Stick Shift Driving

NYC Driving Lessons

Stick Shift Driving Lessons in NYC

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Driving Lessons

Finding a good place to give stick shift driving lessons in NYC isn’t the easiest task, but if you know what to look for, it isn’t that hard either. Ideally, you want to avoid hills, one lane or tight streets and heavy traffic areas. The biggest inconvenience is other motorists interfering with your learning concentration. A honk is the number one concentration breaker.

Look for an open flat area. Ideally, you’d want some obstacles, but make sure that you can control the situations you put yourself in or whoever you’re teaching. For example, if you find a nice hill near by, make sure you can put the hazard lights on and pull over to the side. Traffic should be able to maneuver  around you easily.

Don’t resort to parking lots for driving lessons. Parking lots won’t prepare anyone effectively. Open, flat roads with light traffic and obstacles close by are ideal. For obstacles, make sure you have one small hill, one large hill and one long stretch of road for gear cycling.

 

Maintaining a Stick Shift Car

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Maintenance of a stick shift car usually revolves around two things that are exclusively separate from an automatic car. I’m not going to talk about the synchronizer because I feel like it is in the same context as the gears. A synchronizer makes sure you can switch gears without any grinding. If you have a problem switching gears or hear/feel a grinding noise, it may very well be your synchronizer that needs to be replaces.

Clutch Maintenance


The best way to maintain the clutch is to make sure that your driving habits are not prematurely wearing it out. Here are a few examples of bad habits. On a hill, you want to hold yourself still by balancing the clutch and gas as you await a light to change. This is definitely not worth it. If you want to avoid holding the foot brake or rolling back,  just use the emergency brake to hold you there for launch.

Gas can also be an issue that may go unnoticed. Too much gas can add a little more friction, meaning more wear on the clutch. The car only needs a little bit of gas and maybe an increase at the right time to get going. Holding onto the clutch too long while giving a lot of gas will add most of the wear to your clutch. Now there’s nothing that you can do about how long you hold the clutch because no matter what, you have to hold it until the car is moving at a certain speed to avoid stalling. What you can do, is decrease the gas to make the wear of you riding that clutch for the short time frame that you are, less damaging.

Now if you’ve successfully managed to preserve your clutch, it’ll last you anywhere between 5-10 years, or even more depending on your location. The best way to tell if you need a new clutch is to test where it catches. If it starts to catch really high, then it’s pretty worn. It’s the same concept as having to step harder on brakes to make stop the car because the material is worn. You can also identify a worn clutch if it begins to “slip”. Meaning if you give it a lot of gas, it will rev the engine, but not move the car, almost as if you’re revving the engine in neutral. A good way to test for slippage is to put the car in a high gear at a low speed and really floor the gas. The car shouldn’t really be going anywhere if you’re at a low speed in high gear. If the engine races, then you definitely need to replace your clutch.

Handling Gears

Gears shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The metal that gears are made out of are extremely durable and can withstand a lot of punishment. Most stick shift cars today will last you a lifetime without any problems with your gears. Gears can wear down, also causing slippage, but a worn gear will result in grinding noises when slipping. It’s really not pleasant and needs attention.

Make sure you get into the habit of clutching completely down before switching gears to avoid damaging your gears.

I just had to replace my clutch a few months ago. That’s a pain in the ass for a stick shift driver, but it lasted me about three years. Considering all the lessons I give with it, that’s a pretty good lifespan if you ask me. It ran me about $500 for me 2003 accord. Not bad when you consider the price difference in maintaining a stick shift transmission vs an automatic transmission. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments below.

Reverse and Parallel Parking

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When it comes to learning stick shift, reversing and parallel parking can’t be ignored. The concept is the same, but the mechanics are very different. For starters, if you’re parallel parking on an up hill or down hill, rolling will interfere with the process.

Key Points

    • Reverse pulls off using the same rules as pulling off in first gear
    • Reverse is not always in the same place on every car, be sure to check
    • Reversing is usually done slowly, which means you’re never off the clutch
    • Use the emergency brakes to hold the car for careful inching on hills
    • Park by putting the car in gear, turning the wheel and pulling the e-brake
    • Reverse by moving your foot up and down the clutch for accuracy





Reverse

Reversing in a manual car is a little different than an automatic car. Instead of resting on the break, your feet will be by the gas and the clutch. Getting the car moving in reverse is the same as getting the car moving in first gear. The only difference is in reverse, our goal isn’t to gradually gain speed. Our goal is to be slow and precise. Think of the clutch as a push. Whenever you need a push, add gas and come off into the friction point. The car should be maneuvered into the parking spot with little burst of friction and release.
To keep the car moving slowly and avoid a rapid speed up, add gas while releasing the clutch. It’s important to maintain your position on the friction point and inch up or down on the clutch accordingly. If the car is speeding up, go down on the clutch and let it’s own momentum carry it into the spot until you need to move again. When you want to move , repeat by adding a little gas and coming up to the friction point again for a “push”.

Parallel Parking



Using the reversing techniques above, parallel parking in a stick shift car will be much easier to deal with. The only problem is hill parking at this point. Parallel parking on a downhill is very tricky because now the car will roll forward when you’re trying to reverse. To avoid this, I suggest pulling up the emergency brake and making sure the car is secured by that. Give the car gas and start releasing the clutch until there is enough tension and the car wants to move. At this point, slowly drop the brakes, carefully hold on to the clutch and gas. Allow the car to roll in to the spot. You can tweak the pace by inching on or off the clutch slightly while maintaining consistent gas. Use the Emergency brakes every time you have to stop and adjust wheel direction to make sure it doesn’t roll into the car in front.

For parallel parking on an uphill, life is a little easier. You can just come off the foot brake and let gravity do it’s job. The car will roll into the parking spot.Just stay on the foot brake to control the pace. Adjusting and straightening the car out might be a little difficult now because you’ll have to move forward (up the hill). Use the emergency brakes to build up tension, then release them gradually and straighten the car out.

At the End of Parking

When the car is parked and you’re ready to get out, you can do a three things. What I recommend though is doing all three. Pull up the emergency brake, turn the wheel all the way to towards the curb and leave the car in gear. Turning the wheel will add extra resistance just in case it budges, it will roll into the side walk. Putting the car in gear will make sure it’s held by the transmission, this isn’t 100% though. Doing all three is the safest way to park.

You want to leave the car in the opposite gear of where the car is facing. For example, if you’re parallel parking facing downhill, leave the car in first gear, turn the wheel towards the curb and pull the brake up. Now you turn the car off, come off the clutch slowly, then the foot brake. If you’re parking facing uphill, everything is the same except instead of putting the car in first gear, you’re putting it in reverse. Just remember opposites!

Finding places for Stick Shift Lessons

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Stick shift lessons are generally not as difficult as most people make them out to be. The preparation is very minimal. The skill itself isn’t hard to grasp, it just takes time and repetition to develop finesse. The first most important part when it comes to stick shift lessons is the location.

Key points

    • Avoid learning in parking lots or completely empty streets
    • Start in an area with wide roads and light traffic
    • Make sure there are streets where speeding up is acceptable
    • Pick out an area that is mostly flat, but has a range of hills not too far by
    • Make sure there are a lot of stop signs/lights around the area


Stick Shift Lessons



A lot of people want to start out in parking lots. People who are taking stick shift lessons already know the rules of the road and have general driving experience. The only way to really learn is to be put in a situation as realistic to actual driving conditions as possible. Taking away traffic or road rules is unrealistic! Look for wide, flat streets. Find an area that has hills and traffic signals close by. Hills are very important.

Make sure you’re comfortable in the place you’ve chosen. There are times when you’ll need to shift through the gears and practice down shifting. Have a long strip of road around for just that purpose. Progression should be made quickly. From starting to starting on hill, then downshifting and so on.


Stick shift lessons shouldn’t be done in very busy places. Even if it’s realistic, that’s an extreme. The idea is to keep yourself on your toes, not completely petrify you! You still need time to focus on what you’re doing, but still have the sensation of every day driving. Streets with cars parked on the is preferred because it makes learning parallel parking easier. Set the stages for your stick shift lessons and the rest will take care of itself!

Buying a Stick Shift Car

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Buying a stick shift car can be intimidating. Stick shift cars are very similar to any other car. The only difference is the manual transmission and clutch pedal. Knowing what to look for and how to detect the problems is key.

Key Points

    • Of course, mileage is very important
    • If you’re buying a used car, check the oil, tires and go for a test drive
    • Step on the clutch and see where it begins to engage
    • Make sure the emergency brakes aren’t worn out
    • Test drive the car and go through every gear
    • Put the car in neutral and rev the engine to make sure it’s smooth
    • Make sure you get an accurate background for the car


Buying a Stick Shift Car

Check the mileage and the oil. Cars that are driven in the city usually have more wear and tear than cars driven in suburbs. Turn on the car and rev the engine. It should be smooth. Take it for a test drive and listen for ticking in the engine. Listen for any knocking noises when making turns to make sure there is no problems with the bearings. The muffler shouldn’t be smoking. On a cold day, some white smoke will come out when the car is first turned on, but that’s normal.

Check the Clutch



Stick shift cars have clutches, so make sure the clutch doesn’t catch too high.. Put the car into first gear and start coming off the clutch. Most clutches begin to catch about half way up or sometimes a little more. Make sure the clutch doesn’t catch too high, or else that means it’s worn out and needs to be replaced soon.

For new cars, the clutch will be very responsive. The window to buffer the friction point will be smaller. It’s like taking two magnets and bringing them close together. When you get too close, they will snap together. Same with a brand new clutch. As you come off the new clutch, it will get to the point of friction and quickly engage. Most new clutches need to be broken in.