i was driving around with my boyfriend and he let me drive his sti...

as i slowed the car down and it hit about 2000 rpm's, i downshifted. yet i didnt rev the gas.. he told me that i wasnt shifting properly and that i needed to accelerate to increase the rpms before i dropped gears....

ive also read elsewhere that downshifting is unneccessary, and a terrible wear on the clutch. i dont ride the clutch in my Z... but, any feedback would be uber >>> thanks

 

Double clutching, as he is sort of referring to, is not necessary in modern cars. These cars have synchros that match the speed of the revolving disks (no need to explain in detail). Muscle cars made in the 70s did not have synchros therefore, necessitating the use of double clutching where you needed to match the rpm to the desired rpm downshift speed. Double clutching is a good idea only when you are racing and going from maybe fifth gear to third around a corner or such.

If you don't want to downshift then you don't have to but you will put more wear on your breaks. It does not hurt the clutch as I have seen many cars go well over 100K miles while using the clutch to downshift for the life of the car (my dad drives over 30k miles a year).

 

What your friend is talking about is rev-matching.
Rev-matching is done by blipping the gas to bring the rpm up
when downshifting to lower gears.

For example, you're on 4th at lets say 3k rpm; when you
just downshift to 3rd the car's rpm will move up to about 4k rpm, making
you jurk.
This is where rev-matching comes in. Before you drop down to 3rd,
blip the gas up to about 4k rpm and then shift down; you should feel smooth gear change.

You should do this everytime you downshift. Unneccessary downshifting
is not good for your car, but rev-matching will lessen the wear and tear.

Use the search function on rev-matching or heel-and-toe downshifting on this forum.

 

Yup, he's talking about rev-matching

 

eeeeee yeah, he explained that terminology to me. while daily driving tho, i do not jerk and i can actually downshift to a point that if im in 4th, going to third its almost as if i let the rpms decrease to where they should before i drop the gear.

i guess i dont feel a flow when i rev, i would feel more of an "unsmoothe" ride and get more jerks attempting it. my footwork must not be 100% lol.

... i mean this is all common knowledge... but i could try to get better at it... and more advice? thanks for helping everybody!

 

double clutching.... durhhhhh don't you watch fast and the furious? god....

 

If you're in 4th and going to 3rd, you should be raising the RPM, not decreasing.

 

Why is unnecessary downshifting not good for the car? In Europe they do it allll day long, especially to slow themselves down and not use their breaks.

 

It's all about knowing your car. Each time you are in a new car there's a learning curve. you will begin to notice the rpm's in relation to the speed and sound of your car. As you grow more accustomed to these factors, everything will be easier. When I first got the Z, I didn't have experience driving 350's. So it took a few weeks for me to know what RPM's what gears need at certain speeds. So (hypothetically) say you're in 5th gear at 50 miles an hour, and at 2800 rpm's.....and you want to downshift to third to pass someone or whatever. What RPM do you need in 3rd gear to stay at 50 miles an hour? That's the rpm you should rev up to while shifting.
I'll try to elaborate more if the internet made it hard to understand....hope this helps.

 

It's not bad.

It's just a waste of time and fuel.

 

I downshift normally, unless I am lazy then its all brakes. Getting the hang of it since I have been driving the car since Saturday. It also doesn't take me 3000 RPM to move from 0 into 1st gear anymore either. Drove stick before but every car is different.

 

Come one, blipping the throttle to downshift for wasting fuel. lol Redlining it and constantly getting on the throttle is waste of fuel..but downshifting here & there, shouldn't be all that bad Its kinda cool too, less brake dust on the rims = a + for me

 

It does make a difference, and a pretty big one. Try it for a full tank.

Personnaly, I don't mind the fuel and blip when downshifting. Not rowing thru all gears either.

 

I double clutch and rev-match on every down shift, unless i'm going about 5mph.

If you downshift without revmatching, you can feel the synchros spinning and matching the revs for you. It is not bad for the tranny, that is what it is designed to do. Just let the clutch out slowly so it does not jerk the synchros.

 

Do you h8 yourself?

 

Oh boy. Transmission vs Braking Debate XXII!

 

Why do some people double clutch on every downshift? Isn't it enough just to depress clutch, get out of gear, blip to appropriate RPM while selecting gear and let out clutch? Double clutching seems like it takes too long. People say double clutching saves the synchros or something?

 

im just saying, if im riding in 4th, and i just decrease my speed by simply not accelerating... when i drop a gear, the rpm's do not seem to increase and cause me to jerk...

thats all

 

Why is unnecessary downshifting not good for the car? In Europe they do it allll day long, especially to slow themselves down and not use their breaks.[/QUOTE]


No offence but whaatta @@@k R U taking about...
You drive you cars every day and have no clue whats really in there...

1st of all people from Europe use downshifting insted of using their brakes.
Why????
Because in every engine built from 80's on downshifting stops fuel injection and you can even see it by the RPMs going down when you downshift,
People do that... to save not only brake pads but to save on gas as well...

 

Look, how much are break pads and how much is a new tranny or shifter linkage. Just use the breaks.