One of the most important things that you should be doing when you are driving a vehicle with a manual transmission is to try and keep your clutch in the best possible shape, mostly because replacing or repairing a clutch can be a substantial expense. Listed below are three tips you can follow that can help you keep your clutch in good shape.

Don't Speed Away From A Complete Stop

A very common mistake that you can make is to speed away from a complete stop, whether that stop is at a traffic light or a stop sign. While you may think that speeding away from a complete stop is just a bit of harmless fun with no real consequences, what you are actually doing is putting a lot of strain on your clutch and transmission. The reason for this is that as you try to take off from a complete stop quickly, you're going to be revving the engine so high that you are going to be shifting gears quite quickly, and the more often that you shift gears in a short span of time, the more strain and wear that you are putting on your clutch unnecessarily.

Keep Your Foot Away From The Clutch

Another way to keep your clutch in good shape is to simply avoid keeping your foot on the clutch unless you are actively shifting gears. Now, a lot of people do like to rest their foot on the clutch pedal, but this is a big problem as even putting a little bit of pressure on the clutch pedal can engage the clutch to some extent. The more often you engage the clutch, the more wear your clutch is going to be experiencing and the more likely it is that you're going to need to repair or replace the clutch prematurely.

Only Shift When Necessary

Finally, a great way to keep your clutch in good shape is to avoid shifting gears unnecessarily. The reason for this is that the less often you shift gears, the less strain your clutch is going to experience. As a result, it is completely okay to skip the gear if you can while driving in order to lessen the strain on your clutch.

Contact an auto repair shop today in order to discuss what you can do to help keep your clutch in good shape. When trying to maintain your clutch, make sure that you don't speed away from a complete stop, keep your foot away from the clutch unless actively shifting gears, and only shift when necessary in order to keep the clutch in the best possible shape.