Do the MT owners downshift when coming to a stop or just put it in neutral and glide? I was always tought to downshift (don't know why) and I always have. My girlfriend just puts it in neutral and uses the brakes more. It's easy to see that will put more wear on the brakes and get better gas mileage, but my approach put more wear on the clutch. Which is better in the long run? In the same line of thought, I do the same thing when slowing to turn, maybe go 5-4-3-2 then turn where my girlfriend may go 5-N, brake, then N-2 after or during the turn. Thoughts?

 

In every manual I've ever owned, I've always downshifted and saved my brakes. Plus, it's just more fun to be an active participant in the car and downshift and upshift rather than just press the clutch in and coast to a stop or apply the brakes.

I downshift going into turns too...same thing.

Just watch the in-car camera on some road races....that's what you're going for.

 

My old car was stick - I would downshift coming up to a stop sometimes othertimes since I usually drive pretty fast - I would most often clutch and then roll. Depends on the situation I guess.

Turns - absolutely no neutral brake stuff, work the gears and dig into the turn instead...no brakes - brakes are for wimps

 

You want to downshift. The reason is not just for the braking effect, but also so that you are in a position to accelerate if you need to (such as when the idiot behind you is obviously not going to be able to stop in time because he was looking at the girl in the miniskirt on the sidewalk). In other words, it is a safety issue...

Regards,
<TED>

 

As Ted mentioned, if you need to power away from something, car, dog, bicycle whatever, your car is in a gear so you won't first have to put it in a gear then avoid. Could save your car and or someone or somethings life.

 

True. If you do the neutral thing up to the light you can get snagged when the light changes while you are still rolling and if you choose too low of a gear you lurch like an idiot and too high and you got nuthin' to get you going. Work the gears whenever possible....enjoy....

 

It depends. I generally stay in third, slowing down to the stop/red light. and then just go neutral when I'm almost stopped.

Spirited driving requires me to be the the correct gear all the time, so yes. However I use the brakes primarily for preparing for a turn heel/toeing for the downshift. I don't like my weight being thrown all over the place by a poor downshift (just downshifting and dumping the clutch without giving any throttle, causing a horrendous motor rev and clutchwear and all your weight to be thrown on the front wheels...you know...the ones turning)


As far as brake wear...clutch/flywheels are much more expensive than brake pads.

 

one should always know what gear to be in and where the revs should be no matter what the speed.
:tflamer:

 

 

 

when its a red light and i know i am coming to a complete stop i just put it in nuetral. but when i am driving and there is a little traffic in front i will use the tranny to gradually slow the car down. when i am slowing down to a point where i kinda know what speed the car will be at i just drop the stick into the gear i know and hold the clutch down, hit the brake and then release clutch and acclerate.

 

A combination of the above opinions leads to the correct answer here. To those who "save wear on their brakes" remember that that's what brakes are *designed for*, not the clutch! Anyway, the simple way to deafeat that theory: which is cheaper/simpler to replace, brakes or clutch? I'd much rather save my clutch than brakes.
That said, my approach also has been to maybe downshift in order to be in the correct gear in case I need to accelerate again, then push in the clutch very near the point I need to stop, rather than using the downshifts to slow the car.

 

One caveat, if you downshift to slow down, your brake lights do not come on.
You are inviting a rear end collision.

If the traffic is jerky, I use brakes to let the guy behind me know, otherwise I downshift.

 

I never put it in neutral unless I've to wait at light for more than 15 secs and I do not want to keep my feet on clutch. That too when I'm dead stop. I never roll in neutral. When you put the car in neutral you do not have control over the engine at all. Best way to disengaging engine from the drive is by way of clutch. I downshift at every stop skipping either 3 or 4, like, 5-3-2 brake to a full stop and then to 1 or 5-4-2 brake to a stop and then 1.

 

Johndoe2,

There are two scenerios where one need to downshift.

1. To get more power/speed: in this case you do not need to apply brakes and do not lose speed. Just increase the RPM to set to a next downshift, shift and then accelerate. Since you want to gain more speed I do not see a situation in this scenerio where you reduce your speed. So no chances of rear end collision.

2. To stop: in this case I always downshift and braking the speed by applying brakes so vehicle behind sees your brake lights. I do not know how you can come to a stop just by downshifting and NOT applying brakes..