i've noticed that my car (on cold starts) tends to slip and shudder a bit when in first and second gear at low rpms...only when i bring it up to higher rpms or when it is fully warmed up does it smoothly engage without the whole car shaking. is this just because the engine hasn't fully warmed up yet? or is my clutch slipping or something...just kind of weirded out

 

When you say wheel, are you talking about the steering wheel, or the wheels and tires.

If you're talking about the wheels and tires then....

Tires stick better when they are warmed up (or at least drag radials and slicks do and that's why they do burnouts at the drag strip)

I don't think it's a clutch related issue, but I could be wrong

 

the car really shouldn't be driven hard enough to experience any wheel slipping/studdering when it is still cold......meaning no boosting

 

I'm assuming you don't mean actual wheel slippage, but just that it shudders while pulling away at low rpms and low speed when the car is cold. If it happens even when you're going straight, it suggests developing clutch issues. If it only happens when you're turning it could be a diff problem, though much less likely.

 

this is a pretty good description of what i'm experiencing. i meant my wheels (as in the things connected to the road) felt like they were slipping, of course, as someone above pointed out, it probably isn't my wheels that are actually slipping, but the whole car just kind of shudders as if the wheels were slipping.

it only happens when i'm pulling away when the car is cold, and even then, when i go uphill (there is a hill i go up as soon as i leave my apartment complex). and i'm going straight, not turning. could this be due to a clutch issue? why would it seem to correct itself later on when the car is warmed up? it seems to engage pretty smoothly then...

 

It could be similar to the problems that '02-'03 WRXs have with the OEM clutch. With some wear on them they supposedly heat up unevenly during warm up causing shuddering which goes away once it's all warmed up.

The other possibility you should consider would be bad motor mounts (or possibly ppf/diff bushing issues). Does the gear stick shake in relation to the car when the shuddering occurs?