Am I hurting my clutch when I downshift without revving up?

[Red]

Originally Posted by rick390

Speaking of clutches. Just had a new one installed so I thought that would be the end of the shuddering starts. Not so. Unless I am on level ground and very slowly ease the clutch out I still get a bit of the shudders.... WTH.

It definitely shifts from gear to gear better. Does it need adjusting or do I have something loose in the front end causing this?

Yep could be a feet miss sync or any of your motor mounts on its way out?

[Gregte]

Originally Posted by rick390

Speaking of clutches. Just had a new one installed so I thought that would be the end of the shuddering starts. Not so. Unless I am on level ground and very slowly ease the clutch out I still get a bit of the shudders.... WTH.

It definitely shifts from gear to gear better. Does it need adjusting or do I have something loose in the front end causing this?

It may be that it was installed poorly. This happened to me once. The clutch on my 2-ton truck was always very smooth. It finally wore out so I had a new one installed. It shuddered terribly up until the day that I had a new motor installed. Afterwards the clutch was again smooth. Apparent misalignment the first time when it was installed.

[instarx]

Originally Posted by MazdaMatt

Please take no offense - how long have you been driving standard, and what car are you driving?

When I was new to my Protege5 I was always complaining about how it shuttered on starts. I thought it was the car (naive or what!), but now its quite smooth. I have heard a lot of other protege owners (young people) complain about it too.

I'm reminded of the classic VW Bug 4-speed advertisement: "After a while, it becomes Automatic"

[rick390]

I mentioned my problem with my clutch shuddering on takeoffs to a couple of coffee buddies. Two of them said that in the past they had new clutches that "shuddered" and they "burned" them in. They revved the engine and slowly slipped the clutch causing the tires to spin. They both said their clutches were fine after this. Weird huh?

[MazdaMatt]

Maybe it is similar to proper brake bedding procedure? Sounds weird to me...

[bbjsw10]

Was the flywheel turned it could be "hot spots" on it. They are blue spots that actually got heated and harden more than surrounding metal.

[rick390]

The flywheel was turned, it had a lot of hot spots. I picked up another flywheel at a wrecking yard today and am having it turned and measured to make sure it isn't too thin. Getting it installed next week. Hope it takes care of the problem.

[riddleyo]

downshifting without rev matching wears down on your synchronizers in your tranmission. They are brass rings and conical friction surfaces that help match the input and output shaft speeds before the dog gears engage.

It takes more gas to rev match but less wear on your synchronizers.