Myth #3: Use the clutch to save your brakes. The clutch can theoretically be used as a braking device when slowing down, but this is more trouble than it's worth. First, if you're using the clutch to slow a car to "save your brakes" you better be really good with the clutch. If you're not smooth in your downshifting you'll be putting extra wear on the clutch.

Anyone want to guess which components cost more to replace — brake pads or a clutch plate? You're better off just pushing the clutch pedal in and leaving it in, and/or shifting to neutral, when slowing down in a manual-shift vehicle — especially if you aren't extremely smooth at downshifting. If you are smooth at downshifting and you feel like going through the trouble, you can constantly downshift and release the clutch as you slow down. But even doing that action smoothly won't make your brakes last appreciably longer.

Myth #4: It's impossible to be perfectly smooth when engaging the clutch. Always try to learn exactly where the clutch pedal is when the clutch starts to engage. You can practice this in a parking lot, and once you are familiar with it you can use this knowledge to make every shift smoother. This will add confidence to your ability to stop and start on an incline, and it will make downshifting easier, because you can quickly let the clutch pedal go from the floor to the area in the pedal travel where the clutch actually starts to engage (it's different on every car). Once you get to that point quickly you can then modulate the speed at which the pedal is released to achieve a smooth engagement. This is how you can keep from rolling back on an incline without using the E-brake.

Myth #5: It's normal for the car to lurch when downshifting. When you do downshift (without coming to a complete stop) it's important to "rev-match." This means raising the engine's rpm as you release the clutch to more closely match your vehicle's engine speed to the rear-wheel speed. Again, this is only important on downshifting. As you accelerate and upshift you don't have to worry about rev-matching. By giving the engine just a bit of throttle when you downshift you can make the clutch engagement smoother, which reduces clutch wear and head bobbing on downshifts.

If you get really good at rev-matching you can even try heel-and-toe downshifting, which is what racers use to get the smoothest downshifts, and the best lap times, around a road course. Heel-and-toe shifting is actually a whole other article, but in short you must apply both the brake pedal and the gas pedal simultaneously, thus slowing the car down and rev-matching the engine to rear-wheel speed — all at the same time. This can be accomplished by carefully placing your right foot on the brake pedal and the gas pedal.

But for the sake of your clutch, and the safety of your fellow drivers, please don't try heel-and-toe shifting until you've fully mastered the basics mentioned above!