do you slow down with your clutch or brakes

[Mr. Luos]

Decel uses no more gas than idling would.

[Spaz]

Decel uses no more gas than idling would.

that depends.... if you use a wall to stop your car...

[SSwt00SS]

If you're not on a racetrack, shortening your braking distance doesn't mean anything...

tell that to the person after you just drove the nose of your car up the ass of their's, and see what their reaction is...

like you i am never at the limits of my brakes around town, however i can only speak for myself, not all the other asshats that drive cars. gotta be ready for anything, son...

[SexOnWheels]

Should be a third option of both zoso!

[third_shift|studios]

When my dad taught me to drive a manual he told me to use the transmision whenever possible to slow down. He may be wrong, but I have never seen him be so in the past so...

I love the brakes on these cars, you can slow down so fast in these cars.

Reminds me of a story. One time my dad borrowed my car to run to town after parts. After he gets back me goes man that 6 speed is kinda tricky downshiftin huh? and I say well it is till you get used to it why? he says lets just say you ought to stay out of superior for a while. The next weekend we are drivin into town and there is a set of dual 6 foot black marks where the speed limit changes from 55 to 20. My dad just looks at me and goes i missed 4th from 6th and hit 2nd.

BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHA...wow, hope he pays for your rebuild

[Zboner]

its does not hurt your clutch, it hurts your synchros in the trans

[third_shift|studios]

its does not hurt your clutch, it hurts your synchros in the trans

NOT IF YOU REV MATCH, JUNIOR!

[Zboner]

yea it does, learned that in transmission class. down shifting is bad unless you really need to do it

[third_shift|studios]

i thought you failed that class?

[Zboner]

had to quit working full time and going to school full time was to much.

trust me its not a joke

[86 IROC-Z]

The only time you should need to under normal driving is if you have a heavy load and are going down a long steep hill.

[Modulistic]

yea it does, learned that in transmission class. down shifting is bad unless you really need to do it

tell your transmission class instructor I banned him for sucking at downshifting if he burns up synchros downshifting

[eddierox]

[7camaro7]

the choices should be

engine braking

or foot braking

[my5thNewUsernameHere]

or foot braking

Fred Flintstone?

[my5thNewUsernameHere]

Isnt that bad or somthing?

Probably if you get to a really slow speed. I could be wrong, but I believe that the owner's manual specifies that this is the correct way to stop with a standard tranny. Basically, the idea is to brake until the transmission starts to "fight" back at which point you disengage the gears and stop on brakes alone. In essence, you are using both the tranny and brakes to slow to a point, and then just brakes at a lower speed.

IMHO, if you're worried about excessive clutch/tranny wear due to stopping, just shift into neutral and stop using brakes alone. They will take on more wear, but your engine/etc. will ultimately take on less.

[7camaro7]

Fred Flintstone?

yea

[joerockhead]

You found my car!!!!!!

[7camaro7]

http://ls1tech.com/forums/showthread...t=downshifting

Quote:
Originally Posted by transam0486
Do you guys downshift when slowing down? If you do... how? and at what rpm? You cause more wear on the clutch the more you use it, right? When I downshift I tend to ease off the clutch slowly so i slow down more smoothly, but doesn't that cause more wear on the clutch than if you let off it quick? I read that dumping the clutch at a fairly high rpm isn't nearly as bad as "riding" the clutch or easing off it slowly.

Using this logic makes me question why we even downshift. Of course I'm talking about when you're decelerating, not accelerating . By not downshifting you're transferring more of the energy and wear it takes to slow down to the brakes, right? Wouldn't that make more sense?? Since brakes are cheap and easy to replace compared the clutch... Wouldn't this cause less wear and tear on the clutch... and the transmission for that matter?


Geeze some of you Americans have no idea about driving manual cars, lol

No serioiusly riding the clutch is BAD as a rule because it's basically slipping it which will case wear. This is up or down shifting.

HOWEVER the key to good driving is smoothness so dumping the clutch is not the best manoeuvre , plus if you do this when slowing down it can cause a lot of stress on the drivetrain and unsettle the car.

But the biggest thing with a manual is you can do most/much of the braking with the engine. This gives you far more control than an automatic. Hence ALL circuit and rally cars are always manual and never auto

So yes you should use the engine to brake. If you are driving quick cross country the you should use the brakes as little as possible because the engine will do the rest.

Heel and toe is a good technique, but difficult to perfect and in some cars near impossible due to pedal locations. But if you can "blip" the throttle between down shifts to match the revs then it won't unsettle the car, this allows a smoother faster transition and cornering ability.

Doing this will not damage the gearbox at all, it is common every day practice. Lorry drivers use this to great affect also as the brakes on a big rig are easy to over heat (least in years gone by).

4th to 2nd gear block changes are common as you can go from high speed to lower speed with plenty of control and enter a corner in the correct gear to accelarate out.

another bonus is fuel efficency. When an engine is coasting and down revving it won't be using any fuel. So by maximising downshifting and engine braking you can increase your mpg.

In my TR7 doing that on a daily 50 mile round commute to work and back I could increase my over all average MPG by 3mpg (24 to 27) which is a pretty big percentage.
__________________

For any that missed it - YES I'm from England. And YES I have a LS1.

[imflyn]

I voted brakes, but I have an A4! When I'm in a standard I use both.