Here's why you shouldn't use the gear lever as a hand rest

MUNICH: If you have a car with a manual transmission, do you rest your hand on the gear lever while driving?

According to Matthias Strixner, an expert with German technical inspection agency Tüv Süd, this is a common mistake that should be avoided.

"It may look cool," he says, but in the long run it damages the gearbox. That's because your resting hand puts pressure on the shift sleeve, one of the components in the gearbox's synchroniser assembly.

That pressure can cause the shift sleeve, the synchroniser, and the paired gears to wear out more quickly. The gearbox bearings can also be damaged.

Another common mistake? If you change gears too quickly, practically pulling the lever, you should also expect more wear, says the expert.

That's because when you shift gears, the shift sleeve is pushed in the direction of the appropriate gear, putting pressure on the synchroniser.

This slows down the gear with the higher speed and thus aligns the speeds of both gears. But if you shift gears too quickly, the synchroniser ring doesn't have time to adjust the gear speeds.

Anyone who changes from a forward gear to reverse gear should also take their time doing so. The car should be stationary to avoid wear on the gearbox.

The same applies to cars with automatic transmissions - the lever shouldn't be switched from D to R while the car is rolling backwards or vice versa.

The reason is that this wears out the brake bands and the multi-disk clutches inside the gearbox much more quickly. So you should first bring the car to a full stop before selecting reverse.

When it comes to the clutch, if you don't press the pedal fully or in time, the components can also wear out prematurely.

If the clutch is unable to completely separate the power connection between the engine and gearbox or can't separate it in time, this is often indicated by a loud scratching noise.