My Blue Heaven

I missed this thread when it was active originally.....
I've got an auto, and I LOVE taking the O/D off, or even shifting into 3rd gear to slow down coming up on a light. When the light goes green I mash it and WAAAAAAAA away I go.
Another good use of this is when some yahoo (no relation to the web search engine) is riding your bumper. We've got a hwy here that everyone's going 40 on lately due to a new mall being constructed and I guess grandpa and grandma have never seen an earth mover so they have to slow down and rubber neck. Anyway, going through that section I'll turn the O/D off or shift down to 3rd so the revs stay up and when there's a break I can just GO and not worry about the puter figuring out which gear it thinks I should be in.

And finally....the car just SOUNDS better at 4000 rpm
now back to our regularly scheduled recent thread....

95SVTCobraVA

You forgot Jackalopes Jon

Stangette

It's the Disk against the flywheel, as if you are spirited upshifting and are over the rpm's a bit for the intended gear. Provided you are not engaging the clutch too fast or slipping it;- should be no harm. Just some pressure on the system. If you try downshifting one gear and let the rpms drop to the sweet spot of that gear by rev matching, then it will be a smooth transition;- almost like you never used the clutch at all.

Myself, when re-learning the Manual on an S197 and was only familiar with the old manuals, I thought I was doing something wrong when this happened. Subsequently, having drove under supervision of Career Racers and Instructors, the advanced syncromesh in these cars are just smoother.

In an aforementioned post regarding the tailgating "yahoo's";- the heel and toe in the manual comes in handy.

Deric

I always shift it into neutral and brake unless I'm in heavy stop and go traffic. When driving on the snow or ice I have found braking in neutral actually performs better than downshifting.

RobK

Better put on your asbestos flame suit!

You're absolutely right BTW regarding snow. The last thing you want to do in slippery conditions is throw torque at the rear wheels during a stop. That's the shortcut to quickly seeing where you've been without using your mirrors...unless of course you're running snow/ice tires then it's not as bad.

theedge67

Yes, ice or snow I always pop in the clutch when I'm braking. The last thing I want is my rear end losing traction and sliding out from behind me. That's only fun when there is POWER going to the rear wheels, not trying to stop!!

karman

I'll downshift at high speeds, but not rolling to a redlight with no traffic.
In snow and ice (not in my Stang), I let the ABS do it's job either braking in neutral or in gear.
It is not good to downshift to brake on ice. I've never had an accident doing it, but I can drive backwards really well.

mustangjack

I drove nothing but sticks for almost 20 years, I always downshift. Never caused any problem. If it is done correctly it is just a smooth natual reduction in speed that feels just like an automatic. And, if you need to get "spirited" in a hurry, you are ready and able to.

StangMahn

As a man with a truck with over 280k miles and only one clutch, I downshift while breaking. Usually I cruise in 5th, to help with gas mileage, when I see a red light, I put it into 4th, sometimes into 3rd, and apply the breaks. I try if at all possible to slow down, so as not to stop completely, because it too gets better mileage. You don't want to only downshift to slow down, but it does help. Especially in a panic situation, if you're good enough, you can go down a gear or two, which will tremendously help you slow down in a hurry.

AWmustang

I still don't understand why people think downshifting produces quicker stops.

The brakes alone on this (and nearly all) car are capable of locking up all 4 tires. This is not the fastest way to stop a car, but it proves that they are capable of the maximum braking force the traction of the tires can handle.

Now if you are in a situation with repeated braking and overheating is a concern that is an entirely different topic.

wjones14

Where does it say that this is the correct technique?

Are you supposed to downshift through the gears every time you come to a complete stop, like at a stop sign?

official_style

ok im unsubscribing from this thread. downshifting is fun, doesnt hurt anything. DONE|

HOSS429

if you wish to down shift then do so .. it`s your beeswax .. i actually prefer dumping my parachute every time i stop then have my trunk monkey role it back up .. people around me love it ..

Boomer

Thanks for answering my question...almost a year later

Stangette

Well then, , You should have asked me earlier.

Do a search in my posts, think I posted a story here recently about what happened when I noticed last week something different with my '05 Roush's clutch. The short of it is, in bringing her to the shop for a check at 16.5k miles, the technician says my clutch finally broke in. So, with all the downshifting, does not hurt her then. (Said Technician subsequently asked me to let him know when I decide to sell Jackie )

Of course, I do not powershift, do not dump clutches, and do not ride clutches. Thus, in a healthy system, and in driving it that way, it stands to reason the downshifting is just another operation in the many that she is designed to perform.

If I were in a lot of stop and go and cannot keep up a continuous roll in even 1st gear; - then I make the decision to use my brakes to be nice to my clutch and so what the brake pads are cheaper to replace for sure.

mustangjack

YES!!!

wjones14

LOL! Good answer...

ford4v429

one quick comment about downshifting- engine braking may or may not wear something, but its not something I'd worry about- BUT, say youre coming off an offramp to a stoplight,pushing it into 2nd/1st gear at too high a speed could really screw up your transmission- the little synchros have to spool up the clutch disk for the gears to mesh, and if you push hard enough, I would imagine you could be coasting at 70 and shift into first- but the clutch disk would likely explode before the needed 12,000 or so rpm was reached, causing real bad damage- possibly even pressureplate/flywheel explosion- say a piece of the broken clutch friction face gets stuck under the pressure plate and you release the clutch- cracking the flywheel...99% of the folks out there would know better, but I was riding with someone long ago that did that offramp downshift into first, and the gear whine from the tranny made me cringe and pull my feet back no damage, but read of a similar mustang story on one of the forums where a clutch(disk only luckily) failed in the same situation...just wanted to bring up that if someone never drove a stick before, just to get used to the normal maximum speed in each gear and remember that even that speed will really put a load on the synchronizers(unless rpm matching/double clutching)...downshifting for engine braking probably shouldnt be done at higher than normal upshifting speeds in each gear to keep disk speeds safe...

saw a car at the strip the other night doing a burnout with an open rearend- folks doing that probably dont realize the one spinning tire is going twice the speedometers reading, or that the little 'plain bearing' spider gears that are designed for a few rpm while going around a corner are turning thousands of rpm, grinding themselves apart...just wanted to throw this out there as a lot of folks might not ever think about the way gearing can speed things up so easily...

mustangjack

We're not talking about downshifting into 1st on a off ramp at 70 mph. I doubt you even could. I don't even think I'd take a off ramp at 70.

But, as you enter the ramp, you drop your speed and go into 4th, you drop some more and go into 3rd. If you are not stopping you might accellerate and upshift from there. If you are stopping you continue to downshift until you can easily put it into 1st, at probably less than 10 mph, and stop. This should all be smooth. The idea of downshifting is to match your gear with your speed and rpms. Just like upshifting.

I am I missing something? I like to snap the Hurst through the gears and make the Flowmasters roar as much as the next guy, but are we driving like maniacs all the time?

metroplex

I've read that if you shift into Neutral and coast to a stop, you will immediately fail your driver's test in Europe... but I've tried stopping using 3 methods:

One is to pop it into Neutral and come to a stop if the light suddenly turned red or I know I will be sitting there for awhile (which is apparently illegal or frowned upon).

The other is to keep it in 5th gear (or whatever gear I was in) and stop until it's about 50-100 RPM before it stalls out. Then I let the clutch out and shift into Neutral (long wait) or 1st gear (ready to go).

The last is to slow down and downshift simultaneously so I don't have to come to a complete stop and can go on a moments notice. I usually downshift at around 1000 RPM so I don't have to blip the throttle each time.