Rep Power: 0

Part 1: I was at school today and during lunch me and my friends had a 3 way race back to school. I got distracted by the construction in front of me and forgot to shift, so therefore redlined for about about less than 2 secs. Am I a dead man? I've been feeling bad for the rest of the day...

Part 2: I then asked my friend when I got back. They didn't really answer my question, but mentioned something about if I downshift when I'm slowing down to a stop (which I do sometimes to often) that will burn my clutch down also. Can anybody fill me in? Thanx

 
Rep Power: 0

won't burn your clutch down, your friends don't know what they're talking about, and our cars have a rev limiter, like most cars, so that redlining won't do TOO much. just don't do it all the time.

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanx a lot man. Just from hearing that from at least one person makes me feel a little better. Its the first bad thing I've done to my car in the 5 months I've had it... I feel awful... My poor baby... LOL

 
Rep Power: 0

Yeah, slowing down by downshifting is better for your brakes but over a long period of time (like 100,000 miles) prolly isnt too good for it. As far as redlining the car for 2 seconds goes, dont worry about it.

 
Rep Power: 0

Down shifting is not bad for your car or your clutch. In fact like already mentioned it helps your brakes last a little longer. Your friends have no clue what they are talking about. An automatic does it as well obviously by itself. If you ride your clutch then you will have problems. As far as hitting your rev limiter if you do it all the time then you are going to cause problems. If it happens once in a while no biggy that is why you have a rev limiter(so you won't blow your engine)

 
Rep Power: 0

Alright, now I'm fully recovered. Thanx to you all. I love you guys man...[IMG]i/expressions/beer_yum.gif[/IMG] I also notice that I have a tendency to have my foot on the clutch when I drive, but not all the way in, just resting on it where it goes in like 1/4 inch, but I know all people do that so I'm not worried Thanx

 
Rep Power: 0

Hate to tell you THAT is bad for your clutch

 
Rep Power: 0

<< Alright, now I'm fully recovered. Thanx to you all. I love you guys man...[IMG]i/expressions/beer_yum.gif[/IMG] I also notice that I have a tendency to have my foot on the clutch when I drive, but not all the way in, just resting on it where it goes in like 1/4 inch, but I know all people do that so I'm not worried Thanx >>




Yea, don't ride the clutch. That is a sure way to wear it out in a hurry. Keep your foot off of it unless you are using it!

 
Rep Power: 0

<< Down shifting is not bad for your car or your clutch. In fact like already mentioned it helps your brakes last a little longer. Your friends have no clue what they are talking about. An automatic does it as well obviously by itself. If you ride your clutch then you will have problems. As far as hitting your rev limiter if you do it all the time then you are going to cause problems. If it happens once in a while no biggy that is why you have a rev limiter(so you won't blow your engine) >>



You really shouldn't use downshifting to slow the car down for like a stop sign or something. That's what the brakes are for. Using the engine compression to slow you down puts unneaded wear and tear on the engine internals as well as the transmission & clutch. Best bet is to put it in neutral and stop with the brakes, or rake it through the gears like you would if you were downshifting but with the clutch in (good in case you need to acc. quickly).
Brake Pads = ~$60
Clutch = ~$700
...so it's clear which is better to put wear on.
As for redlining, you're cool. Most engines RLs are underrated for what the engine can safely do. Don't keep it up there too much though, think of it as wearing out the engine faster.

 
Rep Power: 0

<< Best bet is to put it in neutral and stop with the brakes, >>


Now that would cause hella extra wear and tear on the brakes. With the car in neutral there is nothing to assist your brakes. VERY bad for the brakes.


<< or rake it through the gears like you would if you were downshifting but with the clutch in (good in case you need to acc. quickly). >>


What good would that do? Like I said an auto downshifts as well when braking but it does it for you obviously. Do you think that an auto goes to neutral when you brake? Hell no that causes to much wear on the brakes no gears to slow you down, VERY bad on brakes.

 
Rep Power: 0

I don't know if it's good or not but when I come to a stop I usually leave it in 4th or 5th (whichever I was in) while I slow down until it hits 1000rpm then I put it in neutral the rest of the way?[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/IMG]

 
Rep Power: 0

<<

<< Best bet is to put it in neutral and stop with the brakes, >>


Now that would cause hella extra wear and tear on the brakes. With the car in neutral there is nothing to assist your brakes. VERY bad for the brakes.


<< or rake it through the gears like you would if you were downshifting but with the clutch in (good in case you need to acc. quickly). >>


What good would that do? Like I said an auto downshifts as well when braking but it does it for you obviously. Do you think that an auto goes to neutral when you brake? Hell no that causes to much wear on the brakes no gears to slow you down, VERY bad on brakes. >>



But you're thinking that an auto is the same as a manual save the fact that it shifts the gears for you, this is not really true. Auto's use soemthing called a torque converter to transfer power while a manual uses the clutch. The manual has a direct connection from the wheels to the engine while the auto is more of a fluid link.
Anyway, an auto doesn't really apply any engine breaking when it is being driven. The transmission does downshift but only for the purpose of being in the correct gear if acceleration is needed, there is little braking done by the tranny in an auto car.

I'm not saying that engine braking doesn't help extend the life of the brake pads, it obviously does, but at the cost of wear on the engine and clutch. Using just the brakes is not 'VERY bad' for the brakes, that is what they do...stop the car. They see about the same amount of friction as it would require in an automatic car to stop.

Engine braking is kinda retarded but so many people are taught this incorrect way of driving. There was a big discussion on clubrsx if you care to search for it.

 
Rep Power: 0

It's perfectly ok to downshift and allow the engine pressure to help you stop. Just make sure it's safe to drop to whatever gear you want to put it in. Dragging the tires or red lining are very bad things to do when downshifting. Due to the nature of brakes and clutches they all will have to be replaced at some point, trick is to use them, not abuse them.

 
Rep Power: 0

i heard its bad to ride your clutch

 
Rep Power: 0

Riding your clutch just like riding your brakes is bad. It puts extra wear and tear on them and what is the need? Plain and simple if the RPMs aren't to high for the gear then it does not do any harm to downshift. So DxMaN do you come to a complete stop if you need to lower your gear according to how high your RPMs are? That's basically what you are saying. Down shifting does not harm your car in any way unless the RPMS are to high for the gear. Personally knowing how sh!tty the brakes Honda uses are I will use my gears before I will use my brakes to stop or slow down. If you take your car out of gear and stop with the car in neutral that is a lot of excess weight for you brakes. It would be better to just leave it in like 4th gear that way wour brakes have something to assist. As far a going through gears in neutral now please explain to me the thought process behind that one. I can not concievably understand that one. I understand the difference between the auto engine and the manual I was just using it as a comparison. Either way when slowing in a auto the car is in gear period. The auto doesn't go to neutral. Have you ever noticed how much heavier the car feels when you depress the clutch and try and brake? Bad for the brakes PERIOD!

 
Rep Power: 0

DAYAM!!!! [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/IMG] So I have been riding my clutch this whole time. I have close to 4k miles on my car... I got it brand new... Is my clutch gonna not last me til over 100k miles now? Or is it ok just as long as I stop doing it? Ugh, I'm so pissed at myself...

 
Rep Power: 0

Don't be so hard on yourself guy... [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG]

Just learn to use the clutch better. The clutches in our cars last pretty long. I remember one guy saying that he had let 3 other people learn how to drive a 5-speed on his car and clutch wear after a lot of miles (I can't give you the exact #... but it was a lot) and his clutch is still good. Don't worry! Have a [IMG]i/expressions/beer_yum.gif[/IMG] on me man.... [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/IMG] relax... your car is just fine. Some cars gotta take a lil' abuse here and there. Your clutch is still good, and so is your tranny. For 4k miles, your car is still excellent and considered "new." Just... have a [IMG]i/expressions/beer_yum.gif[/IMG] and realize everything is alright.

 
Rep Power: 0

Some of the old English sports cars (think circa 1950-60s) had such poor brakes that you needed to downshift through each gear AND brake like crazy in order to stop.

Todays cars have much better brakes that are much easier & cheaper than clutches and transaxles to replace when they wear out.

But, that ISN'T to mean, not fully enjoying the extra control and performance one can have with a well shifted manual over an automatic stomp on the floor job. Watching your tach, keeping your gear selection straight is part of the joy.

 
Rep Power: 0

okay something else that I heard was that it's bad for your car to be in neutral when it's going fast, like when you're getting off the freeway or something and you put it in neutral before you get to the offramp to let it slow down a little. Is that bad for it??

 
Rep Power: 0

no, it's not bad for the car. Neutral is exactly that, neutral where the engine is free to run at idle with the tranny disengaged (if things were always like this nothing would wear out). This of course being that you actually shift into neutral and not just disengaging the clutch (i.e. flooring the clutch) otherwise you risk premature wear of the throwout bearing.

 
Rep Power: 0

<<

<<

<< Best bet is to put it in neutral and stop with the brakes, >>


Now that would cause hella extra wear and tear on the brakes. With the car in neutral there is nothing to assist your brakes. VERY bad for the brakes.


<< or rake it through the gears like you would if you were downshifting but with the clutch in (good in case you need to acc. quickly). >>


What good would that do? Like I said an auto downshifts as well when braking but it does it for you obviously. Do you think that an auto goes to neutral when you brake? Hell no that causes to much wear on the brakes no gears to slow you down, VERY bad on brakes. >>



But you're thinking that an auto is the same as a manual save the fact that it shifts the gears for you, this is not really true. Auto's use soemthing called a torque converter to transfer power while a manual uses the clutch. The manual has a direct connection from the wheels to the engine while the auto is more of a fluid link.
Anyway, an auto doesn't really apply any engine breaking when it is being driven. The transmission does downshift but only for the purpose of being in the correct gear if acceleration is needed, there is little braking done by the tranny in an auto car.

I'm not saying that engine braking doesn't help extend the life of the brake pads, it obviously does, but at the cost of wear on the engine and clutch. Using just the brakes is not 'VERY bad' for the brakes, that is what they do...stop the car. They see about the same amount of friction as it would require in an automatic car to stop.

Engine braking is kinda retarded but so many people are taught this incorrect way of driving. There was a big discussion on clubrsx if you care to search for it. >>



This dude is 100% correct. Downshifting to assist braking just wears your clutch, and puts undue compression on the engine. Your brakes are for braking [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

 
Rep Power: 0

<< okay something else that I heard was that it's bad for your car to be in neutral when it's going fast, like when you're getting off the freeway or something and you put it in neutral before you get to the offramp to let it slow down a little. Is that bad for it?? >>


Leaving the car in 4th gear would slow you down better than putting your car in neutral. Neutral should not be used for braking. In neutral there is nothing to slow your car down. None of the gears are engaged your car is basically dead weight at that point and dead weight is hard to stop. As long as you are in the proper gear for the RPMs there should be no problem.

 
Rep Power: 0

this is one of those subjects that everyone thinks they are right and there is no end to it, my opinion, i never downshift to slow me, case in point, my old car blew some water gaskets from pressure from downshifting, and no i wasnt downshifting to 2nd at like 80 mph either.anyway there is no need to downshift. i usually leave it in gear until it neds to be shifted, usually im almost stopped, so i hold the clutch in, or put it in neutral, and come to a stop.

 
Rep Power: 0

Well, here's what I do, and this is the way I was taught. I use 3rd and 2nd gear and engine compression to slow down, but to save wear and tear on the clutch, I rev-match the engine to the drivetrain. I don't downshift into first gear for anything... at that point I put it in neutral and use the brakes.

As for whoever said a clutch costs $700? Good god what planet are you from? A clutch should take about 3-5 hours to install on a FWD car, and you can purchase an ACT or Exedy clutch for $260-300... and that is a NICE Stage I or Stage II Street/Strip High Performance clutch... (You can use 6th gen clutches in the 7th gen) That includes Alignment tool and throwout bearing.

$300 Clutch + $40 Hr/Labor (If you don't DIY) * 5 hours = $500 total, at most... That is if you have a decent mechanic who is knowledgeable and works for the going rate (at least here in Ohio $40-50 an hour is average).

Anyways, this is an issue that is beaten to death in every aspect of the world of automobiles and motorcycles... braking vs. engine breaking, engine wear vs. clutch wear... If you were taught to drive a stick at an early age like I was, everything you do is now force of habit and it is hard to break yourself of it.