I subscribe to Woodtrol's answer: "If I know I'm going to be sitting for a while at a red light, I put it in neutral and release the clutch. This minimizes wear and heat on the throw-out and pilot bearing, neither of which is designed to be engaged for long periods (at least on lighter vehicles)." And the "fingers" on the pressure plate.
And, this assures the clutch disc is locked to the pressure plate and thus, not slipping and burning away surface area (although rather minimal). When the clutch is "in", the disc is sorta spinning between the flywheel and pressure plate.
I always used my brakes to slow/stop the car; downshifted for bad corners at high speeds. Only blew my trans once.
When parked, I engaged the parking brake first and made sure it was holding; then popped it into first gear just to be sure ..
All this worked for the 45 years that I owned my 1962 fuel injected Corvette..... I street raced it regularly and never had to replace the clutch (although I would do so whenever I pulled the engine to "refresh" it).
IMHO,
J.
And, this assures the clutch disc is locked to the pressure plate and thus, not slipping and burning away surface area (although rather minimal). When the clutch is "in", the disc is sorta spinning between the flywheel and pressure plate.
I always used my brakes to slow/stop the car; downshifted for bad corners at high speeds. Only blew my trans once.
When parked, I engaged the parking brake first and made sure it was holding; then popped it into first gear just to be sure ..
All this worked for the 45 years that I owned my 1962 fuel injected Corvette..... I street raced it regularly and never had to replace the clutch (although I would do so whenever I pulled the engine to "refresh" it).
IMHO,
J.