Ute Clutch+ Parking

[2005vzute]

g'day all,
just a quick one, being a learner driver and not bothering to attempt parking untill now in my manual ute, how long could you slip the clutch before it's too much and starts doing damage...i know your not meant to slip a clutch, but my car will probably go about 5-6 km/h before it will start to stall

so when i do a parallel park and take things nice and slow, i find my clutch won't be fuly angaged or disengaged...so in order to get the speed right i have to slip the clutch a little, how long is too long before it starts to do some damage?

does anyone have any tips or advice on how to parallel park a ute..i couldn't get it when i tried, and even the instructor was abit hopeless with it next to me...i had a go in an impreza wagon and i got it pretty well, the girl who owned the car said it's the longer wheel base that could be creating the issue. i have no doubts that i have to do someting different due to wheel base and car size, but seeing as though we all own and drive a commodore here i figure someone should be able to help me park me ute.

if you's could go into fairly deep detail (where to start, when to turn the wheel, when to turn it back, how far from the gutter etc)..i've googled it, youtubed it, but there's alot of small cars like VW golfs n such, nothing like the size of a commodore

any info would be greatly appreciated
cheers everyone

[Trevhead62]

You won't do any damage just by parking the car. If you slipped it like that all day then yeah, you'd probably cause excess heat which can damage the clutch components. As far as parking the beast goes, before you start to reverse into the spot, make sure you have a real good look around, get a good handle on distances (from the gutter, other cars etc) from your perspective in the drivers seat. And practice, practice practice. Your confidence will come.

[danja]

A bit of slip while you're parking is just the cost of doing business and nothing to worry about, just try and keep the revs down as low as you can (without stalling it obviously). The main reason slipping the clutch is bad is that all the friction from the clutch rubbing against the flywheel generates a lot of heat and starts to burn the clutch and warp the flywheel. The faster you rev the car while slipping the clutch, the more heat you generate, so minimising revs is the key.

As for how to park a ute, no idea, but I imagine the principles are the same as a car, find the turn-in point (in my hatchback its when the rear quarter-window is aligned with the rear of the adjacent car for example, obviously a ute doesn't have that window, so you might find its when your side mirror is next to a B-pillar or something like that - just keep practicing and you'll find the magic spot for any car) turn full-lock to about 45 degrees, reverse in (again, practice makes perfect to get the distance right), reverse lock and straighten up.

Really the trick is just to make an attempt, and make a mental note of where your car was positioned at each point of the manoeuvre, and remember what worked and what didn't. With practice you'll get the hang of it

[2005vzute]

yea i realise about the clutch, just wasn't so sure if it was gunna wear the clutch out too quickly...does the friction compound wear out due to heat or friction? does it wear out because of the flywheel rubbing against it causing friction and wear, or is it because of heat and wears it out like that?

i've attempted a few times to do it...i found one problem though...i gotta get pretty close to the gutter, everytime i go in and i think i've hit my rear wheels, it's actually just my front wheel koz it's turned full lock ahaha...back to square one for me:P

thanks guys

[Trevhead62]

Clutches wear out eventually. The friction plate (clutch plate) has material similar to your brake pads and are designed to handle the friction between the pressure plate and flywheel surfaces. As 'Danja' suggested, the faster the flywheel spins (engine revs) the more slip and friction. This normal friction generates heat which eventually wears out the plate. If it gets too hot the heat can cause surface cracks on the flywheel and/or pressure plate surfaces. They can even warp. The clutch plate springs can also be affected. What we're saying is try to minimize the revs and don't be worried about it wearing out. It's inevitable... like death and taxes. By driving carefully, I've heard of clutches lasting 1/2 million KMs!
Read more about 'friction' here > Friction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[vn_v6]

mate you think holden didnt think of parking when they made clutches? are you just gona dump it every time instead of slip? loool

[VzVzVz]

I just back up untill I hear my towbar go through the radiator on the car behind me, lol. I learned to park in a ute. Our old rodeo had the turning circle of a small planet and still made it into the parallel parks on the side of the road. A commodore ute, though will be much easier to park than most utes out there, despite being a bit of a donkey's dick.

[vn_v6]

"small planet" LOL

[2005vzute]

hahahaha good point vn_v6..i wihs i had a towbar, it's sometimes a bitch tryin to see over the tray though..ahh well, practice makes perfect i suppose

thanks everyone