Recently, I was listening to Car Talk on the radio and they briefly mentioned that it's bad to rest your hand on the shifter while driving. I've never heard of this and was wondering if and why this is true. They never went into why it was bad. I admit I rest my hand on the shifter but not hard enough that I make it move at all. Now I'm worried!

 

it could cause wear on your synchros from what i know. i dont do it too much since i heard that as well. but i think unless ur pullin on it, it shouldnt do anything TOO bad i would think.

 

I listen to their podcast every week. I heard that too. There is no such thing as not hard enough. Train yourself to stop doing it now. It certainly can lead to premature wear. Besides, both hands belong on the wheel. I'm not trying to be "dad" here but seriously that's where the "paws" belong.

You can't ride the clutch just a little or rest your hand light enough on the shifter. You either do or you don't . I vote don't.

 

You might want to suspend your rear-end in the air at all times as-well. If not, it could leed to pre-mature wear of the leather surface on the seat.

Get a clue....

 

Dang, this is another bad habit I gotta give up? I always have my hand on the shifter while driving, but I never have the clutch depressed while stopped. I guess I can have that hand on the steering wheel and the other arm against the window. *sigh*

 

I had a car within the past 10 years in which the owner's manual clearly stated not to rest your had on the shifter while the engine was running.

Now for some facts. As you move the shifter from neutral toward a gear selection, the first thing that occurs in the transmission is the shifter fork for that gear starts to move its collar toward its mating hub (you do NOT shift gears in a manual transmission - you move collars with dog teeth into hubs). As it does this, there will be a point in the shifter movement where the synchronizers will engage in order to begin the process of matching shaft speeds. It doesn't take much pressure on the shifter to cause this to happen. Doing this while the clutch is engaged is NOT a good practice and will most definitely shorten the life of your synchronizers.

So my advice as far as resting your hand on the shifter is this. No harm done when you are moving and the shifter is in gear (just don't move it). When in neutral, sitting at a light or a stop sign or such, best to avoid doing this. If you have experienced the transmission "popping out of gear" problem, I would avoid doing it in that gear.

 

Read about this in a car magazine about 4 or 5 years ago. Try to avoid doing it most of the time.

 

What about this while driving?
Can it cause damage too?

 

No, that's good damage....

 

Thats a sign to go home FAST!!!

 

I have heard this before; supposedly it can cause premature wear on some sort of bushings in the transmission somewhere. I take it with a grain of salt because in the past my two highest-mileage cars have been a 1982 Accord 5-speed (157,000 miles on it when the end came) and a 1986 Legend 5-speed (178,000 miles on it when the end came), and neither of these ever had any transmission problems (other than requiring clutch replacement) notwithstanding that I often rested my hand on the shift whilst moving (and my father, who owned the Accord before me, did the same). This leads me to the conclusion that yes, there is the possibility of some damage, but it's probably a long-term sort of a thing, sort of like the debate about whether cow farts are responsible for global warming.

In urban driving and daily commuting in the DC area, it's hard NOT to keep one hand on the shift a lot of the time whether you want to do so or not. My feeling is that you drive as you need to and you can't get bent out of shape over every little possibility. I mean, shit, I knew a guy who would use his turn indicator to signal that he was moving into the left turn lane, then he'd turn it off whilst sitting in the turn lane, then turn it back on when the light turned green. Why? "So the bulb won't wear out as soon." Dumbarse.