mazdabob

dayvei214@mac.com

hmmmm.... sounds like it makes sense. but i skiped gears in my previous car for i'd say over 3-4 years. never had a problem with clutch syncs or tranny. so i guess i'll stick to it. it was never for the gas really; i guess it was just so i didn't have to shift 5 times before i had to break again. but good find

Reactionary

Interesting.

6speed8

I like rowing through the gears, For people who don't, perhaps an automatic would be a better choice.

RotaryNoob

I only skip 5th. Its a useless gear unless you plan on doing 140+.

I accelerate hard in 1-4 and shift to 6th to cruise at 80 on the highway. I've never skipped gears in past cars but I imagine this might save a little wear on the clutch in the long run.

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

double clutching can reduce the said synchro wear during skip shifting :p

modforce

I agree on the shipping 5th it is almost useless. I do like the rowing the gears though but will skip from time to time.

unpocoloco

Hmm...if you rev match before slipping into the new gear, I don't see how it makes a difference.

mauroavella

I don't use 5th either, actually what I do is 1,2,3,6 leveling the RPM ratio accordingly to avoid this issue they talk about in the article and so far so good, no sinc problems or anything as of now.

One thing I didn't understand from this, it says "... drop a gear or two (in sequence)...", what does he mean?, If I'm on 6th and need to exit or pass I just jump down to 4th, is that wrong now or what??

Japan8

Um.. they forget something.. I believe that both GM and DC use a forced gear skip on the Vette and Viper.

Cattywampus

On the Viper they did but don't know about the Vette

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

^not only the vette, the camaros/firebirds also had the 2-4 lockout shifting

globi

When flywheel and gear have the same rpm there's no added synchronizer wear - this guy obviously doesn't know what he's talking about.

You can even do this from 1st to 5th, which I sometimes do when I accelerate down hill (just give it enough time to drop the rpm - if you have a lightened flywheel it should drop pretty quickly anyway).

r0tor

iTrader: (1)

good intentions on the article... too bad he doesn't know what he's talking about

Y&Y

Well now adays I row through my gears asap on my honda crappy. So lets say I'm in the residential area. I would be in my 5th gear by the time I hit 27-30 mph and cruise the rest of the way. And thats pretty much how I drive around town also. When on local roads of 40 mph limits I would be going 40mph in 5th gear and my rpm would be around 1600-1700. Normally I wouldn't drive like this. But my car eats up a lot of gas.

sigh....I guess this is what happens when one doesn't warm up their car.

Here's a lesson to all you little kiddies out there. Always warm up your car :D

KYLiquid

so you might save some ware on a $200+Install clutch but do more ware on the $800+Install transmission?

Same with engine braking, your saving $100 in brakes by beating on a $200+ clutch system?

I dont skip shift up or down, I use every gear, and I still get 21-22 mpg all the time.

As far as 'drop down a gear or to, in sequence' it means if your in 5th and want to speed up, you would drop into 4th, then into 3rd and accel.

Its really not that much effort/time and the benifits in mpg is small to none.

The first mod on my dads vette was eliminating the skip shift.

rx8wannahave

The only gear I skip is 5th because as others have stated it's near useless. I go 1-4 and then hit 6th gear. I use 5th with I'm stuck at 35-40mph but drive normally in 6th gear around town and 3rd gear within my neighborhood (25mph).

Anymore thoughts from the technical people here? Am I hurting my tranny?

QBallz

OMG someone wrote something in the newspaper I better believe it!

Xyntax

I always believe that as long as you level the RPM with your Gear and Speed, you're not hurting your synchros. So if I run 1-2-3 and get it up to 65, after I release 3rd gear I just need to make sure that my RPM has dropped to about 3000 before I engage 6th gear.

dazygirl415

Why would anyone skip gears? IMO, it's too much fun to drive through all of them!!

globi

You're not supposed to ride the clutch when you use your engine to brake.

280RX-8

Besides, your brakes will heat up and wear out long before anything bad happens to your engine. If you're holding the clutch in, you are not engine-braking, anyway, you're just coasting. Maybe there is more tranny wear on skip-shifters because they're more likely to miss shifts? Justa a thought. I skipped gears in the Escort I learned to shift on, and that lil' piece o' crap is STILL running pretty smoothly, w/ no engine or tranny overhauls.

rx8wannahave

Like we have stated...because 5th is near useless. I guess you can say 6th is really the useless one but it's the highest gear so that's the one alot of us cruise in.

If I didn't skip 5th, the 4 to 5 to 6 shift would take place too fast, so that's why I just skip 5th.

ucfracerx8

I did some checking, all GM Vehicles (Vette, Camaro, Firebird, GTO) with a 6MT and the Viper have a skip gear sequence built in that effectively locks out 2nd and 3rd when you shift between 12 and 19mph or something screwy like that. I have not seen anything where Japanese manufacturers have this feature, but maybe some do.

I do not skip any gears, I agree that I do not use 5th that long, unless I need passing power on the hi-way. To each his own I guess. I certainly don't waste anytime however, so maybe that is why I do use all my gears