End all be all of Downshifting

[w3rkn]

I'm looking at purchasing a 2017 GT PP here soon. I'm already super paranoid about things going wrong and prematurely wearing out the clutch or tranny. I've been reading every forum I can about downshifting, rev matching, double clutching, heal toe the whole bit. Some places say that you should downshift and rev match every time they decelerate coming up to a light. Some people say they put it in neutral and just use the brakes. So which is it? Say I'm coming up to a redlight in 5-6th. Should I rev match and downshift down to 3rd before I clutch in and stop or just nuetral and brake. Also, I've heard conflicting theories on rev matching where some say to double clutch and some say to disengage clutch, blip, downshift, release clutch. With synchromesh we shouldn't have to double clutch correct? Please help a paranoid soon to be owner feel more comfortable about making this purchase.

Once you learn to drive a manual, you won't have these made-up question.

:cheers:

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[Pnasty]

My GT is auto but I drove a roush stage 3 the other day and it was literally the easiest manual I have ever driven in my life.

Dont worry too much about the downshifts. just slow down to low rpms in gear, downshift and release clutch it is smooth as butter

 

[jester1x]

5th gear is 1:1....and with the 3.73 gears on the performance pack, I absolutely use 5th around town/in the city.

50mph in 4th gear@2500rpm driving home from work today in a Mustang EcoBoost base model with 3.31 gear ratio. There is the difference.

 

[Beanpole]

You choose between wearing the clutch or wearing the brakes, once in a while I practice the speed matching but most the time just coast in what ever gear I was in until the revs drop below 1k and then clutch/break. I don't usually go to neutral, keep it in a useful gear even though the clutch is in incase I might need it quick. No issues doing such for the last 25 years.

 

[millhouse]

50mph in 4th gear@2500rpm driving home from work today in a Mustang EcoBoost base model with 3.31 gear ratio. There is the difference.

:cheers:

 

[simonp83]

My GT is auto but I drove a roush stage 3 the other day and it was literally the easiest manual I have ever driven in my life.

Dont worry too much about the downshifts. just slow down to low rpms in gear, downshift and release clutch it is smooth as butter

Through my years, this has been my experience and exactly how I drive and never had any issues at all. Still awaiting to pickup my Mustang but not expecting to much difference between the cars I've driven and the Mustang in terms of operating a manual gear box.

 

[Spart]

I find that the majority of people don't know how to do this properly, and that the majority of the people who say you don't need to do it also don't know how to do it properly.

I learned to drive stick when I was 12 (grew up on a farm, don't judge my parents too harshly.) Nobody taught me how to downshift and heel-toe, it's something I learned on my own when I was about 23 or so.

You'll hear a lot of reasons why you shouldn't. The worst I've heard is that it will wear out your clutch, which is insane because downshifting without using the throttle spins the clutch to bring the engine speed up to your wheel speed.

The best I've heard is that you just don't have to. Which is true, I didn't for over a decade and I didn't know what I was missing. I wish I had learned sooner.

I think everyone who drives any kind of stick should, at bare minimum, learn how to rev-match a downshift. Heel-toe is more of an advanced skill and isn't strictly necessary for street driving. But there are always scenarios when you're driving that you need to downshift to a gear so you have torque available to accelerate. I've always taught newbie stick drivers NOT to coast in neutral for safety reasons.

Here are just a few reasons you should learn to downshift properly:

• It saves the synchros. When you clutch in, shift to neutral, and let the clutch out, part of your transmission is spinning at the idle speed of your engine, the other part is spinning at the speed of your wheels. If you need to start accelerating, your synchros are going to work overtime to match those speeds back up when you try to select a gear, more than likely resulting in a THUNK and more shift effort in our cars. When you do a quick rev-match downshift, the difference in speed is much lower and you'll note that the effort to push past the synchro is pretty low.
• It saves your clutch from excess wear. EVERY time you slip your clutch, you cause wear. This wear can be negligible (smooth upshift) or extreme (borked hill start.) A non rev-matched downshift probably causes as much wear as taking off in first, but it still causes wear. Think of it like smoking: It won't kill you today. But ten years from now?
• You'll save your brakes and save fuel when decelerating gently. Modern engines cut fuel completely when you're decelerating in gear. If you're coasting in neutral, the engine is using fuel to stay running. And you'll be less reliant on the brakes now that you have two ways to slow the car down. People will say you don't need compression braking. But it's a great tool to have for winter driving and driving downhill for long periods (mountain driving.)
• You'll provide a smoother experience for your passengers. You're expecting that lurch when you do a bad downshift and you're braced against the steering wheel, they aren't.
• It's a perishable skill. If you ever want to take your car on a track day, or you like doing a bit of performance driving on twisty back roads, you'll want to be able to rev match (and heel-toe.) But if you never do it in your day-to-day life, it won't come naturally to you when you "need" it at the track.
• You'll be able to easily access your car's torque when changing speeds. I don't know how many times I've been riding in a friend's car and laughed at them because they tried to accelerate in 5th in a 25mph zone after slowing down from highway speeds.
• It's fun! It's part of what makes driving a stick enjoyable to me, and it sounds great. I daily drive a damn Tacoma and you can bet that I blip shift and heel toe that thing all the time.

Here's a great video series on driving stick in general that covers rev-matching and heel-toe:

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[ame="[MEDIA=youtube]MhuLnE6iJSc[/MEDIA]"]

 

[BobbyGT]

I downshift all the time when coming to a stop.

Recently took my car in for service, clutch is great, they were amazed at how good my brakes were looking @25k miles.

It depends how you drive, I have driven manuals my whole life, so I would like to think I'm pretty good at it.

 

[jester1x]

You choose between wearing the clutch or wearing the brakes, once in a while I practice the speed matching but most the time just coast in what ever gear I was in until the revs drop below 1k and then clutch/break. I don't usually go to neutral, keep it in a useful gear even though the clutch is in incase I might need it quick. No issues doing such for the last 25 years.

Pretty much the same technique here. Got a 2003 Mazdaspeed Protegé that I bought with 6,000 miles on it back in 2004. It now has approximately 128,000 miles on it with the original clutch. Never learned to heel toe or rev match.

 

[ForYourOwnGood]

Lots of smart stuff

This guy knows whats up.

My last truck had 193k on the original clutch, and it did about half of that pulling a trailer. I've never burned out a clutch with anything but too much power, but I've seen plenty of people blow through them in a few thousand miles trying to downshift without at least attempting a rev-match. That wears the hell out of your clutch and your syncros. If you ever want to find out how bad you are at it and the nice modern transmission is coving for you, drive something with an unsynchronized gearbox.

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