engine BRAKE(downshifting): bad for ur engine?
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Someone on this forum said that when you have the clutch in for a long period of time like at a red light, you are prematurely wearing your clutch faster. Is that true?
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Originally Posted by nindoo
Someone on this forum said that when you have the clutch in for a long period of time like at a red light, you are prematurely wearing your clutch faster. Is that true?
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Rep Power: 306 This is what I heard from a race car driver.
The engine in a car is made to accelerate, and you should use the brakes to slow down the car. He downshifts to be in the right gear to get the most power.
So Zen master your doing the right thing. Brake pads are much cheaper than a transmission.
The engine in a car is made to accelerate, and you should use the brakes to slow down the car. He downshifts to be in the right gear to get the most power.
So Zen master your doing the right thing. Brake pads are much cheaper than a transmission.
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Rep Power: 329 This thread is super old, and I don't know what kind of race car driver you've been talking to, but every pro I've ever talked to or watched has heel-toe downshifted. EVERY SINGLE ONE.
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Originally Posted by nindoo
This is what I heard from a race car driver.
The engine in a car is made to accelerate, and you should use the brakes to slow down the car. He downshifts to be in the right gear to get the most power.
So Zen master your doing the right thing. Brake pads are much cheaper than a transmission.
The engine in a car is made to accelerate, and you should use the brakes to slow down the car. He downshifts to be in the right gear to get the most power.
So Zen master your doing the right thing. Brake pads are much cheaper than a transmission.
There is a difference between Engine braking, and heel Toe shifting.... The point of heel toe is to get the car in to the proper gear with out upsetting the balance of the car.. Engine braking is when you down shift and use the compression in the engine to force the car to slow down. you do not use engine braking when you are racing, for several reasons..... 1. brakes will stop you much faster, which allows you to extend the ammount of time you are accelerating. and 2. enige braking only acts as brakes on one end of the car, which can cause the car to Oversteer/understeer depending on what else the car is doing at the time... (you can also use this to your advantage some times)
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Rep Power: 339 I heel toe downshift b/c the Civic brakes are crap. Doesnt downshift/engine braking serve 2 purposes? To be in the proper gear when coming out of the corner and (along with the brakes) to slow down the car before/entering the corner?
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Originally Posted by CuRiOuSfIsH
I heel toe downshift b/c the Civic brakes are crap. Doesnt downshift/engine braking serve 2 purposes? To be in the proper gear when coming out of the corner and (along with the brakes) to slow down the car before/entering the corner?
In racing you absolutly do not use engine braking to help slow the car down.
Originally Posted by Zzyzx
In racing you absolutly do not use engine braking to help slow the car down.
Originally Posted by caorndorff
In driving school they always tell you to downshift and brake to slow, that way you keep the best control over your car.
at least in my area, driving school = BS
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Originally Posted by Zzyzx
In racing you absolutly do not use engine braking to help slow the car down.
wouldnt it atleast contribute a little bit?
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Originally Posted by CuRiOuSfIsH
how come?
wouldnt it atleast contribute a little bit?
wouldnt it atleast contribute a little bit?
Originally Posted by Zzyzx
In racing you absolutly do not use engine braking to help slow the car down.
also is there a good website that helps out with proper shifting up and down
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Originally Posted by Zzyzx
The problem with using the engine to help you slow down when you are racing is that it can cause other handling issues, such as causing Oversteer (Due to the engine only acting as a brake on one end of the car Front or Rear). this however can be used to your advantage some times (Throttle lift oversteer).
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Originally Posted by ty.barrack
if you downshift, and your tach pegs out, you're wrong, you should not really need to exceed 4-5,000 rpms for engine braking, any more and you're gonna blow something
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Originally Posted by nookiemonster
This thread is super old, and I don't know what kind of race car driver you've been talking to, but every pro I've ever talked to or watched has heel-toe downshifted. EVERY SINGLE ONE.
Yeah heel-toe on a turn to keep the car in the right rpm to get the most out of the car not to sloe it down unless the brakes heat up so much that they don't work anymore.
Come on man you know me better than that give me some credibility and read my post a little clearer before you shoot me down.
So say I am in third coming into a corner, I want to downshift to keep my rpms up so I press in the clutch shift to second and slowly let out the clutch creating a gradual transition from 4k in third to a bit over 6k in second. After reading this I am guessing that this is bad as hell on my clutch and syncros, and I need to learn heel/toe or double clutching. Just how bad on a scale of 1-10 is this on my car???
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Originally Posted by nindoo
Yeah heel-toe on a turn to keep the car in the right rpm to get the most out of the car not to sloe it down unless the brakes heat up so much that they don't work anymore.
Come on man you know me better than that give me some credibility and read my post a little clearer before you shoot me down.
Come on man you know me better than that give me some credibility and read my post a little clearer before you shoot me down.
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Rep Power: 340 well its not bad if you match exactly right.. ive already had a spun rod bearing and motor mount go bad.. so im gonna relax drive for a while... til i can afford to build up the old motor
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Originally Posted by WannaBFast
well its not bad if you match exactly right.. ive already had a spun rod bearing and motor mount go bad.. so im gonna relax drive for a while... til i can afford to build up the old motor
Originally Posted by bgoetz
So say I am in third coming into a corner, I want to downshift to keep my rpms up so I press in the clutch shift to second and slowly let out the clutch creating a gradual transition from 4k in third to a bit over 6k in second. After reading this I am guessing that this is bad as hell on my clutch and syncros, and I need to learn heel/toe or double clutching. Just how bad on a scale of 1-10 is this on my car???
as some one who Races... I'd say thats a 50. But just because it takes so much more time to do, it upsets the balance of the car, and it wears excessivly on the clutch. Your frorcing the Transmission to increas engine RPM's.... This is something a quick blip on the throttle would do almost instantly...
Originally Posted by bgoetz
why is it that the last race I was at it seemed like they were downshifting hard coming into corners??
also is there a good website that helps out with proper shifting up and down
also is there a good website that helps out with proper shifting up and down
what you were seeing is called Heel Toe shifting and that is not to help slow the car, but rather to be able to down shift the car to the proper gear to maintain the engine RPM's for maximum acceleration for corner exit. all with out upsetting the balance of the car.....
Heel toe shifting is on of the more important things to learn how to do in order to push your car to its absolute limits.
Heres a great website to help you learn/understand
http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/how...2/article.html
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Rep Power: 306 Zzyzx are you damaging the transmission when you blip and change at a rev higher than it should be the gear causing the car to kinda leap(not smooth). Cause its happened to me a few times.
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Rep Power: 329 Hey a little off topic but Zzyzx, what kind of shoes do you wear when driving autocross/canyons/etc.?
I've been wearing a set of diesels with a very thin sole that seem to be perfect especially for heel-toe shifting...
I've been wearing a set of diesels with a very thin sole that seem to be perfect especially for heel-toe shifting...
