MT Poll: do you down shift when slowing down?

[jintegra]

Just wondering what other MT drivers do when slowing down, & also please post any statistics you may have on tranny / clutch longevity on any of the MT's you've owned. I've always down shifted to utlize engine braking, but always wondered how much longer my clutch or tranny would last if I didn't.

Here's my list :
- 87 Accord bought new: ~180K km before clutch changed. Tranny still OK when car was written off at 190K km.
- 95 Integra bought used at 70K km: Still on original clutch & tranny at 170K km.

[anysia]

no stats for me..... first mt car!! ;)

sometimes i downshift to slow down... not always though... depends on my mood and what traffic is doing and how close i am to the person in front of me! ;)

[stevel]

transmissions are there to make a car go. brakes make the car slow down.... under normal conditions anyways. ;) now on a track... that's different. :biggrin:

[anysia]

transmissions are there to make a car go. brakes make the car slow down.... under normal conditions anyways. ;) now on a track... that's different. :biggrin:

:lmao: i'm practicing for the track....
hehe..

[stevel]

:lmao: i'm practicing for the track....
hehe..

hmmm..... wonder if erik has an autox next weekend.......... :biggrin:

[anysia]

hmmm..... wonder if erik has an autox next weekend.......... :biggrin:

geez, i'd loose......... i'm not exactly great with an mt yet..... :nuts:

[stevel]

not about winning or loosing.. about having fun. safe fun. :D

[anysia]

not about winning or loosing.. about having fun. safe fun. :D


so i can't drive like that on a public road??? :lmao:

[stevel]

not advised... although I think I scared my sister today. :D

[anysia]

guessing it's better not to ask how... :lmao:

[stevel]

you'll find out. ;)

[BenjiBoy650]

Trannies ARE very expensive. But that's why you learn the art of double clutching and heel-toeing. It's fun...but I don't really heel toe, my shoes are too big so I just kinda uhm...roll my foot from side to side half on the brake half on the gas lol

[stiller fan]

i treat my car like an MT sometimes, especially in the snow :banana: :banana: :banana: , on winding roads :VROOM:, and when i have to slow down quickly.....

oh yeah, i have an AT, btw.... :screwy: :nuts:

[n1accord]

[QUOTE=jintegra]Just wondering what other MT drivers do when slowing down, & also please post any statistics you may have on tranny / clutch longevity on any of the MT's you've owned. I've always down shifted to utlize engine braking, but always wondered how much longer my clutch or tranny would last if I didn't. QUOTE]

With a MT, 95% of the time I go back down thru the gears when slowing with minimal use of brakes - - cars and bikes. The only clutch that I had to replace was the Corolla with 205k miles and it's driven like a sports car. I ran autox with a '77 Accord, sold it at 105k miles and the clutch was strong. The trannies never had a problem. IMO, I would enjoy the vehicle and not worry about clutch longevity. Of course, if you're not totally comfortable with a clutch, then some prudence is in order.

[dads-car]

Engine braking!!

That's what the compression is for!!!


(Nah not really - I still use engine braking all the time though)

[Peniole]

Always downshift, smoother stopping, and when the light turns green (just before I stop) goose it in the lower gear scares the hell out of the idiot who's dozing off in pole position at the light :naughty:

But seriosly the only other MT I actually wore something out in was a Hyaundai Excel 1991, changed the clutch at 160K then sold it a while afterwrds, nothing happened to the tranny.

[T's97accordex]

Trannies ARE very expensive. But that's why you learn the art of double clutching and heel-toeing. It's fun...but I don't really heel toe, my shoes are too big so I just kinda uhm...roll my foot from side to side half on the brake half on the gas lol
Heel-toeing is the way to save the clutch :thmsup: , but it'skinda hard to get down. Still trying to learn :D

[EXLNavi]

Depends on what I drive.

If it's anything heavier than a car, yes. You don't want to rely on brakes alone when your total GVW is 26,000 lbs.

[B52Wing]

I have an 89 civic (purchased new) with 240k and original clutch and trans. Downshifted it all the time.

I have a 2000 Accord (purchased new). I like to come down the off ramps at a good clip. I didn't downshift a lot for the first 50k miles but finally got tired of replacing warped front rotors. Since 50k miles I have made a point of downshifting to minimize brake use. I now have 150k+ on my 2000 Accord with the original trans and clutch and I haven't replaced the rotors since 50k miles. Besides..... those honda 4 cylinders LOVE to spin!!!!!!! :thmsup:

[LeaDxPainT]

Heel-toeing is the way to save the clutch :thmsup: , but it'skinda hard to get down. Still trying to learn :D

What's heel-toeing? :paranoid:

[James.uk]

I don't bother when rolling up to traffic at low (town) speeds, but if you are on a hilly road with lots of curves then using the gear box is the way to go, that applies to autos as well as MT's, thou the Accord doesn't help on a change down anything like as much as dropping the ZX down a notch does!

The ZX also has passive rear wheel steering which makes it extremely fast through corners.. :naughty: The trick with driving a non turbo diesel hard is to keep the revs at the high end. ;)

Braking hard into a corner in the Accord causes the offside nose to dig in a bit and puts the car out of balance untill you can lay on the power again, dropping the lever back a notch does nothing to help that, bit like going into neutral really. It's just not a "sporty" car in my opinion. :dunno: .
.

[alaimar]

What's heel-toeing? :paranoid:
I wanted to ask the same thing, lol.

[BenjiBoy650]

What's heel-toeing? :paranoid:
When braking, some people like to downshift for extra engine brake or to keep the engine in the meat of the power band. Problem is you have 2 feet, and 3 pedals to work: clutch for the shift, gas for the rev-match, brake for the braking. You then use your right foot to do both the brake and gas at the same time and that's called heel-toe :)

[Conundrum]

What's heel-toeing? :paranoid:

This should help as well:

http://www.turnfast.com/tech_driving/driving_heeltoe.shtml

Honestly I wish I could say I do this in my Accord but I just can't get the foot positions right. At some point I've got to get some pedal covers that move things closer together, as the spacing is just too far off in the 7th gens imo (my friend's Subie is so much better for pedal placement).

As for downshifting...sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't...really it depends on how I feel like driving at that moment in time. Now in terms of lane changing and maintaining a good rpm range at a given speed then yes I downshift all the time (always rev matched). Its just when I am coming up to a stop, typically I'll maybe go from 4th to 3rd, then ride 3rd until I'm nearing stall speed then drop it in neutral and wait for the light to change. I actually used to downshift more with my Sunfire than I do with my Accord, simply because that car had such a narrow range between "I'm about to stall" and "I'm over-revving" it wasn't funny.

Now with all that said, I do ride out whatever gear I am in all the time when slowing down, rather than going on the brake immediately (so in other words, in gear but completely off the throttle).

[phoenix]

Always downshift but rev match as well. And I never ever ever ever redline my baby. I think 5k was the highest rpms she's ever gotten.

[dads-car]

Always downshift but rev match as well. And I never ever ever ever redline my baby. I think 5k was the highest rpms she's ever gotten.

poor girl

:)

[phoenix]

poor girl

:)
I hope you are kidding. Otherwise I am now worried about my baby. :paranoid:

[BenjiBoy650]

I hope you are kidding. Otherwise I am now worried about my baby. :paranoid:
Come on try redline...it's beautiful and the cars love it. Nothing beats the good old Italian tuneup.

[Amanda Moen]

poor girl

:)

Hehe, I was thinking the same thing. Honda engines are very rev happy, so to speak. It's okay to go up in the rpm range. You should probably do it ever once in a while just to clean any carbon build up off of the spark plugs. Besides, if you don't go up there you'll never get to experience VTEC. And where's the fun in that?

[dads-car]

Hehe, I was thinking the same thing. Honda engines are very rev happy, so to speak. It's okay to go up in the rpm range. You should probably do it ever once in a while just to clean any carbon build up off of the spark plugs. Besides, if you don't go up there you'll never get to experience VTEC. And where's the fun in that?

Well.... Our '93 doesn't have VTEC.

But if you need to get going, you're going to want to be past 4000RPM.

:banana:

[phoenix]

I get plenty of power keeping the RPMs under 5k. I've beaten people off the line without a problem thus far (except for today with an early 90s Jetta that some girl had modded, that thing zipped off the line in a heartbeat! Her engine mods were great :thmsup: but the looks made me want to throw up - white Jetta with pink spraypainted rims and black spraypainted VW logos!! :puke:

Guess I'll have to whip my baby around a little more to quiet you guys down! :lmao: As long as there is no snow on the ground I'll clean off them thar carbons y'all were yappin' 'bout on the ride home from work. :joker:

[phoenix]

Update: Carbons cleaned, RPMs near redlined, smiles had :)

[josh52382]

Depends, if it is just a normal stop I will put it in Neutral. If I need to stop quickly I will down shift.

[samsonskeg]

If i need to stop really fast, I put it in reverse!!! Works all the time

[MotorCity Honda]

transmissions are there to make a car go. brakes make the car slow down.... under normal conditions anyways. ;) now on a track... that's different. :biggrin:


My thinking as well

[Aviography]

If i need to stop really fast, I put it in reverse!!! Works all the time

I would love to see you do that in person with your car from say 30 MPH on dry high friction road surface.

:)

[flcma99]

Just wondering what other MT drivers do when slowing down

Why limit this to MT drivers? I often downshift when slowing in traffic or when a sudden stop calls for added engine braking. Until the new 5ATs, this was always a delight in the Accord ATs. Not quite as visceral as the 5MT and 6MT, but still engaging. The 5AT has a pretty large "gap" when going from 5th in "D" to 3rd in "D3".

Just thought I would represent the AT owners!! :thmsup:

[flcma99]

It's okay to go up in the rpm range. You should probably do it ever once in a while just to clean any carbon build up off of the spark plugs.

There used to be a time when the service representatives would recommend doing this periodically (once a month or so) when slowing to a stop. Of course that was back in the carberator days (1988 Accord) and well before the transmission troubles of the 7th generation 5AT.

Today, the service representatives seem to conservative and "by the book" to offer that advice. Too Bad!!!

[kpulse]

it all depends on how Im driving at the time, i just got new rims so im downshifting more to avoid brake dust buildup

[VTECaddict]

Why limit this to MT drivers? I often downshift when slowing in traffic or when a sudden stop calls for added engine braking. Until the new 5ATs, this was always a delight in the Accord ATs. Not quite as visceral as the 5MT and 6MT, but still engaging. The 5AT has a pretty large "gap" when going from 5th in "D" to 3rd in "D3".

Just thought I would represent the AT owners!! :thmsup:
excellent way to accelerate auto tranny failure!! :thmsup: