I had an earlier post about gear selection and was surprised with the replies, most were no downshifting, coast to a stop, put it in neutral…causes less wear on the clutch and transmission.

I have been driving a stick for @#$ years, street cars, trucks, sports cars
and motorcycles and have always downshifted and have never encountered a problem or additional wear (that I know of). I thought one of the reasons for the engine speed match paddle was for this reason.

Please let me know what you do to slow for a corner or come to a stop.

Thank You and Merry Christmas

"Never Forget"

 

Coasting is for women. I downshift because I like the way it feels...if it causes wear then I'll fix it when it breaks!!!

 

I downshift - that's part of the fun of having a manual.

 

Ever since I learned to drive stick, I had downshifted. I have never had any premature clutch wear. In fact - I've had cars as long as 7 years before they were sold with the original clutch.

 

Never forget: Brake pads are cheaper than transmissions.

 

But brake pads are $2,500!!!!!

(sorry, had to)

 

I routinely downshift with the paddles (well, they're there for something aren't they???)

RE: manual, downshifting won't hurt the tranny, especially now with the throttle blip w/downshifting. Even the A6 does that.

 

I am a women and I drive a manual tranny so I can shift and downshifting is pretty much the only way to slow down......so enough with coasting is for women!

 

Most women I've known couldn't coast if their lives depended on it

Oh wait...... this thread is about driving

Nevermind

 

Me too ! Except for the "...for women" thing.

 

Downshifting is fun and sounds cool and all that - but the truth is the motor is made for speeding up and the brakes are made to slow down, and the purpose of downshifting is to be in the right gear when you're done braking and get back on the gas.

 

That is true, but even up to 40K miles on some of my C5's, I've never had to replace a brake pad or transmission. I downshift rounding a corner to keep the revs in a usable torque range, and also to slow for a stop.

 

What brake pads cost 2500$ ?

 

same here.

 

That about sums it up!

 

Downshifting sounds awesome with rev matching and my ARH long tube headers. Sounds like a Lambo sometimes. I don't care if it breaks something early, the exotics can do it why not my Vette? Downshift all day, everyday.

 

Downshift and upshift all you want, that's why we buy manuals !

 

The blipping is only to match the revs so that when you release the clutch, there is less drivetrain jolt from the car having to speed up the engine.

The wear to the transmission is from the syncros having to speed up the input shaft to meet the speed of the lower gear. Whether that wear is significant or not you can debate, although given how much you generally have to push on the gear shifter to get it to go into the lower gear, it sure seems like it's doing some work.

The only time blipping the throttle would save tranny wear is if you double clutch: release the clutch while in neutral, rev the engine to speed up the input shaft, depress clutch and choose lower gear (input shaft is now up to speed so the syncro doesn't have to do it), blip throttle again to get the engine back up to the lower gear's speed, release clutch.

My view is this: if I know I'm coming to a stop, I'll pop it in neutral and coast (unless I'm feeling 'spirited' and want to hear the engine pop while it decelerates). But if I know I'm going to be accelerating at some point, I'll usually choose the gear I'm going to eventually need and keep the clutch depressed until I'm at the approximate speed for that gear.

 

 

Well.. I was being facetious and was referring to this post from this thread:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c7-g...highlight=2500