How about resting your right hand on the dandy arm rest/storage bin on the right in the event that you need to change gears rapidly which we all know can occur. As far as th eseat close to the wheel I think not. Once I was driving my x-girlfriends civic (bout 8 years ago) and I squuezed into her setup and simply only adjusted the wheel and mirrors. You guys know how girls get about their car seat if it's not electrical kinda liek the toilet seat thing. Any how I was rear ended by a truck and I barely taped the car ahead of me at a light. Guess what? The air bag hitting you at warp speed velocity is no fun when you are clsoe to the wheel. It feels like someone slammed a 2x4 acroos your chest. Keep it close but not too close.

 

No matter what there is always going to be some wear. These are mechanical parts and this is the way of the world. The trick is to treat the parts with respect and they will last a very long time. We are all just talking about what respect means in terms of the clutch and the synchros/gears.

I typically position my seat so that I can push the clutch pedal all the way to the floor without have to tippy toe it. I like to be able to flat-foot the pedal to the floor. My understanding is that to fully engage like that is better for the car overall.

I also know people that "speed" shift and this works okay but it rough on the syncros. I "granny" shift. When wanting to show off I MAY double clutch but it does not really buy anything these days.

 

I think you meant to say disengage. The clutch is disengaged when the pedal is pressed to the floor and engaged when your foot is off the pedal.

And yes the whole wear issue is a matter of degrees.

Should you keep your foot on the clutch and down to the floor with the shift in first the entire time the traffic light is red? Not everytime since that will put excess wear on the throwout bearing and potentially wear on the clutch plate too if the adjustment is not right on.

Should you keep the clutch to the floor and the shift in first when you are waiting for a break in traffic to make a quick left turn? Sure, the driving situation dictates it.

 

very interesting thread for a 17year guy like me who is obviously new at driving...let me tell you what i do and if you want you can bash the way i drive...at lights i just keep it in neutral so i don't need to have my foot on the clutch. my foot is off the clutch unless i need to shift, or if i know i'm cruising in neutral and know that i will shortly engage in a gear, then my foot is on the cluth, but against the floor. the only shitty thing that i know i've done to my clutch is not shift fast enough with my hands while removing my foot off the cluth too fast and getting a horrrrrible grinding sound(it has only happened in my car which isn't the rx8). that has only happened a few times, and yes, you may be thinking that i suck at driving, but its my first car and i think i'm allowed a few mistakes. anyways driving stick is the only way to go, anytime i drive any of friend's cars that aren't stick i get really frustrated, searching for the clutch when i want to shift...
~rx8fosho

 

Dude... I have been driving for a lot of years now and I grind the gears in my truck for the very same reason you did in your other car all the time. It happens. So far I have not done it in the 8 and I think it is because the throw is very short. The truck has a VERY long throw.

 

The truth about the matter is that if your downshifting to do that, it puts stress on the rear side of the gear plates, when the were built mostly for acceleration, so you have the chance of wearing down your tranny a lot faster.

 

Drive however you want. These are all mechanical parts and can be replaced. Just driving the car is bad for it. Drive the car in the manner that makes you enjoy it the most.

 

I've found that down shifting and using the motor to slow down doesn't do nearly as much in the RX-8 as a normal piston car. The rotary motor spins too freely for the engine breaking to slow it down much. It really only works in first to third gear, after that you may as well have it in neutral.