about it too much and keep working on it.

Also, not sure if it's normal, but if I shift to reverse without putting it into a gear first, it will grind. Not on a cold start, but even if im driving for awhile and then need to reverse, I need to put it into 1st first and then reverse so it doesn't grind. Is this normal?

Sounds normal for an unsynchronized reverse. When you say on a cold start do you mean immediately after starting the vehicle, before the clutch has been released? If so, absolutely normal for an unsynchronized reverse.

[Rope-Pusher]

IS the clutch still spinning when you try shifting into Reverse? Ifso Fatso, just count one-pizza, two-pizza, three-pizza after you depress the clutch pedal before you shift into Reverse.

also, make sure you aren't rolling forward or backward when you try shifting into Reverse.

Also, also make sure the clutch pedal is pushed down fully. If you still have issues getting into Reverse, maybe your clutch is not fully releasing.