Engine Braking

[MTWINN]

Both are the same. If youre about to go down a steep grade(i.e. San Francisco), you would downshift to get more engine braking power. I personally consider it a safety issue also. Forget SF, if you're coming down a mountain pass, if you ride your brakes the entire way, you risk burning out your brakes(on most cars).

Semi trucks engine brake every time they come down a mountain pass, and they go for hundreds of thousands of miles.

Speaking of Semi trucks, for a time, I drove OTR Semi trucks for a living. You would put it in a low gear and use engine brake to descend mountains or steep hills. You don't ride your brakes and you don't take it out of gear unless you have a death wish (the speed builds up too fast to be able to put back in gear). And then you have the double clutch shifting because the transmission doesn't have synchronizer. Of course, you only do this while training, but after a couple of months, you learn the art of "floating gears" and never use the clutch except when you come to a complete stop. Do it right and very little wear and tear. For downshift, you have to rev match or you can't get it into gear. Good times.

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[xt6wagon]

yah, let me be clear, I only do engine braking in low rpm, low load situations. I'm not a fan of reverse loading a transmission with the weight of the car and trying to back drive the motor at high rpm. Brake pads are cheaper than just the labor on pulling the transmission much less replacing it.

 

[Shift]

Speaking of Semi trucks, for a time, I drove OTR Semi trucks for a living. You would put it in a low gear and use engine brake to descend mountains or steep hills. You don't ride your brakes and you don't take it out of gear unless you have a death wish (the speed builds up too fast to be able to put back in gear). And then you have the double clutch shifting because the transmission doesn't have synchronizer. Of course, you only do this while training, but after a couple of months, you learn the art of "floating gears" and never use the clutch except when you come to a complete stop. Do it right and very little wear and tear. For downshift, you have to rev match or you can't get it into gear. Good times.

That does sound like good times. I believe drivers for delivery companies like UPS also just rev match and shift without clutching. :cheers:

 

[Shift]

yah, let me be clear, I only do engine braking in low rpm, low load situations. I'm not a fan of reverse loading a transmission with the weight of the car and trying to back drive the motor at high rpm. Brake pads are cheaper than just the labor on pulling the transmission much less replacing it.

We're fortunate to have amazing brakes on the GT350. Not every car on the road is that lucky.

Your only choice at that point is to do just that to preserve your braking system on the downhill, and reserve full braking ability for an emergency. You won't get your full ability if you rode your brakes down the hill and it's already half way near it's limits.

Of course, your preferred way is also doable with a lower rpm from a higher gear where you still get some engine braking power, but need to supplement it with actual braking.

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