Do you use the handbrake when sitting at a stop light?

[solder_guy]

Do you use the handbrake when sitting at a stop light or stop sign?

 

Wherever I go .. when I am stopped by a light .. I engage the handbrake and take all my feet off the pedals of my MT Celica ..

 

Of course I make sure that the cars behind me are stopped or stopping before I do this.

 

But I never see anyone else in manual transmission cars doing this .. Am I the only one?

 

At stop lights my wife keeps one foot on the clutch and one foot on the brake at all times. :ack:

 

Rob

 

[scannon]

I will sometimes use the handbrake when stopped on a hill. Makes for a smoother pull away.

 

I almost always take the car out of gear and my foot off the clutch when stopped. Both of my MT cars have aftermarket clutches which require about double the pedal pressure of a stock clutch. It gives my junkyard knee a break.

 

Skip

[slomove]

Honestly I don't know exactly....and I don't make it a dogma.

 

If the red phase takes too long I will probably take it in neutral after a few seconds but then while I am thinking about other things or get impatient I may put it in gear again in the futile hope it should turn green anytime soon. So what....

 

But I almost never use the hand brake while driving. Why shouldn't I use the foot brake (or no brake on level ground)? Even on steep hills the engine spins up fast enough to get going smoothly without roll-back.

 

Gert

[slngsht]

Nope... I put the car in gear unless there is NOBODY behind me, or a line of cars stopped. Otherwise I just take it out of gear and have one foot on the brake usually. If pulling away on a hill, I just start engaging the clutch and as soon as I feel/hear revs drop, I take foot off brake and apply gas.

[bsimon]

With the AP two pot rear calipers, my "handbrake" is an 8" bit of 2X4. Not real convenient to deploy at stop lights.

[Boxologist]

on a hill, yes, definitely. On level grades, probably about half the time. I never hold the clutch down, thats just for quickly getting into and out of gear, no need to add further work/wear to that system. Sometimes i have my foot engaging the brakes, sometimes not. i do pay attention whether i have a car behind me or coming up behind me so i can communicate by touching the brake pedal to let him know i'm stopped.

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Since Frankn7 doesn't currently have a handbrake, that would be a no. However, I have never really used a handbrake except for parking purposes. Usually take it out of gear, clutch out and brake on. Or I'll sit there and play with the clutch rolling the car back and forth waiting for the light if I'm really bored, but only if traffic is stopped behind me. I'm very attentive to making sure people know I'm stopped.

[pksurveyor]

I never use the handbrake. I leave the car in gear when parked and in neutral during stop light. If I need to start the car on an incline at a stop light, a quick heel and toe will prevent the car from rolling backward.

[Al N.]

When I had manual cars, only on a hill or as noted by Gert, red lights of exceptionally long duration.

 

I find that the majority of lights have a flat area, so no brakes of any kind are needed to keep the car stationary.

[pi7ot]

Mostly I heel 'n' Toe,(Ball and Edge) as the car is often prone to stall when I come to a stop. One narrow Adidas covers both brake and go pedal.

 

 

m

[xromad]

Up here it is quite common in the winter to drive through slush, rain, salt spray, etc and then have it freeze solid on the underbody of your car. Older vehicles are especially susceptible due to their exposed brake lines and deteriorated weather seals.

 

The most common way to play this game is to drive in the day and then let it freeze over night. But a more advanced game can be played by driving in extreme cold (-20 or so) and having it freeze suddenly at a stop light. Time spent waiting for your underbody to thaw is just a fringe benefit.

 

Therefore, I just avoid using the e-brake unless it is an emergency. YMMV.....

 

 

 

 

[Sean]

Growing up, I most often heard it described as a "parking brake". Maybe that explains my usage of it.

[solder_guy]

Well I'm the only one then .. because I use my handbrake ALL the time at every light .. no matter how long ..

 

.. and if the traffic is inching foward and there's a little grade .. I amuse myself by jerking the car as it rolls forward by engaging and releasing the handbrake ..

 

Rob

[case sensitive]

food on the brake, car in neutral, foot off the clutch.

[Ian7]

handbrake buried deep in passenger footwell, per Colin's design, so no, doesn't get any use ....

[11Budlite]

"food on the brake, car in neutral, foot off the clutch."

 

:iagree: - except for the "food" part.

 

Bruce :7drive:

[case sensitive]

you should try it. much better than using your foot.

[11Budlite]

I'm sure it smells better as well...

[Boxologist]

Well I'm the only one then .. because I use my handbrake ALL the time at every light .. no matter how long ..

...

Rob

 

thats reminds me of another reason why I use teh handbrake. the low masses of our se7ens allow us to be bumped further if another car hit us from behind and our feet come of the brake pedal.

[pksurveyor]

Yesterday some one in a Ford Thunderbird hit me in the back at a traffic light. I was driving the Landcruiser with a Class 2 hitch. My truck has no damage beside adding some new Ford green paint. If I were in the Caterham, I will be writing this e-mail from a hospital room.