Decepticon

I was just reading a thread from the active topics and some guy said you shouldnt downshift to slow your car down.

Everyone downshifts in someway right?

reds2

You should always be in the proper gear. You can downshift if you rev match.

Ravenwerk

Learn to rev match and downshift while braking.

payyourtoll

right - dont substitute a downshift for a brake depression.

what I do is always stay in a gear that will allow me to hit the gas and accelerate and not bog if I needed to be in good control of the car.

RazorV3

if you downshift correctly(revmatch, where you blip the throttle) , there will be no extra wear and tear.

michaeljohn

Yeah, you should match RPM to limit clutch wear.

Downshifting to brake is poor practice because if you don't revmatch you will be using the clutch to slow the car.

Think of it this way, you have 4 brakes on the car but only one clutch.

Good luch

Bret

Well, there have been some pretty heated debates regarding this topic in the past. I'm probably in the minority, but I fall on the side that says there is nothing wrong with downshifting to the next lower gear without rev matching. To begin with, manual transmission cars are designed with the understanding that people will downshift and they will not rev match. I have only ever seen one person rev match while driving (and he did it just to show me how smoothly it can be done). Ask a person that owns a manual car and is not a driving enthusiast if they rev match and they will look at you like you have just spoken to them in a foreign language. Theoretically, clutch wear should be less if you rev match, but I question if the difference is significant. My 240SX had over 100k miles on it and the original clutch when I sold it and I never rev matched once. I did downshift to slow the car as a regular habit. The S2000 has six gears so that means that there is less RPM difference between gears (versus 5 or 4 speed cars) which should also lessen any theoretical wear. I think things like clutch drops and riding the clutch will actually produce the majority of premature clutch wear. So, bottom line, don't sweat it.

NoTorq

Yep, I think Sheister is correct. (An unfortunate handle though! ) I think the issue is academic more than practical. My wife has a 97 Dakota with 125,000 on the original clutch with mucho downshifting and very few rev matches (I do it occasionaly, she never does). The clutch is still perfectly fine. Granted, it is a pretty beefy clutch but it's also a 5000lb truck.

In the S I always rev match, not because I'm trying to save the clutch, I just like blipping the throttle. Plus, I'm trying to perfect my heel-toe technique.

Ravenwerk

Sheister,
I have to admit that I'm just a little puzzled by your statements.

If you would sir, please enlighten me with your source of info on this point.

For over thirty years now I've been under the impression that "being smooth" is a goal that most drivers attempt to achieve at some point with their skill.

I may be wrong in assuming that the S was made specifically for "enthusiasts" but I would consider their opinion of a higher caliber than someone who doesn't know the meaning or understand the simple concept of "rev matching".

This I can relate to. But finesse in shifting skills is greatly desired by those in the know and "rev matching" is certainly part of that.

Penforhire

Sorry, brake pads (and rotors) are way less expensive than a clutch job. Downshift without rev matching as your wallet allows...