our clutches are sitting in an oil bath, very similar to a motorcucle clutch setup, so in theory they will never burn up unless you are riding them extremely hard, like staging or burnout situations. regular use, even if riding them at low speeds in traffic to create that automatic feeling, will not put any sort of astronomical wear on the clutches as they are constantly re-lubricating themselves as they spin into and out of the oil just ask anybody who drives a motorcycle a lot of miles how often, if ever, they have changed their clutch, unless of course, like i said, doing burnouts

 

Yes, with your foot on the brake while it's still in gear may not fry the clutch packs, but there is still *some* wear and tear through friction. In the situations C2Rally mentioned, I would put it in neutral (if I owned one, heh).

 

please elaborate and include what mechanical knowledge you have to back that up. not trying to be a jerk, but its kinda silly to just make a closed ended statement like that without any explanation.

i also failed to clarify my post because burnouts arent technically the only thing thats gonna wear out a wet-clutch. obviously launching the car thats not equipped with a proper launch mode is going to do it also. and any slippage caused from higher torque than the clutches are designed to handle during shifts or application is going to cause a problem, hence the torque protection in the tcu. i was under the impression, however, that based on the fact that most of us are using this car as a daily driver, are limited to the minor modifications currently available to us in the aftermarket, and are not pushing out mad-crazy numbers like ams, and so we are all relatively near original power/torque numbers and will not experience conditions extreme enough to put the transmission anywhere near "torque protection" mode. plus, come on, the op is asking about putting it in neutral on hills and at stop lights, i know if i had that same question, usually referencing fuel savings or "hypermiling", i wouldnt be driving a supped up ralliart.

like rotorglow said, the only real concern that you face in this situation is going to be the lack of cooling from oil-flow because there is no auxillary trans-oil pump, therefore turning the transmission and all of its delicate components into one giant heat-sink. best advice is to just leave it in gear and deal with it. conservative driving has shown me well over 30mpg average on the highway and mid-20's average with mixed highway/local driving. not that i do that very often as my right foot has a tendency to get kinda heavy when driving, but i had to try it and see what was possible.

madcows, again, please dont feel like im picking on you or trying to be difficult, just wanna hear your explanation as to why you would say that. and thanks for reading to anyone willing to put up with all of that -end

 

along with abnormally long lights or traffic for neutral+ebrake manual also states not to rest your hand on shifter... (I'm assuming so you don't go into neutral by accident)... I used to throw it in neutral a lot but I stopped after I got time to read the manual

 

I believe at a complete stop, the automatic will disengage both clutches, as if you were pressing in the clutch pedal on a stick shift. The only time when it'll let the clutch plates slip is when it needs to do so during low speed creeping.

It specifically states that if you're going uphill slowly, do not let the car creep. I believe that's to maintain the life of the clutch plates.

Also, during very long stops, it says put it in neutral or park, so the transmission doesn't have to hold the clutch plates open for so long.

 

i think i need to read the manual more often bout the shifting procedures