Manual Transmission Clutch vs. Brake wear

Hello,

New to TW; joined today(!)

Apologies if this has a simple or obvious answer...

As I understand it, clutch wear is all about engagement—the fewer times you push the pedal in and out the less overall wear and tear you are putting on a clutch. So a truck in, say NYC, is going to wear its clutch faster stopping at red lights and cycling through the gears than the same truck driving mostly highway miles in 5th or 6th gear.

So my question is if you are the guy in NYC, does it make more sense not to downshift as much, (using the engine to compression brake) and instead rely on your brakes more to stop the truck?

The reasoning being that brakes are a lot cheaper and easier to replace than a clutch in terms of wear. So should one rely on the clutch mostly for upshifting and skip the downshifts in favor of just the brakes to stop the vehicle? So as to prolong the life of the clutch?

Perhaps it’s splitting hairs, not sure, just curious.

 

I think it’s splitting hairs. The clutch will wear from how well you balance the friction zone during shifts, not so much the total number of shifts....meaning you could burn it out in 15min or you could get 150k+ miles out of good driving. I think if you’re a good MT driver, the clutch and brakes will last well over 100k each and the cost differences will be negligible. Mine have.

Personally I engine brake a lot even while regular pedal braking. I love that feeling of connectedness and control that downshifting and higher RPMs bring.

 

Depends if you rev match when downshifting, the clutch will wear faster with a greater difference between the transmission speed and flywheel speed. Minimizing that differential speed difference will maximize clutch life. I use a combination of both, but engine braking only gets you so far. My accord got 120k miles out of the stock brakes by using engine braking and not driving like a complete turd.

 

I like to dow shift atleast 1 gear from where I'm at when slowing down. Usually won't shift down all the way to the stop though.

 

My truck is over 100k with original brakes and clutch still

 

same, I like to keep the vehicle somewhat in the power band if I have to punch it for some reason. Nothing worse than trying to emergency shift and lugging the engine.

 

As much as I hate NYC going through a few times a year .

It would not effect how I dry .

Day after day in Rush Hour I would have a automatic city vehicle

 

Total agreement that a lot of this depends on the driver--you can burn a clutch fast if you're dragging it all of the time. 120K on stock brakes is amazing--I have I think 33 traffic lights on my commute and so with all of the folks who don't drive with the organic flow of the road (too fast or too slow) I burn brakes much more than I would like. But I got 208K off of a Camry clutch and 183k off a Kia clutch, so I suppose my compression braking combined with light (!) pedal braking is working, at least from a transmission perspective. But I didn't realize that there is more wear on a clutch when the rev differential between engine and transmission is greater. So therefore, not a good idea to skip a gear when downshifting, which I do once in a while (like 6th to 4th). I assume it would be the same with upshifting.

Thank you all for your responses--the older I get, the more I realize how much there is to learn.

 

And yes I think if I lived in NYC I would own an automatic! Or if I had to drive on I-95 all of the time in traffic.

 

I’m very curious about this in the newer vehicles, and particularly how things will go in my ‘21 Tacoma.

My dad was a mechanic and taught me to drive pretty young, always saying that the way he taught me would essentially completely remove my need for clutch work (after starting with a new/decent clutch) and greatly prolong my need for breaks.
(I never stay on clutch if not shifting and sit in neutral
At lights or stops.)
I have always downshifted with very little braking as a habit.
Over my years of driving that way in older cars, I never needed a clutch or brakes (after I started fresh) until my ‘18 Subaru.

But, IMO, these newer cars drive so crappy w all the computer and gas-saving designs that I’m not sure it matters as much anymore.
The old cars were just much more reactive and connected.
In the old cars, if you removed your foot from gas; you felt some kind of braking.
In my ‘18 Subaru, if I was going down a hill and took foot off gas; it would continue to gain speed with no resistance.
To me, the Tacoma isn’t as bad as the Subaru, but not great.

I admit I’m picky.
But if I feel like driving like a young girl, I want the car to react to my driving. Sometimes I’m in the mood to short shift, you know.
The engine flaring and rev hang sound like someone is just learning to drive... lol

 

On your 2017 Tacoma?
This is good news!
Hoping for same.

 

I’ve driven my truck in Manhattan a couple times. Makes you feel alive haha

 

Yup. I believe I’m at 111k. Brakes still have a lot of life left last time I checked

 

These Toyota clutches are awesome. I’m on my original in my 2005 with 215k miles with no signs of slowing down. I agree with others that a lot of it depends on the driver.

 

SSTacomamama,

Sounds like your dad gave you a lot of great exposure, experience, and advice. Yes, staying off the clutch while waiting for a red light is a big one for minimizing wear and tear. I agree too with your statement about modern cars--the reason I drive a stick is that I want to be the one driving the car. I'm not wild about all this stuff where computers take over from the driver--first thing I turned off in my new Tacoma was that lane change warning thing. So sad that M/T has become almost extinct and hard to find. I wonder if my Tacoma might be the last stick that I am able to get? Hopefully Toyota doesn't stop making them. One bonus might be that those of us who drive M/T vehicles might be less likely to have them stolen because fewer and fewer people know how to drive them!

 

Thank you.

I wonder about MT availability as well. Hoping to drive this one for many years, but I realize things can and do happen.
If it got to the point where I couldn’t find a new model stick, I think I’d be in an older MT.
It’s a must for me. And I’d be happy with less bells and whistles and more driver control, too.