That's why if you want your release bearing to last longer, try to not use your clutch.
What I am saying is this: When I went through traffic school and drivers education, the instructors told me that when I am sitting at a red light, I should have the tranny in 1st gear and the clutch down (of course) and waiting for the green light. This is so that if there is an emergency, like some aliens from outter space are about to crash above my car, I dont have to spend the split nano-second to engage 1st, I can just let the clutch out and go. Even when I did my drivers test in my moms 87 Toy 4Runner with a 5 speed, I kept the tranny in gear and kept the clutch down for 4-way stops, stop lights, even in parking lots. BUT COME ON YOUR STUPID IDIOT INSTRUCTIONS! THIS WILL WEAR OUT THE RELEASE BEARING!!! AARRGGGG
Look, don't come to me and tell me that I cant engage 1st gear in an emergency. I DRIVE A FRICKEN MR2 FOR GOODNESS SAKES.
So when I am at a stop, it's immediately in neutral and im not using the clutch. Then when I see the cross traffic's lights are chaning to yellow, I press the clutch in, but do not engage 1st gear yet.
Marlin taught me this and you might want to do this from now on. When your tranny is in neutral, everything is spinning except the output shaft. That means counter gears, all synchros, etc. Then when you press the clutch down, the tranny is released from the engine's rpm and the internals slowly coast down. But if you just quickly engage 1st gear the second you hit the clutch, then the parts are still spinning almost the same as the engine rpm, and the syncros have to work to slow everything down to allow you to engage the gear.
So here's the golden advice from Marlin: When you're at a red light, put it in neutral to save the release bearing. Then when you can tell that your light will be green soon, press the clutch down but dont shift yet. Have your hand ready atop the shifter, and then once your light actually goes green, then just engage 1st gear and go. What this does is it gives the parts in side the trans time to slow down to a stop, so that when you do actually engage 1st gear, the parts are stopped and the syncros aren't even needed. So this saves the life of your release bearing and the shifting performance of your trans
