T's and P's to my dumbass self picking up a 6MT Friday with no 6MT experience

[gatorfast]

Originally Posted by brocurls

Very helpful advice..

Can you be this thorough about pulling into a garage spot? I'm worried to death that I'll end up putting my front end into the wall of my garage, so I essentially ride the clutch and brake enough to kinda coast.

But then I realize I stopped too close to the line where the garage door would come down so I have to slightly let the clutch out while depressing the brake to inch forward more. Happens every single time. I'm about to just strap pool noodles to the wall for the eventual situation.

By the time I step out of the car, it smells like burnt clutch.

You can use the same method you quoted to inch forward in your garage. If you need to move up a little bit, just gently let the clutch out until you creep forward and then hold the clutch there. Once you have moved far enough, clutch back in and brake and then park the car.

[02M3ForMe]

Originally Posted by brocurls

Very helpful advice..

Can you be this thorough about pulling into a garage spot? I'm worried to death that I'll end up putting my front end into the wall of my garage, so I essentially ride the clutch and brake enough to kinda coast.

But then I realize I stopped too close to the line where the garage door would come down so I have to slightly let the clutch out while depressing the brake to inch forward more. Happens every single time. I'm about to just strap pool noodles to the wall for the eventual situation.

By the time I step out of the car, it smells like burnt clutch.

Right, low speed stuff can be tricky.

What gator said - use the technique I described in the exercise above to apply just enough clutch engagement to move the car as desired. Assuming your garage is on relatively level ground, your M4 needs zero gas for anything between 0 and 3mph.

If your garage is level, practice getting the car in the garage with these rules:

1) clutch only, no gas OR brake
2) without going over 1 mph

Give yourself a solid 5 minutes to do this the first few times.

The key is to be extremely patient with yourself and very, VERY slowly lift the clutch pedal until there's just a small bit of movement. Do not lift any further. Push the pedal back down as soon as you're moving/when you're about to go faster than 1 mph, then lift it back to the same place (again, slowly) if you need more momentum. Rinse and repeat. Once you're in far enough, brake and shut things down.

If you do this carefully and patiently enough, you'll never build up enough speed to feel uncomfortable and you will have inched the car into the garage with zero clutch smell.

Trust yourself to get better and faster at this over time. Eventually, you'll be lifting the pedal higher to gain more speed (2mph! ). Your big learning will be that the clutch engagement "point" is not completely binary.

[Eddien123]

I've been driving stick a while and my F30 wasn't my first time with a stick. But I will say bmw manuals are very easy to get the hang of you'll be fine.

[FrenchiedadSF]

Originally Posted by brocurls

Update

Just got back to the hotel. Stalled x2 when I first got into the car driving it drive it off. After that, got the hang of upshifting and downshifting, but getting moving from 1st was a pain in the ass.

Had to get the feel for it and like many said, doesn't take much at all to get the grab point. Also got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on way to hotel, scared for my damn life. Stressing and sweating bullets but no stalls, only some jerking of the car.

Any tips for trying to creep forward when in traffic? What I'm doing is essentially getting to the grab point where it'll collect speed up to say 5, and then clutch+brake hold till next movement?

Haven't come to a uphill yet. Scared to death about that situation.

hills no problem, car has anti roll feature haha. creep forward just takes practice. go get stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for a few days, its forced learning

[brocurls]

Alright, so I pretty much have the stick shift figured out and confident in majority of situations, be it stop and go traffic or reversing, and now creeping into my garage.

My final dilemma is these damn hill starts/bumper to bumper traffic on an incline. Last night I spent about 20mins trying to figure this thing out in an industrial area. I managed to stall more times than I could remember and even did my first burnout accidentally. I felt utterly defeated as I had to drive off because I felt like I took some years off the engine parts.

I notice that as soon as I ease up on the clutch the revs dip (to around 750rpm-ish)..is my cue to start gassing it as soon as I depress the brake and before I start easing off the clutch? Or time the throttle input (trying to keep revs at 1k) before I anticipate the rev dip?

[gatorfast]

Originally Posted by brocurls

Alright, so I pretty much have the stick shift figured out and confident in majority of situations, be it stop and go traffic or reversing, and now creeping into my garage.

My final dilemma is these damn hill starts/bumper to bumper traffic on an incline. Last night I spent about 20mins trying to figure this thing out in an industrial area. I managed to stall more times than I could remember and even did my first burnout accidentally. I felt utterly defeated as I had to drive off because I felt like I took some years off the engine parts.

I notice that as soon as I ease up on the clutch the revs dip (to around 750rpm-ish)..is my cue to start gassing it as soon as I depress the brake and before I start easing off the clutch? Or time the throttle input (trying to keep revs at 1k) before I anticipate the rev dip?

For very steep inclines you should probably use the hand brake. In that case, you would set the hand brake so it is able to support the vehicle, then clutch out to the engagement point and start to give it a little gas while releasing the hand brake. This way the hand brake keeps you from rolling backwards while you are able to slip the clutch and little and get some forward momentum.

If it's not a steep incline then it's just a matter of being able to clutch out to the engagement point before the car starts to roll backwards (using the hill assist feature which will hold the car for about 2 seconds).

[02M3ForMe]

Originally Posted by brocurls

Alright, so I pretty much have the stick shift figured out and confident in majority of situations, be it stop and go traffic or reversing, and now creeping into my garage.

My final dilemma is these damn hill starts/bumper to bumper traffic on an incline. Last night I spent about 20mins trying to figure this thing out in an industrial area. I managed to stall more times than I could remember and even did my first burnout accidentally. I felt utterly defeated as I had to drive off because I felt like I took some years off the engine parts.

I notice that as soon as I ease up on the clutch the revs dip (to around 750rpm-ish)..is my cue to start gassing it as soon as I depress the brake and before I start easing off the clutch? Or time the throttle input (trying to keep revs at 1k) before I anticipate the rev dip?

Good to hear that you’re making progress.

As mentioned, your M4 has Hill Assist and will prevent you from rolling back on steep-enough inclines for about 2-3 seconds even if you’ve completely come off the brakes. Regardless, hill starts are about doing faster everything you do in other starts.

The steeper the hill, the faster you have to do everything. So, before finding an incline, step 1 is to get fast at regular level-ground starts. You will never be comfortable on a hill until you can consistently get the car moving quickly in normal situations.

To practice this, use the first clutch-only exercise above, but actually aim for getting fully into 1st as fast as possible. Remember to lift and hold in place until you’re going fast enough to let out the pedal completely. You’ll find that you’ll be lifting and holding the clutch higher to get the car up to proper speed more aggressively. Hold time will be shorter. The goal is to become well acquainted with the engagement point.

At some point, it’ll be impossible to get going any quicker without stalling the engine or having a very “rough” start. This is when you’ll need the gas.

To avoid unnecessary clutch wear (and smell), you want to dial in as little gas as possible. Before practicing the starts, put your car in neutral and practice spinning up the engine to 1500RPM, holding for 1 second, and letting it drop back. Repeat that until you get used to how far you have to push the pedal to get to 1500 (very little).

Go back to ramping up the speed of your starts on level ground, but this time, apply the gas to the “1500RPM” point and hold at the same time that you let out the clutch and hold. Again, be extremely patient with yourself - it is easy to give too much gas when rushed and you think you’re taking off too slowly. Just get both pedals to the right places and hold at the right places until the car is moving. Let the clutch out when you’re going fast enough (you can keep your foot on the gas if you want).

Practice this and aim to get faster at the whole thing. Once you can consistently and smoothly get the car moving and in gear on level ground fast, then find a really gentle incline and try your first hill starts. Find a steeper place to practice as you get used to your current spot and keep in mind that you’ll need to be faster still. Repeat. ��

[ellipsis212]

Quickly, literally everyone provide instructions at the same time. Fml

It's not that hard dude. Soon you'll be teaching people on forums all of your tricks

[paliknight]

Originally Posted by brocurls

Definitely got much better at it. Mostly nerves but over the hump there.

Biggest concern now is trying to do this damn pedal dance while on a hill. I'm either flooring it or not giving enough and the car jerks till it stalls. Pain in the ass, I'll be practicing more Monday night.

When on a hill, keep releasing the clutch slowly until you see the revs increase, then hold it there. Once light changes, give it a bit of gas and start releasing the clutch more. Easiest way to avoid rolling or flooring it.

[Bimmed Out]

OP, can you let me know the VIN? I want to avoid this car when it comes off lease.

[espressoo]

Originally Posted by kepler

OP, can you let me know the VIN? I want to avoid this car when it comes off lease.

Funny but so true!

[brocurls]

Originally Posted by kepler

OP, can you let me know the VIN? I want to avoid this car when it comes off lease.

lol damn, right in the feels man

[SlickShift]

I learned to drive a stick off the lot in a 325Ci back when those things were new. Good times. Good times. Like others have said, learning in a Honda is great practice. Luckily my girlfriend at the time had a 5-speed Accord. After 12 years of driving a stick I finally got an automatic. A tear was shed.

[bagekko]

LOLOLOLOL, it will have a new clutch by then and OP will have mastered it, hopefully the new clutch is covered under warranty.

Originally Posted by kepler

OP, can you let me know the VIN? I want to avoid this car when it comes off lease.

[2011zx10R]

Originally Posted by bagekko

LOLOLOLOL, it will have a new clutch by then and OP will have mastered it, hopefully the new clutch is covered under warranty.

Originally Posted by bagekko

LOLOLOLOL, it will have a new clutch by then and OP will have mastered it, hopefully the new clutch is covered under warranty.

😂

[Bootiful_M3]

The clutch on mine is one of the easiest ones I've tried. Basically let your foot off the clutch and your car will roll, almost no need to use the throttle.

[brocurls]

Man, it feels like a lifetime ago how nervous I was about 6MT.

Now, the only issue is having my lazy ass put on socks+shoes, when I mainly like wearing sandals or my crocs.

[Fugly M3]

Originally Posted by brocurls

Man, it feels like a lifetime ago how nervous I was about 6MT.

Now, the only issue is having my lazy ass put on socks+shoes, when I mainly like wearing sandals or my crocs.

Sandals and a stick are totally doable!

[PhatLyfe]

Originally Posted by brocurls

Man, it feels like a lifetime ago how nervous I was about 6MT.

Now, the only issue is having my lazy ass put on socks+shoes, when I mainly like wearing sandals or my crocs.

Bro it great to hear your getting used to the 6mt. Not many brave souls left to go in raw without any my experience. Touche on your crocs comment

[dryst]

Similar to OP I also picked up both my first BMW and 6MT around the same time...and really glad I took the chance instead of going with the DCT. That being said does anyone have tips driving in slow speeds?

In some situations I'll be crawling around 8mph preparing to stop & clutch in and all sudden need to quickly accelerate. Is it better to drop down to 1st or keep in 2nd (feels like it lugs/not sure if I need to slip the clutch a bit). I'm a bit clunky with both options right now... esp when shifting into 1st where it feels like the engagement point feels like its a lot closer to the floor than normal?

[brocurls]

Originally Posted by dryst

Similar to OP I also picked up both my first BMW and 6MT around the same time...and really glad I took the chance instead of going with the DCT. That being said does anyone have tips driving in slow speeds?

In some situations I'll be crawling around 8mph preparing to stop & clutch in and all sudden need to quickly accelerate. Is it better to drop down to 1st or keep in 2nd (feels like it lugs/not sure if I need to slip the clutch a bit). I'm a bit clunky with both options right now... esp when shifting into 1st where it feels like the engagement point feels like its a lot closer to the floor than normal?

Congrats man! Yeah, once you get pass the jitters it's not some insurmountable task as it may seem before.

If I'm going that slow, I'll just stick in 1st gear and have my left foot ready to clutch in. You can roll in 2nd gear that low but you might start bogging the engine and be forced to shift down anyways. If you need to hard accelerate from a very slow speed, probably best to shift down and gas it as lugging your engine isn't ideal.

If I'm wrong, somebody please step me and correct and enlighten us.

[sicck_m4]

Rev it up moderately and ease off the clutch. If it starts to buck on you, punch the clutch back in and restart. Eventually you will find the sweet spot. Down shift on corners. Try to not stay on the clutch to long once you get the hang of the manual transmission.