How many of you use the Clutch to Slow Down?

Here's what I'm refering to.

For example you're driving in the 4th Gear, and you need to slow down. Instead of using the brake, you shift to the third gear and just slightly take your foot off of the clutch to slow down.

Does anyone here do that?

Thanks.
Have A Nice Day.

 

I do that all the time....95% of the time, except when you need to realy slow down fast obviously. Why you ask?

 

well sort of.


If i'm in a gear and want to slow down using the engine......I would rather rev match so its very smooth.

It goes like this, your in fourth for example, clutch in---blip throttle to bring RPM's up a couple thousand------into third-------release clutch, all in a smooth quick motion.

The way you describe will slow your car down more....but give more wear to the clutch surface.


Gandu......can we see a photograph or your car?

 

brakes are cheaper than clutches, remember that

 

That's my standard way of braking, except at red lights. Braking with clutch and gears can be pretty useful if you drive downhill for a long time, because otherwise the brakes may overheat. Another aspect is that you're always in the right gear to accelerate again. It may decrease the lifetime of the clutch though.

 

And why did you post this in the RX-8 Multimedia/Photo Gallery ********?

 

brake pads are cheaper then clutches...i only downshift under deceleration if im taking a turn fast enough to need to balance the car with the throttle or a hard stop so the engine can help the brakes out a bit.

 

I always downshift on deceleration-- that's part of the fun of driving a manual! Always shift down at least one gear, but often all the way down through second. I also always rev match and usually double clutch, so clutch wear is a non-issue. For anybody that doesn't believe this, when I took my Miata's tranny apart to replace a screechy T.O. bearing at ~80k miles, my clutch disc still had over 50% of it's material left.

Brakes are easy to replace, but the 8's are so damn messy I like to keep the dust to a minimum. I rather fully drive the 6 speed like it was meant to be driven.

 

another thing is gas mileage...all that toe heeling adds up to alot of wasted revs that are out of gear

 

I use the same method. Keeps the car in complete control all the time and I have never in my life had to replace a clutch on any car. I just traded in a 1991 Integra with 201,000 km (125,000 mi) and the clutch was still fine.

Alot of people say that brakes are cheaper than clutches, but I was taught that your car should always be in gear to ensure that you can accelerate in a emergency.

 

wrong forum

 

when i brake i step on the brake then heel-toe then down shift......i duno if this is right or not but its smooth.....and what is double clutch? i hear it sometimes but duno what u suppose 2 do....can someone explain plzz???

 

Since you are already doing heel-toe braking you are probably doing some form of double clutching and just didn't know what it was called.

Let's say you're in 3rd approaching a corner and want to downshift to 2nd. Start your heel-toe braking and depress the clutch as you go into neutral...then let the clutch out half way then depress it again fully to complete your shift into second while using your heel-toe to "blip" the throttle.

Why the hell are we talking about this in the Multimedia/photo gallery section????????

 

hey sorry for continuing this question in this section....but i'm kinda getting confused.....ok when i start braking.....then i rev it up 2 match the gear so its smooth......so i press down on the clutch shift to 2nd, i don't get when i let the clutch up half way.....sorry but still confused....plzzz explain more....

 

Not quite - why only halfway let out the clutch?

The purpose of double-clutching is to synchronize the gear shafts for the downshift, rather than making the synchronizers do the work.

Say you're driving at 3000 rpm in 3rd gear, you want to downshift to second, and at that speed, 2nd gear would be 4000 rpm.

- push in clutch, move shifter from 3rd to neutral
- let out clutch (all the way), blip throttle to rev to ~4000 rpm
- push in clutch, move shifter from neutral to 2nd
- let out clutch, which smoothly engages!

The above process takes about 0.5 seconds. It's effect on smooth driving is the same as rev-matching on downshifts, but the added benefit is that it reduces wear on the transmission.

Regards,
Gordon

PS - for Gandu - never, ever, slip the clutch except for moving from a stop.

 

Right forum, wrong section.

 

Wow! Awesome pics! Keep 'em comin!