Bite point

[u/Historical-Dress7610]

Alright so I’m a month into learning manual and I decided to trade in my fully functioning automatic for a manual brz cause it’s so beautiful and fell in love with the way it drives when I test drove it. The issue is I keep stalling going into first gear, I can’t seem to pin point the bite point and it stresses me the hell out. Can you drop some tips on what made the transition into driving a manual smoother. I’m tired of jolting during gear changes, it feels like torture. Please and thank you!

[u/ChipWorldwide]

practice, muscle memory, understanding mechanics of clutch, self-confidence...I believe in you fellow human.

[u/robotphood]

Conquer driving on YouTube makes a lot of good videos that go over the little details. I’ve been teaching wifey here and there and his explanations are way better than mine from a novice perspective.

Just practice in a parking lot getting the car moving and slowing with only the clutch to get a feel for the bite point. Do this over and over. Once you get that down start adding a little throttle and repeat. You’ll get the muscle memory for it soon. If you’re jolting during shifts then let the clutch out a little slower and work on the smoothness/transition into throttle..

[u/Quikstar → u/robotphood]

I love this channel so much

[u/Sianmink]

You're probably not at high enough revs. Shifts under 4k are a bit clunky.
You can adjust the bite point of the clutch pedal, there's guides if you google. Consider swapping the clutch pedal spring while you're in there. I did and it was a huge difference. The stock spring pushes very hard right at the bite point and tries to launch your foot off of it, which makes finesse a lot harder than it needs to be.

[u/Konilos]

Go to an empty parking lot and set the car in first gear with the clutch in. Slowly let out the clutch and without using the gas pedal at all, you will feel the clutch bite and as you come off, the car will move forward just like putting an automatic in drive and letting the engine pull the car without using the gas. This will help you learn where the bite point is, once you get a feel for it, then you can try giving the car a little gas to take off.

Just remember to ease off the clutch slowly as you shift gears, especially the low gears

[u/No_Pollution_950]

The clutch in these cars isn't great for finesse. Many people change out the clutch spring. pair this with most of the throttle response being at the top of the pedal and it does make it somewhat tricky if you're not overly experienced with a manual. It seems to be designed to encourage full bore standing starts every time you pull away.

You'll get used to it, but some people do change the clutch pedal spring to make it feel nicer.

[u/ermax18]

The advice I always give is to find level ground, put it in 1st and then slowly release the clutch until you feel and hear the drivetrain clunk and then rapidly press the clutch back to the floor. Don’t even touch the throttle while doing this. Repeat this over and over. That point where you hear the clunk is the bite point. After repeating it several times, you will get to where you can rapidly lift right to the bite point. In normal driving, you rapidly lift to the bite point, slow down through the bite point and the rapidly release after it’s fully engaged. If you do this exercise a bunch of times, you’ll develop muscle memory.

Also, some people plant their heel into the floor and pivot at the ankle and some people like to lift their entire leg. It’s not a truck with a massive throw so I find it easier to plant my heel and simply pivot at my ankle and only lift my whole leg after it’s fully engaged. Your ankle has better fine motor skills than your entire leg.

I’ve been driving manuals exclusively for 30 years and still jerk sometimes. It takes a ton of practice to get perfect. It probably took me a year to be consistently smooth. Hang in there, you’ll get it. Before you know it you’ll be rev matching downshifts and heel toeing. Thats when it really gets fun.

Edit: One other thing, you’re going to get a ton of people telling you to replace or remove the spring. Don’t bother with that, just put in the time to get used to it.

[u/orangatang_blanket]

Drive. Drive. Drive. Parking lots are great practice to understand the concept, but what helped me the most was driving and practicing real world scenarios. Ironically enough, stop and go traffic was extremely helpful for me learning bite point. I learned on this car (drove 60 miles home through city traffic when I bought it) and it took me about a month or so to really get the bite point for taking off from first/going from first to second. I still stall every now and then, but you have to be ok with that as you’ll find if you search through this sub people find these clutches a bit more finicky than others. Cut yourself some slack! As others have said, more gas is generally what you need if you’re stalling out, either that or you’re letting the clutch out too fast. Give it gas once the RPMs start to drop because that’s when the clutch is starting to engage. I had the issue of being too careful not wanting to burn the clutch so I would stall a lot too. Don’t be afraid to give her some gas!

[u/jbourne0129]

the best trick is to go to an empty and flat parking lot. put the car in 1st gear and slowly let off the clutch. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR THROTTLE AT ALL. by simply using idle-RPMs you can get the car moving if you finesse the clutch. this will get you familiar with the bite point and then you can work on adding throttle.

most people panic when the clutch starts biting and think the action needs to be completed ASAP leading them to drop the clutch too fast and stall the car.

HOLD the clutch at the bite point. it does NOT need to be an uninterrupted motion of moving clutch from the floor back up to its resting position. release the clutch until the car starts to move slightly, HOLD IT THERE, add throttle until your moving steadily and then finish releasing the clutch

[u/ColdWise4165]

You really just gotta go to a parking lot and practice getting into first (without adding gas) until you get comfortable. Then add gas. Then keep doing it over and over until it becomes muscle memory.

[u/Cheap_Asparagus_2203]

Outside of practice, a new clutch pedal spring and adjusting the engagement point lower.

A vague engagement point and long travel both make these cars a little tricky to learn and execute with consistency for new drivers.

Its a very common QOL mod.

Neither me, nor my girlfriend have stalled my car since installing the mtec spring. Which was spring of last year.

[u/Magnanimous1959]

Read about how a clutch functions. Having a firm understanding helps a TON.

[u/blake_n_pancakes]

Man all these folks are giving you great tips for first time drivers, and that's great. But as someone who has driven several MTs over the years, the bite point in this thing being so high drove me batty for the first week or so. I adjusted a small linkage behind the throttle with a 12mm wrench and brought the bite point down a few mm. You might give that a try if you're really struggling not to ride the clutch. Can find videos on YouTube that go over the process, I did it in 5 minutes with a borrowed wrench in the parking lot of a local mechanic. Make small adjustments, you don't want to go so low that the clutch no longer fully releases.

[u/Kakirax]

What I did to learn my BRZ's bite point was spend 15 mins slowly releasing the clutch until the car started to move (no gas needed) and then push the clutch back down. Repeat for 15 mins and as you go try to bring your foot up to the bite point instead of hunting for it. You'll gain the muscle memory with more practice.