VIDEO: Autoblog tries clutchless shifting but you shouldn't

For any self-respecting driver that has a car with a manual transmission, there are two things that cast shame; stalling and grinding. It doesn't matter if you're the only one in the car or if there are no other motorists on the road, the embarrassment associated with these gaffes is omnipresent. To save myself from shame and for fear of wrecking my transmission, I hadn't tried clutchless shifting (also called powershifting) until very recently, after I saw it done on YouTube. I knew this was something that could damage my synchros (it's my personal car), so I figured I'd do it once and record it, so you don't have to do it yourself.

A friendly Autoblog warning from our own Dan Roth: Trying this out a couple times probably isn't going to grenade any gearbox that's in good shape, but you really shouldn't make clutchless shifts a regular part of your repertoire. While fine for a racing-duty "dog" gearbox, it's torture on the synchros in your street transmission. The inevitable grinding you'll perpetrate on the transmission while practicing clutchless shifting also means more particulate matter floating around inside your tranny. Think of it as a neat parlor trick, maybe try it out in case you should ever have a problem with your clutch actuation system, but otherwise, treat your gearbox with love.

Hit the jump to watch the video.

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