Downshift or neutral??
 

well ive heard a bunch of opinions on waht 2 do so im taking a poll..... When coming to a red light do u downshift to help brakes or put in neutal 2 help clutch cause brakes arent as expensive as a clutch

Where's the poll?

Most of the time I downshift low RPM.

i used to downshift, but my clutch started slipping with only 14k on it, so now i just put it in neutral lol.

Eww. Only time I put mine in neutral(without foot on clutch) is when I don't feel like downshifting or just out by myself and not in traffic.

well if u role up to a stop light all the time with the clutch in.. u will wreck ur throw out bearing .. and thats pricy.. i was tought in a defensive driving course i took at road america.." sweet ass road course that when you slow up to a stop u should down shift..

you should never be in neutral when you are movin :nono: if something happens, you are not in gear to be able to move out of the way quickly.
I have been racing with my street cars for years and I have never had to replace a clutch, much less throw out bearing...I get 50k miles out of stock brake pads. I do have a problem with tires though...i usually get 10k miles to a set:nuts:
If you drive right, you can drive hard and not tear anything up:twothumbs
race car drivers must make there car last the race, we (street drivers) have to get at least 75,000k on our rides before dumping in the $$$$

ehhh 50/50 Depends where I am and who's around. The LSJ sounds mean at around 3K. Don't mind a slow coming to a stop sounding mean with ppl around. lol

Exactly.

I have 36K on my car and my clutch is good with probably 35 launches at the track. That drive it like you stole it theme gets a lot of little kids.

Got me and my last car. Not getting this one.

Depends how you downshift I guess. I never downshift above 2000rpms. It's easier on the clutch and still helps slow you down even though its not as drastic as doing it from a higher rpm. The point is to have the car in gear as you slow down. Coasting to a stop in neutral will definitely take longer than letting the car slow itself down in 2nd or 3rd gear.

Downshift.... it's one of those joys of driving...

correct
but crap, when racing (road course) I downshift while braking at 4000 rpms and its like throwing and anchor out the back :lol: :lol: :lol:
and the freakin SC's have great brakes :twothumbs

are you heel toeing it or just downshifting

I roll to the light with the car in neutral and the clutch out. I just make sure I am aware of the fact that the car is not in gear, if I have to avoid something I will use brakes. 99% of the time it is better to break then accelerate to avoid an accident anway!

Just watch out for people cutting you off, that's the only time you need the power to switch lanes and avoid accident.

I like to coast in neutral, however if I come to merging roads I will downshift the car into gear just incase.

Ryan

heel toe

it depends... if i'm going down a hill i'll downshift or if i'm going 70+ and need to slow down.

if i'm just loafing around town, i'll roll.

I do both, it depends on what I feel like doing at the moment.

I'll usually down shift if I've got to stop quickly, if not I'm coastin' to a stop in neutral

i use the brakes until 1200 rpm. I find this helps preserve the clutch (use the brakes to fight the momentum). Then at 1200, while braking still, I pop it to neutral, or if it's a stop sign, just clutch in and go to 1st to be ready. The reasoning I use to brake until 1200 then go to pure brake power is that the car idles just under 1000 and I don't want to make the brakes fight the engine as it tries to keep revs high.

Anyway, that seems to work for me. No down-shifting to save the clutch and neutral/clutch-in to save the brakes. The car stops faster using that method too, for me.

^^^good idea ill try that thx

I do what the manual says, If you look it says use the brakes, and keep the car in the gear you were in when starting to apply the brakes untill the last few feet of the stop, then pull it out of gear.

I've done this since day one, have no problems with getting cut off, round here if you get cut off, and you hit them at an angle, it is their fault, if you hit them from the rear, your screwed, so just hit the brakes if your gonna get hit.

Also, if you drive around here and expect to downshift to a stop, GOOD LUCK...traffic is 55mph, or stopped, there is no coasting to a stop while downshifting. You're either on the gas or on the brake.

But you people that insist on downshifting saying that saves the brakes, I'd love to see you Downshift to a complete stop without using the brakes except when you get to first gear, ALL while doing a 55-0mph stop in 100 yards!

I do what the manual says, it is in your manual...RTFM!!!

Do you guys rev-match on the higher RPM downshifts, or do you just drop a gear and let out the clutch?

i've always rev matched... that's what happens when you're either used to bikes, or have a car that doesn't synchro like a modern car.

Do you usually step on the gas to avoid an obstacle?!?!?!? Usually in an emergency you're stopping, not speeding up, so I don't think that's a very useful argument.

I agree. Another thing people should think about is gas mileage. You're going to get better gas mileage coasting than you are downshifting. I don't think that it would be the clutch I would be worried about. Does downshifting at higher rpms hurt the engine at all? It seems like it would, why don't automatics do it?

+1
^

I'd say at least 80% of the time I accelerate to avoid an obstacle, unless it's something completely unavoidable or I'm limited in run off room and can't maneuver as well. One of the main things my driver's ed teacher preached to us - you're more in control of a car when you're on the gas than when you're on the brake. If you see something and jam on the brakes, you're at the mercy of your tires and the weight of your car is working AGAINST you. Plus braking + turning = VERY VERY BAD. Ask any road racer that's gotten into a turn late and tapped em with the wheels cut...not pretty.



Really? I don't. My gas mileage is at worst on the high side of average, but from what most people post, I normally get better gas mileage than a lot of people and I'm a downshifter. As for the engine, if it's done right it shouldn't hurt a thing. People really shouldn't be downshifting at high RPMs. I rarely if ever do a downshift on the street to where the revs come up above 3000 RPMs, which is well within a normal driving range. Now, if you bounce it off the limiter regularly, then yeah, that's not very good. You should also rev-match, which takes a little getting used to but over time it becomes second nature.

Plain and simple: Automatics don't have to. In an automatic, you're always in the correct gear (hence the point of an automatic), so if need be you can ALWAYS accelerate instantly, whereas in a manual you have to manually select the gear. So if there's no need to manually change what gear the car's in, there's no need to manually downshift and no need to up the revs on the motor because under normal driving conditions manuals don't stall.