[A4] A4 clutchless shifting

[Tony Hoffman]

For some reason, I sometimes don't get posts, like the original on e
for this. So, I'm a bit late on this one, but here goes.

I do a decent amount of clutchless shifting, in several different cars
and trucks. I've driven "big-rigs", american vehicles, and plenty of
foreign autos. I' won't claim to be an expert, but I've made plenty of
observations.

First of all, I think if you own a manual trans, it's a good idea to
at least know the theory of clutchless shifting, just in case........
Having said that, ther eis obviously a bit of technique to it, and
each and every car I've driven is a bit different. The first thing to
know is this, downshifting and upshifting are both easier when you do
them at low RPM's. IOW, pull the shifter out of first at about 1600 or
so, then put it into second.

BTW, Semi's use non-syncro transmissions, and are clutchless shifted.

Double clutching is pushing the clutck in to pull it out of gear.
Then, let the clutch out to match revs of the input shaft. Then, push
it in and put it into the next gear. It's more useful when upshifting,
especially at higher revs.

The most important thing is, when learning use as low of revs as ypu
are comfortable with. That way, you can learn the feel for the car and
go from there.

As a side note, those who say wearing out the transmission is worses
than wearing out the clutch, you are right!! Clutchless shifting if
done wrong consistently is a very bad idea. I'd much rather do a
clutch every year than a trans every five years.

Hope this clarifies it a bit.
Tony Hoffman

> > On the topic of "clutchless shifting" (also called "speed shifting"
> > and
> > "rev matching", when I was farting around with it in my youth)...  A
> > new-ish Audi isn't the machine to be learning it on.  Who actually
> > thinks
> > it's a good idea to risk damaging a transmission to save the cost of a
> > clutch?  If your friend thinks a clutch replacement is expensive, I
> > can
> > only imagine what they'd think of a transmission rebuild.
>
> > It can be done.  I tried to learn it on my '69 Datsun B-210 when I was
> > learning to drive in '87-ish.  The whole car cost less than a clutch
> > replacement for an Audi, so...
>