I would rather Change brake pads than a clutch. My personal preference is to put it in neutral and slow down using the brakes.


joe r

 

I would rather change brake pads than a clutch. My personal preference is to put it in neutral and slow down using the brakes.

+1

 

Rowing through gears to stop is the worst option. I leave the car in gear and brake. Coasting in neutral is bad practice but you are stopping in a straight line, so it's okay as long as it's safe. Downshifting only makes sence if it will be followed by acceleration, doing it coming up to the light anticipating it to turn green is one thing, doing it to slow down is not needed unless it's a panic stop.

If you want general rules to follow, read up on how an instructor would teach you at a track day, or how motorcycles are ridden. Basic rules:

Never clutch in unless shifting, be in gear while moving.
No coasting in neutral.
When making a turn do all your braking and shifting before making steering move, pick a line, look at where you want to end up (out of the turn, turn your head if needed), make your steering move a d get back on the gas, smoothly accelerating throughout the turn.

Here you go: http://m.wikihow.com/Drive-Smoothly-with-a-Manual-Transmission

Stan

 

Rev-match downshifting here.

Almost 130k on the original clutch and 2-1/2 AutoX season too.

But, I do have a new clutch, pressure plate and flywheel on stand-by.

 

I'll rev match and downshift too sometimes, especially on a motorcycle and if i need more control via engine braking. But I may do it 4th to 3rd, not to 2nd and not rowing through gears. Though I've rowed through gears in the past. Generally though, just braking in gear wil work just fine, if I were teaching someone that's what I'd tell them.

Clutch and flywheel wear is one thing, but also consider all other spinning components like alternator, oil pump, pulleys, tensioners, diffs, driveshafts, axles. Then bushings, engine/diff/tranny mounts.. You are making all of them work more than needed when rowing through gears to stop. Then there is extra shock on the tranny, more syncro wear, etc.

Stan

 

Downshifting for expected speed changes and stops is the right way. It also saves fuel. As long as you're rev matching there is no additional wear nor is this anything the engineers did not have in mind. Letting the engine's compressions slow you down is natural and efficient. I don't do it every stop, but I do on expected speed changes and down hill grades as it is convenient.

To be clear, you're not supposed to be rowing through the gears. I usually use 3rd, and when getting off the highway 4th. As the RPMs drop below 2k, go ahead and clutch in.

 

I used to downshift through the gears letting the clutch out in each lower gear, but now I engine brake in 5th to slow down, sometimes shift down to 4th and engine brake some more then coast in neutral the rest of the way. Depends on the hills and weight of vehicle. If the light changes, I can speed match the shift from neutral and get into the right gear.

I'm now in the camp that says "Brakes are easier and cheaper to change than clutch and transmission parts". Downshifting through 3,2,1 is a lot of extra shifting and clutch operations.

There is a lot of personal preference in this subject area. Some ways are more wear and tear on the vehicle, but depending on terrain it might be necessary. YMMV :N_poke:

Adam

 

Well, there are plenty of people that will coast down a hill in neutral and take corners and brake with the clutch pushed in. I understand people have preferences, but they are doing it wrong.

Stan

 

Ha, I agree.

A few weeks ago, I seen a group of 4 people, all walking side by side facing the wrong direction (backs towards traffic) on a rural road. No body even looked as I was approaching or when I was going by. In my younger days, I would have stopped, and informed them that what they were doing was extremely dangerous and just begging for trouble. A person with any sense would say "Thanks, I didn't think of that!", but with the mentality of a lot of folks today, I've come to accept that you can't tell idiots that they are being idiots, and just try to get as far out of their way as I can. That's a long story, but now you understand better what I mean by "personal preference". :shrug:

Adam

 

brake in gear until low rpms, then clutch in. Rev matching downshifts is fun, and I do it when I will be accelerating out of a turn or whatever, but I doubt a guy with his first manual car even knows how to rev match. To learn a little look into double clutching.

 

but I doubt a guy with his first manual car even knows how to rev match. To learn a little look into double clutching.

Maybe I'm an exception but I'm 17 and my first car is my SF5 5MT and I can't stand to not rev match...I always yell at my mom for not rev matching her 5MT XS

 

When I have a good transmission I would downshift through gears typically. But on my new old race car with probably abused transmission I will leave in gear until low rpms, 2nd doesn't feel the best.

 

I do a combination of down shifting and braking as well as just coasting or braking. It depends on the situation and how I'm driving. I had a new clutch assembly put into my Forester at 145k miles, only because I had to have the engine pulled and seals and gaskets replaced. The clutch was still good but with that many miles on it why not swap it out while the engine was out of the car. $450.00 vs $750.00 if I didn't do it then. Anyway, stopping a Forester, in my opinion, isn't a hard thing to do. They stop quick, if need be. But, which way is better to stop a Forester? Don't really know. I haven't had any problems with stopping mine using any of the methods stated.

 

It's always been a point of pride for me to utilize the gearbox as much as possible and the brakes as seldom as possible in ALL the manual transmission vehicles I have owned (14 in 44 years of driving) and none of them ever required a new clutch or transmission save one which was a total error on my part and not from abnormal wear...a well-executed downshift with proper rev-matching is one of the joys of operating a manual transmission vehicle IMHO.

 

I like to stay in the gear I'm in while I slow down, until I get down around 1500 rpms, then put it in neutral. I will downshift when I'm not slowing down to a stop, just slowing down momentarily, but it feels like a waste of clutch to row through all of the gears down to a dead stop and then back up to speed again. Rev-matching definitely helps if you must.

 

I like to go from 5th and force it into 2nd gear for maximum downshift effect. :Banane36:

 

I selected a combination of the above- depends on what I'm driving and how much distance I have available from the start of braking to the point I need to stop by, along with whether I'm on a downgrade or not.

If I'm in 5th, I'll downshift to 4th so that way if I maintain braking while in 4th, my road speed has dropped pretty low by the time the RPMs lower below 1000 and I need to push in the clutch. If I'm on a downgrade, I'll downshift to a gear that will maintain my current speed on the downgrade before braking so that my brake application will be smooth and consistent and not require firm pressure on the brake pedal, thus increasing the risk of overheating the brakes on a long downgrade.

When I'm driving a tractor-trailer (mine's a 10-speed), I'll tend to gear down, brake until RPMs drop to about 1100, drop another gear, and repeat the process to keep the transmission in the proper gear for the road speed I'm doing in case I need to start accelerating again before coming to a complete stop.

In either case, this tends to give me the best balance between clutch wear and brake pad/shoe fade, along with maintaining the best possible control of the vehicle.

 

When I had a manual I liked to downshift first and then shift into neutral and brake until I stopped.

 

As i drive exclusively MT's i chose a combination....
Usually I let it coast in neutral.....anticipating trafic conditions(crosswalks, trafic lights).But i also use engine braking depending on situation(winter, emergency stop).For example in the winter time I only use brakes in the last few meters to a complete stop, most of the braking is done with engine braking.
In an emergency situation hard brake pedal action helped by engine braking(not afraid to throw it from 5th to 2nd when a child jumps in front of the vehicle or to avoid an impact).
I'm not set on just one method of slowing down/stoping.Usual method is to protect the ocupants of the car and the car(less wear), but if the situation requires it I don't really care about the car's wear/tear!
Excuse the language but>>>screw the gearbox, clutch and engine......If i managed to stop and not injure, or worse kill somebody, thats all that matters!