Advanced Driving Hub

I feel this is something I should know, but haven't yet worked out how to do well. Bringing an auto to a stop at a junction (or traffic queue etc etc). In a manual, you clutch in, the drive is removed and it's really easy to stop smoothly by modulating the braking pressure. But in an auto I really struggle not to stop with a jerk because you're fighting the drive/creep.

What am I missing? I've sort of worked out that braking more firmly than you might expect as you approach the hazard helps a bit, but I still can't get rid of that last bit of snatch as you go from 1-2mph to 0.

I guess you can cheat and knock in into neutral (assuming the gearbox control system lets you), but I don't know if that does the gearbox any good.

jont- wrote: I really struggle not to stop with a jerk because you're fighting the creep.

Was this on an AD driving day?

Make the jerk walk back.

HTH

I think you have to accept a tiny jerk, however carefully you feather the footbrake.There is therefore a premium on approaching a hazard in a way which gives the best chance of keeping moving, even if only at 0.5 mph.

Which car are you driving?

janetwise-griggs wrote:Which car are you driving?

Does it matter? I've found the same thing in various autos. The one I currently own has a twin-clutch DSG gearbox (wet clutch). It definitely has the auto feet-off creep.

waremark wrote:I think you have to accept a tiny jerk, however carefully you feather the footbrake.There is therefore a premium on approaching a hazard in a way which gives the best chance of keeping moving, even if only at 0.5 mph.

I do aspire to that, although having a DSG rather than a traditional auto I don't like finding myself in situations where I need to use the brake to reduce the creep. I'd rather either be fast enough to be feet off, or stopped.

That was why I asked.

I'm still not sure what the problem is, you must keep your foot on the brake or it will creep. If you have jerking in every car you drive perhaps you should approach junctions etc a bit slower so you can fine tune the stop. You can't be motionless in an automatic without your foot on the brake or it will move forward if a forward gear is selected but I think you already know this.
Can you explain what you do in detail?

I can stop just fine in manuals, it's autos that I struggle to do as smoothly as I would like. It seems some of the answer might be that there's not much you can do; I was hoping there was a magic trick I was missing that ADH would be able to enlighten me about

Yes, a slower initial approach may help, but as I say I don't like being in that position of "riding the clutch" (even if it's the car doing it) for longer than I can help. I would probably feel different about doing that if I had a traditional auto.

janetwise-griggs wrote:I'm still not sure what the problem is, you must keep your foot on the brake or it will creep. If you have jerking in every car you drive perhaps you should approach junctions etc a bit slower so you can fine tune the stop. You can't be motionless in an automatic without your foot on the brake or it will move forward if a forward gear is selected but I think you already know this.
Can you explain what you do in detail?

Having driven with Jon on more than one occasion his smoothness is pretty much without reproach. It's the specifics of the auto gearbox - him mostly being used to manuals in his personal cars - which is irking his attention to detail gene...