Stick shift drivers: Come in, I have a question!!

[CATERHAM]

I leave the car in gear coming up to a stop sign and drop into neutral just before coming to a complete stop.
I never down shift through the gears for a stop sign; that such a "boy racer" thing to do.

When pulling away from a stop I usually do so in 2nd as all my cars have sufficient torque to do so with virtually no clutch slippage.

When I do downshift I alway rev' match and when breaking for a corner I always a heal and down when downshifting.

 

[CATERHAM]

That's "heal and toe" when downshifting not "heal and down".
Don't know where the expression came from, when it is really "ball of foot and side of foot".

 

[hate2work]

Brakes are for slowing/stopping, not gears.

 

[unDummy]

I up/down shift as required. I don't think that I've ever used neutral. Its not boyracer when its correct.

Sad when legal is correct and some think that coasting in neutral is. Coasting isn't!

I don't drive on a track so I don't heel and toe ever. Don't need to. Heel/toe, thats so boy-racerish.

You should always be in an active gear in case you need to power out of a situation. Also, compression braking assists if you have a sudden brake failure. Or, you can just fumble around in neutral. Its your choice.

Cat fur, try rev match or throttle blip, this way all up and downshifts are the 'same clutch petting'.

Most good CDL schools can teach you how to shift. If you don't have a CDL-A, you should get one.

Another license to get is a motorcycle license. Bikers rarely coast around in neutral. I wish that cars came with sequential shifters. Would fix a bunch of bad habits mentioned here.

 

[NateDN10]

I leave it in whatever gear it was in until around 1200 RPM, then shift to neutral.

 

[rg200amp]

Originally Posted By: unDummy

Another license to get is a motorcycle license. Bikers rarely coast around in neutral. I wish that cars came with sequential shifters. Would fix a bunch of bad habits mentioned here.



I do. When coming to a stop on a bike I always squeeze and hold in the clutch. While slowing or stopping, I will keep the clutch squeezed in and down shift as my speed drops, that way when Im ready to give it gas, I just let out the clutch and Im in the right gear. . . .

Works for me. . . .

 

[Carbuff]

I always used to stay in gear as I decelerated.

But I recently got a Garmin GPS with the EcoRoute datalogger. It seemed to answer the age old question:

Does an engine use more fuel coasting with the throttle off or coasting in neutral? (Supposedly the fuel supply is cut off when off-idle and above idle speed...but in neutral, the car coasts longer, a greater distance)

By coasting in neutral whenever I can (trying to be safe for the reasons mentioned in previous posts), I have upped my mileage ~8%...about 1 MPG on my 22 MPG ride.

On one regularly travelled downhill section the instantanoeus MPG reading has been over 250 MPG! Boy, that feels good!

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Craig in Canada
Originally Posted By: rg200amp
Hello all. I saw this question on another forum, so I want to see what say you.

While coming to a stop:

Do you down shift?



I heel/toe rev-match downshift through at least a couple of gears into 90%+ of stops. I don't go right down into first for most typical traffic lights/stop signs.


This.

That's how I do it.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: unDummy
I up/down shift as required. I don't think that I've ever used neutral. Its not boyracer when its correct.

Sad when legal is correct and some think that coasting in neutral is. Coasting isn't!

I don't drive on a track so I don't heel and toe ever. Don't need to. Heel/toe, thats so boy-racerish.

You should always be in an active gear in case you need to power out of a situation. Also, compression braking assists if you have a sudden brake failure. Or, you can just fumble around in neutral. Its your choice.

Cat fur, try rev match or throttle blip, this way all up and downshifts are the 'same clutch petting'.

Most good CDL schools can teach you how to shift. If you don't have a CDL-A, you should get one.

Another license to get is a motorcycle license. Bikers rarely coast around in neutral. I wish that cars came with sequential shifters. Would fix a bunch of bad habits mentioned here.


Agreed. I had a motorcycle before I had a car. And I find I shift the car a lot like I did the bike.

 

[rjundi]

I do not downshift when I stop.

I cannot even get my car(04 WRX) to shift from 2nd to 1st while rolling unless under 5 mph.

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: unDummy
I up/down shift as required. I don't think that I've ever used neutral. Its not boyracer when its correct.

I don't drive on a track so I don't heel and toe ever. Don't need to. Heel/toe, thats so boy-racerish.

You should always be in an active gear in case you need to power out of a situation.

Downshifting for a stop sign is pointless.

You don't need to know how to heal/toe a downshift but you cannot execute a smooth gear change (no shock to the drive train) when braking at elevated rev's otherwise.
If you haven't mastered the technique you can't consider yourself fully accomplished at driving a manual shift vehicle.

The Caterham Super 7 while admittedly not a regular road car, comes with a sequential gearbox as an option; see below:

 

[jaj]

Originally Posted By: unDummy
...You should always be in an active gear in case you need to power out of a situation...


This is good advice. When you are moving you should have the vehicle's transmission in gear, whether automatic or standard. If you're stopped, you should have the transmission in neutral, whether automatic or standard.

The second point is because if you're rear-ended, your feet will come off the pedals, and if you're in a gear you'll get dragged into the intersection cross-traffic by the engine.

 

[eljefino]

I'm another "coast down to 30 mph in 5th gear" voter.

I ride a sequential shifting MC but it doesn't affect my car driving any. My synchros are very shot; I always (am forced to) double clutch to get into 2nd or 1st. I carry this good habit along with the occasional beater with decent meat still on their synchros.

Have done clutches where the throwout bearing remains fine after the clutch is toasted. Remember the other end is the crankshaft thrust bearing/bushing. And THOSE can be even more fun to change. So I idle in neutral at lights. I even rigged the interlock so I don't need the clutch to start the car; this benefits the thrust bearing.

 

[Shannow]

If I'm definitely coming to a stop (red light - there's three in town), or a stop sign, I'll engine brake/brake until the engine's around 1500RPM, and drop into neutral for the wait.

Otherwise, rev matching and engine braking to ensure that I'm in the right gear to accelerate out of the corner, or at least take evasive action.

Down in Sydney, the car is nearly always in gear, and an appropriate one...they are crazy down there.

 

[fdcg27]

I once rowed down through the gears, and later used the coast in N approach.
I have come back to the downshifting to a stop approach.
You are right, though, brakes are a lot cheaper then clutches, and a whole lot easier to replace.
I am also in step with those who avoid holding the clutch pedal down in gear at a stop.
It's as much trouble to replace a ten or twenty buck throwout bearing as it is to replace the clutch completely and it probably isn't good for the preassure plate either.

 

[Craig in Canada]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
I do not downshift when I stop.

I cannot even get my car(04 WRX) to shift from 2nd to 1st while rolling unless under 5 mph.


First isn't synchronized on the Subie? You'd have to double-clutch then...

 

[Craig in Canada]

Originally Posted By: jaj
Originally Posted By: unDummy
...You should always be in an active gear in case you need to power out of a situation...


This is good advice. When you are moving you should have the vehicle's transmission in gear, whether automatic or standard.


I think there's another side to this that's being overlooked. An "active gear" isn't just any gear, it's a gear that's useful for your engine at whatever speed you're currently traveling. That means, for me, that still being in fifth at 15mph isn't going to do me any good for anything.

If I'm stopping at a stop sign on a quiet suburbia road with nothing going on anywhere, I'm not going to rev match down through four gears before the stop sign - that's silly. (Heck, I'm probably one of the only ones who bothers stopping). In higher speed and busier situations I'll do different things but there's usually at least one rev-matched downshift, even if I skip a gear so that if I need to roll on the power I'm not lugging and there's actually some power there to do something with.

 

[ltslimjim]

Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
I downshift down to 2nd gear. I never go into 1st. On my current vehicle coming up to 200k on the factory pads and shoes with PLENTY of miles left on them.

Never had to replace a clutch, throwout bearing or such in many decades of driving manuals. Just fluid changes and driving them well. One went 394k with one fluid change, one clutch cable.

Bill


I do the same, and I'm brand new to the stick shift game!

I downshift, one gear at a time, to utilize DFCO(saves gas)/engine braking. Never to 1st unless speed drops below 5 MPH and I need to accelerate. Otherwise, after 2nd I shift to Neutral at the stop.

This saves the brake and my body from being so tense at braking from high speeds(no ABS etc), isn't hard on the engine or tranny(engine isn't severely revved nor is the tranny being exposed to excessive/abnormal use by gear jumping,at most I'll skip 4th or 3rd; or skip 1 gear if needing to stop faster in other words while downshifting)...

 

[maersk]

Of course I downshift. Just not to slow down, only to speed up or keep from lugging the engine.

 

[Quest]

On all the M/Ts I owned/operated so far: I only downshift during one of the conditions below:

(a) I'm racing and need to downshift to negotiate a corner

(b) I'm anticipating the traffice pattern/light ahead by means of downshifting (just 1 gear below) instead of coming to a complete halt (and in that case, I would off-shift it and use my brakes instead).

Less wear on synchro.

Q.