Stopping at junctions / lights

MatsyLR

MatsyLR

MatsyLR

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Joined
10 Jan 2012
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UK
How do you guys stop at junctions etc?
Do you hold the clutch down and stay in 1st and just come to a stop with brakes and then just take off with a little big of throttle?
The way I was taught is to actually take it all the way to neutral and then up to first and throttle of quickly?
Been reading that actually damages the mechanisms though and you should fail on a test for doing it? I never did...
 
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Handbrake and neutral if I'm sitting still for more than about 5 seconds. Holding it in 1st puts unnecessary wear and tear on the clutch components.
 
Not sure about what is required by the test, but in a manual car i would always sit on the clutch & brake and leave it in 1st or 2nd ready to go.
 
The amount of wear it's going to create is going to be completely insignificant compared to the rest of the wear it receives anyway. The test would say you should put it in neutral and put the handbrake on, but I would think that's for safety reasons in case someone shunts you from behind and consequently launches you out of the junction in front of traffic.
 
Jez said:
Not sure about what is required by the test, but in a manual car i would always sit on the clutch & brake and leave it in 1st or 2nd ready to go.
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The thing to bare in mind on test is that the examiner is always looking for dangers real or possible. Whether it's a good practice to put the car in neural and apply the parking brake will differ depending on the the situation.

If you can see that there will be a wait for more than a few seconds, perhaps for the signal, traffic, pedestrians, whatever. Then having the car in neutral is safer and easier on the car. (less wear on the thrust bearing) For one you won't be showing your brake lights to the chap behind and possibly dazzling him on a dark wet night. Likewise if someone should happen to shunt into the back of you car already has the brake applied. If you where in gear foot on the clutch. you could be in a situation where your foot is jolted off the clutch and the car is being powered into a busy junction. So possible dangers.

If you know it's gong to be a momentary stop, for example you're only just stopped and have already seen a gap it makes sense to be in gear and ready to go. Remeber hesitation is also a fault on test.
 
If it's on a flat surface, just clutch in, maybe neutral if it's a long stop. On a gradient and short stop, on the clutch and biting point. If a long stop, neutral and parking brake. I'd consider "long" to be a stop where I have seen the lights turn from green to red.
 
I shift down the gears to second, engine braking down the box, then clutch in at lower speed, brake to a stop and my car has auto hold. I neutral for longer stops, then my engine stops too, a little break from the rattle is nice.
 
Handbrake and neutral if going to be stopped for a while, saves legs getting tired holding the brake and clutch in plus risking foot slipping off as mentioned above.

Think from a test point of view, when stopped you've got to have brakes on - either footbrake and in gear, or handbrake and neutral. Otherwise possibly considered to not be in full control of the vehicle.

Course with some autos now and electronic parking brakes the car decides for itself to apply the 'handbrake' when you're stopped.
 
In the 5 I just pull up at the junction and take my feet off everything. But then that has an auto box with auto handbrake, so it's all good.

For manual motors, it really is dictated by the conditions. If it's more than a few seconds, in neutral, possibly with handbrake, or just normal brake. If it's a quick stop, the clutch in and 1st / 2nd engaged.
 
If stopping for more than 5-10 sec then just drop into neutral and put hand brake on if needed. Don't see the point in sitting there with the clutch in and holding the foot brake on, especially annoying at night when the driver in front does this for 2-3 mins :(
 
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