# Help with stick shift **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [May 5, 2015, 10:46am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-with-stick-shift/89880 "2015-05-05T10:46:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Spee](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Spee)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 10:46am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-with-stick-shift/89880/1 "2015-05-05T10:46:25Z")
I’m new at driving a stick. I know I am not supposed to “ride the clutch”, but when I’m in first or reverse and I want the car to move very slowly I can only do it by depressing the clutch about half way through. If I don’t use the clutch the car moves too fast and if I use the brake the engine stalls. Am I doing this wrong? Any recommendations? Thanks in advance for any help. ---
**Author:** ![UncleTurbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9a140/32.png) [@UncleTurbo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/UncleTurbo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 3:21pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-with-stick-shift/89880/2 "2015-05-05T15:21:48Z")
There are some situations where you have to “slip” the clutch, and low speed maneuvering is one of them. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-with-stick-shift/89880/3 "2015-05-05T16:39:15Z")
Time for some practice in an empty parking lot. Get going in first, then get a feel for how slow you can go without having to slip the clutch. The same for reverse. ---
**Author:** ![lion9car](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/59ef9b/32.png) [@lion9car](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lion9car)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-with-stick-shift/89880/4 "2015-05-05T17:16:18Z")
What situation are you in when you find that you’re doing this? How often does this happen? It might be better to let the clutch in and out, getting bursts of speed and then coasting for a bit to slow back down. ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-with-stick-shift/89880/5 "2015-05-05T17:22:35Z")
I taught my sister to drive a manual by having her practice in a large parking lot. I had her get the car moving just by letting the clutch out ( no accelerator ) it took several tries. Then she would change to second the same way. In just a couple of hours she could drive around the lot and apply gas as needed. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-with-stick-shift/89880/6 "2015-05-05T17:39:11Z")
+1 to Uncle T’s post. ---
**Author:** ![circuitsmith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/circuitsmith/32/40376_2.png) [@circuitsmith](https://community.cartalk.com/u/circuitsmith)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-with-stick-shift/89880/7 "2015-05-05T17:56:24Z")
It’s tolerable to do a bit of clutch slipping, but only with the engine idling; keeping off the gas pedal. I do this on a regular basis when parallel parking. ---
**Author:** ![Spee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Spee](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Spee)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-with-stick-shift/89880/8 "2015-05-05T19:39:43Z")
> What situation are you in when you find that you're doing this? How often does this happen? It might be better to let the clutch in and out, getting bursts of speed and then coasting for a bit to slow back down. I only do it with the engine idling. For example I do it when I try to fit in a tight parking spot or when driving over certain speed bumps, or even in heavy traffic. Both my first and reverse feel too fast when idling. Thanks for all the replies ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 5:53am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-with-stick-shift/89880/9 "2015-05-06T05:53:22Z")
As said above, it is necessary to ride the clutch sometimes during low speed maneuvers. I have to ride the clutch a little every day w/my Corolla when pulling into my parking space at work. It’s a tight squeeze and slightly uphill. And I usually have to parallel park at least once a day, so there’s clutch riding for that too. To date there’s 200K on the clutch and no clutch problems. What you should try to avoid is having the clutch only partially engaged when the engine is rev’ing significantly more than idle rpm. Still, if I drive to San Francisco, I even have to do this sometimes when departing stop-lights on a steep hill. With clutches, they make the car a lot more fun to drive, so don’t worry about it too much. You just do the best you can I guess. It sounds like you are on the right track. ---
**Author:** ![Manolito](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/manolito/32/3070_2.png) [@Manolito](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Manolito)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 9:00am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/help-with-stick-shift/89880/10 "2015-05-11T09:00:02Z")
Sounds like you are doing fine. Some slipping of the clutch in low speed situations is unavoidable, and you are aware that this should be avoided if possible, hence your question. My technique for teaching clutch fineness was to have my kids pull up to a 2x4 and stop with the front tires touching it. Then I would tell them to drive over the 2x4 and stop on the other side with the back of the tires still touching the 2x4. They swore that this could only be done by someone with three feet, but when they mastered it, I did not have to worry about whether they could control the car on hills and in tight situations. My lessons put a lot of wear on the clutch. P.S. It was not quite as hard as it sounds. My kids drove Volvo 240s in high school. That car used a tractor engine and had a fairly low speed first gear. Great learner car.