car talk says double clutching is bad?

[Wh33lhop]

revmatching eliminates the lurch but puts wear on the synchros. there is something extremely satisfying about doubleclutching and effortlessly slipping into a lower gear with no resistance.

i don't think ill ever stop doubleclutching since it is just naturally what i do now, but i wanted to hear what others thought about the idea. the car talk guys specifically said it wears out the clutch faster, which doesn't make sense to me.

I do it too, effortless downshifts are very satisfying. I've found, though, that it's easier to rev match smoother lurch-wise than it is to double-clutch, just because the object of a double clutch is to match the revs in neutral (then perform the second clutch, clutch in, complete the shift, clutch out--more time for revs to drop) whereas in rev-matching you tend to have the revs matched right as you're releasing the clutch.

It's also nice to be able to double-clutch into first, just to be a jackass coming to stoplights :p

[nando]

Well there's no harm in doing it, but as far as saving the synchros, I'm not sure it's needed unless they are already bad. I have 260k on my getrag 260 and all the synchros are fine, I know there are lots of others who could say the same.

I think knowing both methods would be beneficial. If you ever do any HPDEs, you'll want to know how to rev match. Just last week I was watching a video of an E30 with a seriously built engine, but the driver was just letting out the clutch to downshift and nearly spinning out on ever corner entry.. yikes!

[daniel]

i never really understood the point in double clutching....and doesn't rev-matching eliminate that lurch when downshifting?

revmatching eliminates the lurch but puts wear on the synchros. there is something extremely satisfying about doubleclutching and effortlessly slipping into a lower gear with no resistance.

i don't think ill ever stop doubleclutching since it is just naturally what i do now, but i wanted to hear what others thought about the idea. the car talk guys specifically said it wears out the clutch faster, which doesn't make sense to me.

[TDE30]

learn how to rev match

This.

[BenM]

What?

Double clutching doesn't have anything to do with prematurely wearing the clutch. It is a technique used when driving older cars that do not have synchros (say a 1948 Ford F5). Double clutching on a newer car with perfectly good synchros is silly.

edit- nando beat me to it. :P

[Hick]

helps with worn out syncros

[nando]

learn how to rev match, you don't drive a 1960s pickup with no synchros in the transmission.

[meidlin]

Double Clutch:

Masturbating with one hand while intentionally cutting off oxygen to the brain with the other hand for the purpose of sexual gratification. See also Auto Erotic Asphyxiation.

... Wait, What?

[gtdragon980]

i never really understood the point in double clutching....and doesn't rev-matching eliminate that lurch when downshifting?

[daniel]

i've been double clutching for a few years now... then i hear that it is actually bad for the car to do so from the car talk guys. here i thought i was saving the clutch from unnecessary wear. i figured downshifting (say from 3rd to 2nd) then letting the clutch out to get that lurch feeling was just extra, unneeded wear on the clutch.

discuss.