Start car in second gear

[tomhole]

Originally Posted by zubydafa

i forget which top gear episode....but JC was in a vantage or db9 and did a 4th gear start with no hesitation.

They did that with a Corvette: started in 5th and ran out of runway at 165 mph. 0-165 mph in the same gear. That's torque.

Tom

[doktore]

This is a very pertinent thread to my dilemma. I usually drive an automatic, so when I rent a car in Europe, it usually takes me a few hours to get the clutch working to perfection....but on a Skoda or a Volvo, or whatever, a family sedan in general, it is not that complicated and the gears go in very smooth......here is me getting an M coupe recently - ooooh boy, was I for a gear shifting lesson of a lifetime. It seems that the 1st and 2nd gears are hard to get into, I sometimes have to "struggle" getting the lever up or down, which made me search for threads with similar complaints. And behold....I am not the only one. Besides jerking sometimes, which made me try starting off from the 2nd gear, with some improved smoothness, it is the "difficulty" getting into the gear in which puzzles me. Now, I am not a mechanic, nor a racecar driver, so I will post it to you gurus out there - would "short shifter" remedy or help with this peculiarity? (http://leatherz.com/Merchant5/mercha...4_transmission). And can anyone comment on short shifters and how has it changed their shifting? Are the gear changes smoother or not. Are they more "precise" or not?

[JeffchaPz]

Well... if it helps,

I changed my trans and diff fluids to red line, plus I change the trans mounts. when the car is cold shifting is notchy, but after few mins everything works smoothly.

OP - Def shift from 1st to 2nd at around 4k... let the clutch out a bit and give it a bit of gas and then let it loose :-) that helps to smooth my shifting/driving.

Just practice and see what makes sense to you. everyone is different.


Good luck....

[XMetal]

Originally Posted by doktore

This is a very pertinent thread to my dilemma. I usually drive an automatic, so when I rent a car in Europe, it usually takes me a few hours to get the clutch working to perfection....but on a Skoda or a Volvo, or whatever, a family sedan in general, it is not that complicated and the gears go in very smooth......here is me getting an M coupe recently - ooooh boy, was I for a gear shifting lesson of a lifetime. It seems that the 1st and 2nd gears are hard to get into, I sometimes have to "struggle" getting the lever up or down, which made me search for threads with similar complaints. And behold....I am not the only one. Besides jerking sometimes, which made me try starting off from the 2nd gear, with some improved smoothness, it is the "difficulty" getting into the gear in which puzzles me. Now, I am not a mechanic, nor a racecar driver, so I will post it to you gurus out there - would "short shifter" remedy or help with this peculiarity? (http://leatherz.com/Merchant5/mercha...4_transmission). And can anyone comment on short shifters and how has it changed their shifting? Are the gear changes smoother or not. Are they more "precise" or not?

1st to 2nd is a bitch. It doesn't want to slide into 2nd unless you timed it perfectly (when shifting under 4K), which I'm still trying to master after all these years with the Z. Agreed with Jeff that shifting at higher than 4K would be much better. I'm still on the OE trans fluid. I may try something else on the next fluid change to see if I can remedied this.

I would think the short shifter would make it worst as you'll lose the leverage. Before going full short shifter change, you may want to change out the shifter knob itself with the ZHP weighted knob, which is quite a bit shorter.

FYI...The trans mount didn't help my 1st to 2nd issue.

[doktore]

I wonder if this issue has ever been brought up to the BMW service and has anyone had any luck "fixing" the shifting difficulty. Also what would be interesting is to find out if M3 owners, with manual trans, also have the same problem, given the M has their car's engine in it.......

Another aspect is the Sport Button - anyone see a significant improvement/worsening of shifting with the sports mode on?

[ZStig]

sports mode doesn't affect shifting, in fact the sensitive throttle makes is harder to shift smoothly in low gears

short shift kits make it even MORE notchy and difficult to shift


Like others suggested, try upgraded tranny fluid with new tranny mounts

[EenyBear]

Ah.... I know the words to this song.

I have RE tranny mounts, CDV delete, and the highest of high end tranny fluid. All helped. And yes, I find that the "sport setting" is a lot easier to drive in all traffic conditions because 1st gear seems (appears, is perceived to have, etc.) more available torque and the higher RPMs are justified by the greater sensation of acceleration to the next shift point.

The fundamental point is that shifting smoothly from 1st to 2nd is a real skill in the Z4M. You think you've done it brilliantly and then... one in every 50 shifts... you find yourself pogo-ing along in second trying to recover and wondering why your car has betrayed you. Answer: you got lazy.

This brings up several other related issues. From 2nd gear onward, this car will pull away from nearly anything. But off the line.... you're gonna get spanked by a mini-van more often than not.

First gear is really really really short. You either shift to 2nd at 3000 or 5500.... nothing in between is a guarantee. After 2nd, I shift at 5500 and it's smooth as silk.

As per the comment above regarding the appearance that you "want to race"... yup, it's a wrinkle all right. If you launch and get the RPMs up to 5500 or so before the shift to 2nd, your engine will be screaming but you'll still be crawling along (relatively speaking). The shift is smooth, though. The downside is that it earns the special scorn so easily lavished on BMW drivers in general. Boo hoo.

There are endless clips on youtube that show this clearly. The Z4M vs "car x" always shows the Z4M left behind at the line and then easily overtaking the other car once 2nd gear has been achieved.

Solution:

This is not a Pinto. This is, as they say, a "driver's car". Commit. Launch and shift at 5500 and ignore the stares of those who think you are trying to race them. Try using the "sport" setting even when you're just driving your kid to school. Just enjoy the special quirks of the Z4M or consider alternatives.

Everything gets better with practice. And so few actually practice.

$0.02

[ZStig]

you might wanna practice taking off in 1st gear if you're getting spanked so much ; )

agree that this car is difficult to shift smoothly. Once in a while I'm not paying attention, and its like I instantly become a first time driver. hahaha

[beta]

In addition to everything mentioned above: don't let your foot completely off the throttle, and try to rev it a little higher before disengaging the clutch (I think this is why sport mode helps, it makes it so that both these things happen by themselves). The heartbeat pause between 1 and 2 is the most important I think.

[RADRACR]

I've never had a problem shifting smoothly from 1st to 2nd at any RPM, CDV in or out I never drive in sport mode... that's when I get the jerky shifts. The only problem I have is the 1st-to-2nd denial at redline which is the gearbox's fault. The heartbeat-pause is a cure but it's annoying.

I agree with a lot of what Eeeny said though. I've had Prius, minivans, etc. either keep up with me or beat me off 1st gear when I'm driving 6/10 aggressively. 1st gear is pretty worthless, but it sets you up so nicely for 2nd if you really wind it up.

[aerobod]

The smoothest 1-2 shifts I have done in the Z4M have been from 7800RPM, with peripheral vision aware that the revs are dropping to the vertical on the rev counter (4500RPM is the correct engine speed for second if first was at 7800, this also happens to be the vertical point for the rev counter needle). As the needle rapidly drops to 4500RPM with the clutch disengaged, rapidly move the lever from it's brief pause in neutral into 2nd gear (with pressure to the left on the gear lever) and dump the clutch. Very smooth if done right, but be aware that the rev counter needle lags engine revs a fraction, so shift needs to be complete when the revs hit 4500RPM on the tach.

[XMetal]

EenyBear, What fluid do you have in your trans?

[jnkhan82]

Originally Posted by JeffchaPz

Well... if it helps,

I changed my trans and diff fluids to red line, plus I change the trans mounts. when the car is cold shifting is notchy, but after few mins everything works smoothly.

OP - Def shift from 1st to 2nd at around 4k... let the clutch out a bit and give it a bit of gas and then let it loose :-) that helps to smooth my shifting/driving.

Just practice and see what makes sense to you. everyone is different.


Good luck....

Thanks! I tend to shift around 2500 -3000k, I'll try to hold of a little longer. The engine gets loud, so I tend to shift sooner I guess.

I'm also using Redline, but I've never swapped my mounts... any recommended after market ones?

[JeffchaPz]

OP, I went with Rouge Engineering trans mounts. Believe it or not a $20 a clutch stop will let your clutch engage sooner. Basically as you let the pedal go it will engage sooner since it doesn't travel all the way down...

Here is the link for the trans mounts.... a lil pains in the lower- lower back to install but worth it.
I just installed poly.... Motor mounts today but I didn't finish the job yet. I haven't had a chance to test those now, but it's suppose to help/eliminate the shifting problem.... I'll let you know this week.

http://www.rogueengineering.com/rogue/TM/TM.html


Do you work on your car....? The reason why I ask is because the motor mounts swap was cake compare to the trans....

[musseilm]

M54 motor mount on the right hand side is a pain in the ... you need a 1/4 2ft long extension and coupling there is not much space. Did mine yesterday took me 30mins, tranny mount took 15mins.