And using your brakes when going down hill is the worst thing you can do to them. This is another area where downshifting and engine braking is needed.

 

Downshifting in normal driving is not harmfull to your car. Using te engine to slow the car in a smooth deceleration is having the vehicle ready for the road ahead. Try reading this.
www.standardshift.com/faq.html

 

So, the way it goes is, never leave your clutch engaged and remove your foot from the accelerator pedal - always apply throttle when moving in-gear.

Did you ever speed-match a group of cars blocking your way - slowing down early enough by just taking your foot off the gas? Me? Always. On the 4-lanes, if I see brake lights up ahead, that tells me that people are really slowing-down big-time up there. I take my foot off of the gas, then apply some brakes ONLY IF engine braking isn't slowing me down fast enough. God, don't you just HATE IT when the driver in front of you uses the brakes un- neccessarily a lot on the highway? A sure sign of immaturity or just about zero hours of driving evperience.

When rev-matching, downshifting is the exact same thing as slowing down without using your brakes on the highway. No difference. You only downshift when you slow-down to a new gear speed range. Now, downshifting to a gear that takes you to redline isn't all that good for the ENGINE. The tranny isn't hitting redline, the engine is. And, the tranny still isn't torqued-up anywhere near as much as a full throttle launch does to it.

Gas mileage? Brake pad wear? How they are affected by "downshfting" is grossly picky. picky. picky.

 

not an expert but you downshift when slowing down going into a turn or say you're going to stop at a red light but will be rolling by the time you hit the light... ANY TIME you are going to come to a COMPLETE full stop put it in neutral and use the brakes... cheaper to replace (external) brake pads then (internal) clutch

 

You should never coast in neutral when driving a standard......it leaves you with zero power options in a hurry....not a good idea!

 

Oh, dannobre, now that you mentioned coasting, I must confess that I coast a whole lot when given the opportunity. When on a country road with a familliar stop sign coming up, I have landmarks that I have memorized where I start coasting. It saves on gas and brake pad wear. I never got into a situation where I had to accelerate to get out of a suddenly dangerous situation - it has always been to decelerate. I don't coast if I don't know the road and I can't see very far ahead, since acceleration can get you through a too-tight turn a lot better than deceleration.

LiL BenNy, agreed on the full-stop thing, excxept, a perfectly rev-matched downshift does zero wear to the clutch. When you get to know the car, you will know at what rpm the engine will go to after the clutch is fully engaged. You throttle the zero-loaded engine to that rpm and fully engage the clutch, then lift the right foot to decelerate. Zero clutch wear.

 

I always get a chuckle on the " saves gas " idea....do a log on a Scan device.......in EFI equipped vehicles....when you are off the gas...the fuel is cut to the point that it just keeps it running.......no more fuel than an idle. therefore the fuel savings are negligible.

If you are coasting you will use more brake pads...because the engine is not braking to help slow you down........

I have bad habits too :D ..........................

 

But, the engine is at idle rpm when coasting, anyway, it sure seems like you're saving gas. And when it comes time to decelerate for the stop, I - rev matchingly of course - re-engage the clutch in-gear and do some engine braking if I want to take both of my feet back down off of the dash

 

I'll give $1000 to whoever shows me in the MAZDA manual where it suggests using the brakes to stop the vehicle. Otherwise, I'm just going to keep on sticking my foot out the door and dragging it on the ground till it stops.

 

Coasting in gear or not, you're saving gas when your foot isnt on the pedal. As Jim Mederer showed all of us at RB's facility, the ECU's map changes when the car realizes revs are dropping. It's definitely safer to coast in gear.

And I down shift all the time... not usually to engine break but usually because I coast in 6th until I need power.. then downshift to 2nd and take off :b
And I rev match it too, so my tranny is just fine!

 

"These boots are made for stoppin..."

 

You are partly correct. We who race do down shift, but not to slow the car but to be in the correct gear after entering a corner to accelerate, and no, we don’t go through a lot of transmissions.

Yes, the reason for not using the transmission to slow the car is because it will blow the transmission and it is very hard to win if you DNF. :p

Down shifting to accelerate does not hurt the transmission especially when you ease the clutch out quick and smooth while squeezing the accelerator. I find when not on the track simply breaking to a stop reduces shifting to simply putting it back in first after the stop.

But for the record, when I want to get up and go, I will drop to 2nd or 3rd depending on what the current cruising speed is. Autos down shift all the time, it is called passing gear by most. Also, climbing hills is all but impossible if you do not down shift.

So, if you'er down shifting to slow the car, yes will do no good for the transmission, for everything else, that is the whole point for having a multi gear transmission in the first place.

 

 

Dragonrider..

This is partly my point...
As I originally said, those who use their manual tranny to Engine Brake and slow their 8 in NORMAL driving conditions. Of course you change down to overtake, but those who go through all or most of their gears to slow down put premature wear and tear on clutch and tranny.,,, and as I said brake pads are cheaper to replace than boxes.
Auto tranys change back but they dont engine brake. Unless you manually select to.

Many manual users cannot rev match when downshifting.

 

PS. Great Looking 8!!

 

Appreciate that. It has been a fun project. :D

 

ok,
i figured it out you work for consumer reports, right???? i was right about the avatar, btw thank for saving us from making the big mistake of driving are cars the way we want to.

you no what, i was driving the other day and i had my window down and the ac was still on. the horror.

this thread is like a train wreck, its bad, but you gota look.

your are going to hate this, i just got a gtimer for my birthday. i feathered the clutch on launch, and had dsc and tc turned off. hay it didnt have that as wrong in the owners manual.

beers

 

HAHHAH...noob here..jus want to express d fun i had in reading this post..u guys r funny!!!

now close this thread.!!!!

 

Why? Humor is good.

 

this has got to be one of the more stupid threads i've ever read.

Don't downshift... ahahhahahahahahahahhaaha

(ps, this was my 100th post!! YAY :D)

 

I just felt left out; however, I have this to add:

Why was the Christ child not born in Australia?
-You'd have a job finding three wise men, much less a virgin!!

What do you call a field full of Australians?
-A vacant lot.

What's the difference between an Australian and a computer?
-You only have to punch information into a computer once.

-An Aussie is proof that God has a sense of humour.

If Santa Claus, a smart Aussie and a dumb blonde were in a room, and you tossed in a hundred dollar note, who would grab it first?
-The blonde - the other two don't exist.

What's the difference between yoghurt and Australians?
-At least yoghurt starts with a little culture.

-There's a Japanese firm that has developed a camera with a shutter speed so fast it can actually catch an Aussie with his mouth shut.

How do you define 144 Australians?
-Gross stupidity.

This thread reminds me of a movie, Billy Madison: In all your incoherent rambling, not even a semblance of a comprehensible thought exists. All of us are now more ignorant for having listened to it; may God have mercy on your soul.

 

there was no need for racism :/

 

It's orright man, we can take a joke. Even **** poor lukewarm retreaded ones like nowitt's, er sorry, dewett's......

 

well, we can all point and laugh at him for screwing up the billy madison quote

 

Hey, shoe leather is a lot cheaper than trannies :D