Question for manual drivers...

[TheCracker]

If you live in a place as hilly as i do you cover all eventualities. Handbrake on, in gear - 1st if pointed uphill, Reverse if pointing down. If on a steepish hill i'll have the front wheels turned slightly towards the curb too.

Why wouldn't you want to leave your car as securely footed as possible? If you have a car alarm you wouldn't leave the doors unlocked would you?

 

[Duke]

Me I don't like parking brakes. They don't work half the time, and you never know if there fully on or not.

And therein lies the problem: if you don't use the parking brake regularly, then the mechanism gets stiff and doesn't work very well. But if you use it regularly, it stays limber. You may have to adjust the cable from time to time, but that's it.

For the record (I realize I never stated) I leave the car in neutral and the brake on, unless it's on a long hill.

 

[Scaff]

One more point about the hand-brake.

If you even go to a track day (in your own car or a race schools car) never come back into the pit or paddock and apply the handbrake, leave the car in gear instead.

The very high temps that your brakes experience on track do not dissipate as soon as yo stop, so slapping the hand-brake on car fuse the pads to the disc/rotor.

I've seen it happen a few times and it can be both expensive and very embarrassing

LOL

SCaff

 

[Duke]

This is true.

 

[Fairlady240zg]

Handbrakes? Hahahha..we dont need no stinking handbrakes.

My z still doesnt have a hand brake, hopefully this christmas Ill find time to fix it.
But until then, two nice pieces of wood are my e-brake.

 

[TheCracker]

One more point about the hand-brake.

If you even go to a track day (in your own car or a race schools car) never come back into the pit or paddock and apply the handbrake, leave the car in gear instead.

The very high temps that your brakes experience on track do not dissipate as soon as yo stop, so slapping the hand-brake on car fuse the pads to the disc/rotor.

I've seen it happen a few times and it can be both expensive and very embarrassing

LOL

SCaff

Thanks Tiff

 

[NightmareHunter]

My dad uses the Parking Brake when were in the parking lot of a quad place we go to, to get parts.
And I guess I can't really say what I think of a Parking Brake, I'm use to the parking brake on a quad. And the don't work half the time any way.

And he leaves it in gear, so that way it doesn't go anywhere.
The car I drove I didn't have to use anything on. I just left it in gear. It doesn't have a parking brake though.

 

[land sea air]

ive never heard anything about leaving it in grear without the parking brake actually causing any wear, most of the load is on the clutch and thats what the clutch is designed to do, just in the other direction. am i making sense

 

[Jedi2016]

I use the parking brake exclusively. I'm not worried about it "loosening" over time. Even if it does, it can be tightened easily enough.

My problem with leaving it in gear is that I forget it's there. So I'll start the engine, let go of the clutch, and the car will give an awful lurch and stall (because the parking brake is still set). Simply because I'm in the habit of having the car out of gear when it's sitting still, so I rarely touch the shifter during startup.

 

[Milliethemutt]

Hand brake and in gear, usually reverse due to parking down a hill. This all comes from my first 2 cars being Minis in which neither could be relied upon so the belt and braces approach seemed best. I sometimes do the pointing the wheels at the kerb thing too.

 

[Gil]

I use the parking brake exclusively. I'm not worried about it "loosening" over time. Even if it does, it can be tightened easily enough.

My problem with leaving it in gear is that I forget it's there. So I'll start the engine, let go of the clutch, and the car will give an awful lurch and stall (because the parking brake is still set). Simply because I'm in the habit of having the car out of gear when it's sitting still, so I rarely touch the shifter during startup.

I'm just the opposite. Every time I get into a car with a manual trans, my right hand goes automatically to the shifter to figure out if the car is in or out of gear.
Even when I'm the last person to have driven the vehicle I go directly for the shifter. Maybe it's cause I'm old and forgot what I did.
But, I always check.

 

[Danoff]

I'm just the opposite. Every time I get into a car with a manual trans, my right hand goes automatically to the shifter to figure out if the car is in or out of gear.
Even when I'm the last person to have driven the vehicle I go directly for the shifter. Maybe it's cause I'm old and forgot what I did.
But, I always check.

I just always go for the clutch. It would feel really strange for me to try to turn on the car without the clutch in.

 

[Sage]

I think Gil was saying that he reaches for the stick to make sure it’s in/out of gear before releasing the clutch – I do the same thing.

 

[land sea air]

i always leave in 1st gear and use the parking brake, when entering a stick i always jiggle the shifter to make sure its out of gear at the same time im pushing the clutch in to start the car (most cars ive ever driven wont let you start the car without clutch anyways

 

[sn00pie]

I think Gil was saying that he reaches for the stick to make sure it’s in/out of gear before releasing the clutch – I do the same thing.

Yeah I do that too, also because I go to 2nd as soon as possible, which is pretty soon. I don't like to stick around in first gear.

 

[Famine]

Yeah I do that too, also because I go to 2nd as soon as possible, which is pretty soon. High revolutions in first - in traffic - are just stupid.

I rarely use 2nd. Or 4th, for that matter. 1st is for TLGPs and early morning to pull out of the driveway. 3rd sees me from 1mph up to 85mph and 5th drops the revs for the long drives. If I need to overtake quickly at motorway speeds (70mph limit), 3rd will do the job better than 4th.

 

[sn00pie]

I rarely use 2nd. Or 4th, for that matter. 1st is for TLGPs and early morning to pull out of the driveway. 3rd sees me from 1mph up to 85mph and 5th drops the revs for the long drives. If I need to overtake quickly at motorway speeds (70mph limit), 3rd will do the job better than 4th.

Granted.

I drove a 240 wagon from and to Amsterdam today with a friend and got to learn the meaning of easing the revs. It was a less fun drive than expected though, but then again maybe I've been playing GT4 too much.

 

[land sea air]

i assume you mean a volvo 240 and not a mercedes 240 as the latter are a blast to drive even though they are regularly overtaken by just about anything thats moving, the 4 speed manual does inject some life into the car, i wish my GFs 240d was manual

 

[sn00pie]

Yes that would be the Volvo.

 

[Jim Prower]

Handbrake and (embarassingly) "Park"

I wonder, is it hard on an automatic to leave it in park without a handbrake on?

 

[Danoff]

Handbrake and (embarassingly) "Park"

I wonder, is it hard on an automatic to leave it in park without a handbrake on?

It loads the gears with fair bit of force and isn't as secure for keeping the car in place. It's just a better idea to use the e-brake.

 

[Dave A]

I rarely use 2nd. Or 4th, for that matter. 1st is for TLGPs and early morning to pull out of the driveway. 3rd sees me from 1mph up to 85mph and 5th drops the revs for the long drives. If I need to overtake quickly at motorway speeds (70mph limit), 3rd will do the job better than 4th.

I tend to go from 1st to 3rd in my Bora, but in the 306 it stretches the gears a bit too much if I skip one.

 

[Freddie]

It loads the gears with fair bit of force and isn't as secure for keeping the car in place. It's just a better idea to use the e-brake.

Actually, it only loads the output shaft. "Park" does nothing more than locking the output shaft to a solid "cog", which is independent of the rest of the gearbox. It usually copes with up to the car's maximum tow-capacity. That's in general, though - there are oddball AT's out there that work differently.

Use the handbrake for that extra bit of safety for your investment that you probably still have to pay off if you lose it.

I myself drive an M/T - I follow the manual's advice. First gear on flat and uphill, reverse downhill - wheels always against the curb. Parking brake left on if I had one - it's getting replaced next month.

 

[SndyDrver]

One more point about the hand-brake.

If you even go to a track day (in your own car or a race schools car) never come back into the pit or paddock and apply the handbrake, leave the car in gear instead.

The very high temps that your brakes experience on track do not dissipate as soon as yo stop, so slapping the hand-brake on car fuse the pads to the disc/rotor.

I've seen it happen a few times and it can be both expensive and very embarrassing

LOL

SCaff

LOL if i had that type of stress on my brakes in daily driving i wouldnt have a car for more than a week. I meant daily driving, but on track days (autocross) there is always a flat space available to back into without any fear of rolling. [sidecomment/ flashback: one of these days I am gonna beat my friend's 1.8L TDI time,with my 2.0L ]

 

[Jay]

I've intentionally kept out of this thread until now as I know how popular manual discussion gets, for some reason. Few people have already said what I would have anyway.

It loads the gears with fair bit of force and isn't as secure for keeping the car in place.

As Freddie says its not actually the gears that get locked up at all, its just a spring loaded pin that gets pushed into some notches on the output housing and if for some reason it broke from over use (never seen that happen) it wouldn't have damaged any of the clutch/gearing/hydraulic systems in the auto trans.

but still like you said earlier it is also one thing that annoys the hell out of me seeing peopl erock up in their autos hitting park and letting the car rock back and forth on the park pin.