Shift to Decelerate??? Bad or Good???

[Jccck]

If you're driving like an old lady, sure.. ONLY use your brakes, lol.

When you're going hard into corners, being able to use 3 pedals at once (Thats braking, and rev-matching) is an amazing skill to have.
You keep in the high RPM range for instant power to counter understeer, and/or accelerate through the corner more efficiently than somone who isnt.

If you rev match, downchanging isn't harsh on your clutch.
To anyone who thinks doing so will also damage your transmission.. We're driving Hondas, not shitbox Holdens/Daewoo's

[trueCB7]

nothing wrong with whar youre doing...just listen to deevergote...dudes like a cb encyclopedia...

[AD5OS]

It is VERY good. When you do that you are using no gas. You are converting the kinetic energy of the car back into the engine. The Fuel injection figures out that it doesnt need to add gas to the engine to keep it going. This will work for RPMs over 1200. This also will help save your brakes.

[batever]

@ deevergote, "I'd rather let 2nd gear help me stop than slam on the brakes and trust the ABS to help."

keep in mind that whatever the source of braking G force, it all gets translated to the tire/road interface so it really doesn't matter from the ABS's standpoint *why* a wheel is breaking free, the ABS will function (if you have it) to keep that wheel rolling and maintain traction for both steering and braking. In other words, the fact that you are using your clutch to provide braking force does not increase the total braking capacity of your car, *unless* your brake system is inadequate and is incapable of generating enough braking force to break the tires free.

One more thing about using engine braking on the corner is that I think it makes it much more complex (if you don't have ABS) to either control threshold braking (you have to control two pedals at once instead of one) or to regain traction by releasing and pumping the brakes if you lose cornering traction in the corner and go on a straight slide. Which normally would only happen in the winter (snowy roads) or possibly in the rain. So I definitely avoid or minimize engine braking effects during corners in those weather conditions.

@ the OP:

you will wear your clutch faster using engine braking, just because you are using it more often than you would otherwise, unless you are able to perfectly rev match, which no one I know can do (perfectly). this is the reason I don't use my clutch to brake (i.e., the "I'd rather pay $20 for new brake pads than $800 for a new clutch" comment). It will also wear the tranny more simply because *any* time you transmit power through the tranny you are wearing it microscopically, so adding every time you brake, which is much more frequent than hard acceleration, will slightly increase tranny wear by default. If it matters to you of course.

@ other comments about using the clutch in a corner,

As a technique to help keep the tranny engaged while going around a corner, that sounds reasonable to me.

But ideally in a corner you have done all or most of your braking before you enter it, to have gotten braking to speed out of the way in order to maximize the amount of traction available to apply cornering force, and are still in gear and in an appropriate rev range to accelerate out of it if that's your intention.

None of this matters except as a matter of style unless you are working near your traction limits though. Personally I almost never engine brake, (only in situations like holding down my speed while going down a long mountain pass to avoid overheating my brakes), instead mentally reserving the clutch and gears to resolve forward power transmission issues. I use my brakes almost exclusively for deceleration and not the clutch.

One last consideration as an afterthought:

engine braking causes the revs of the engine to go way up. Which means added wear (repeated duty cycles of the engine). Personally I like to reserve higher revs for getting acceleration and power when I need it, since it is more wear on the engine. So braking would be low on the totem pole for me from that point of view. If I'm going to put more strain on the engine and wear on the engine by bringing the revs up, I want it to be for a reason that is worth it to me, and braking isn't worth it to me (since I have the option of using my brake system for that.).

[deevergote]

I should add that the things that I do are not necessarily GOOD for your car...

And yes, I got used to the engine-assisted braking when the pads on my 09 Fit were worn out. I didn't want to press too hard on the pedal with worn pads, for fear of digging metal into metal... They were quite low!
With the engine helping to stop the car, the brakes aren't working quite as hard. For normal people, that's probably not a big deal. I drive for 10 hours a day, so I do it to reduce break wear and fade. Hell, as long as my engine is under warranty (another 15k) I'm almost hoping I blow it up!

It is very true that constantly revving high to match revs when downshifting will increase wear on an engine. The tensile stress of high revs is acutally more harmful to an engine than the pressure from a turbocharger (when tuned correctly). When I do a 65mph 5th to 3rd downshift in the Fit to take an off-ramp, I rev to 6000 or so... I do it, but it's not necessarily a good idea!





I talk a good deal... but there are FAR more knowledgeabl people on this site. There are far more knowledegable people than me in this very thread. Don't ever take what I say, or what anyone says, to be fact without doing your own reasearch, and fully understanding the concept yourself.

[kkaiser7901]

For one just because someone does something you don't doesnt me they are STUPID or what they do is STUPID.

I use my brakes and clutch at the same time and I don't use my clutch to slow to a stop that is really not feasable in any vehicle.

Thank you for all of your input and ill probably still continue to use my clutch when im coming into the corners and to slow down some sometimes.

[1lov3mycb7]

GHOST 2.2 i rather invest in 20 dollar brake pads than paying 800 dollars to fix your tranny.

(depending on what tranny you have)

800 for tranny? well i do it all the time to slow me down when i come to lights or anything and it never seem to hurt my tranny

[mak]

i rather invest in 20 dollar brake pads than paying 800 dollars to fix your tranny.

(depending on what tranny you have)

You use $20 brake pads?

Nobody drive in front of this guy!

[greatestmexican]

yea downshifting for things like curves and turns ans stuff is ok...but if u using it for a complete stop, its dum and u can cause a wreck if the person behind u is retrdd....just buy u sum good ol brakes....wagners r ok

[cb7_ex_coupe]

ive down shifted to brake also....i havent rev matched but i usually dont try to do 90-to a full stop.... if ama speed then i brake and down shift...