The Down shift dilemma

joshuathewolf

Broke but no Joke
Does anyone know if it hurts your transmission to down shift in order to slow down? If you give an answer please cite how you know this so i can avoid more opinions and find fact. THANKS!
 

Samurai_Blue

Yolo Whippin'
if you rev match it does not
if you heel toe it does not

i do this all the time
i also track my car and have never had a problem
 

Ryan659

Active Member
^x2
I've heard that you are supposed to go down the gears in order and not jump (ie: 4th to 2nd) but that is hearsay for now, anybody else hear that?
 


96GSRteg

Tyler
I rev match any time i downshift. I usually go from 5th to 4th then into 2nd if i know im coming to a stop. Im not sure about having to go in order though.
 

ryanDC

New Member
i cruise in residential areas in 4th and downshift to 2nd (skipping 3rd cuz i get lazy) to roll stop signs but of course rpm is very low
 

Ryan659

Active Member
i cruise in residential areas in 4th and downshift to 2nd (skipping 3rd cuz i get lazy) to roll stop signs but of course rpm is very low
Click to expand...
CA rolling stops are the best. :)
 


suzuki714

New Member
i rev match into 3rd for gighway rolls not saying its a good idea to street race bt i think you will b fine. diesels use this all the time along with the jake brake but they motors are about 12 times the size so when they are empty it does way more compared to a 1.8 or 1.6
 

seahtech

New Member
No it does not hurt to down shift.. In fact it doesnt even "hurt" to downshift without rev matching or heel-toe-ing. Will doing rev match or heel-toe down shifts help ease the synchros and slow down the wear process? Absolutely yes. But if you want to just down shift slowly without matching you will be fine. If Honda felt this wasn't the case they would have a policy stating so but they dont.

It is always best to up shift and down shift in order. Its much easier on the synchros and in fact Honda has a policy for up shifting in order...


so dont peel away from the stop sign and reliaze there is a cop ahead and go first--third. Make sure you hit second, even if you dont release the clutch just go through second and your way to third.
 

OGstackadoIIa

TEAM LlGHTSPEED RACING
Every time you feel the tran's jump, it can't be doing much good. Rev matching is important, I drive a lot of miles every day and I make sure to rev match and heel-toe. I will typically skip third on a downshift, it feels unnecessary to hit third and it's good practice when you start matching higher RPM's
 

seahtech

New Member
Need to stop thinking in terms of what is good for the transmission. Nothing is good for it, only less bad. The gears are always touching each other and wearing. This is why new cars all have magnetic drain plugs, and so should you. No matter what you do, how well you shift, or how much of a pansy you drive the car your gears are going to wear down and fail at some point. THose pesky honda engineers want sequential shifting because it allows the gear shaft speeds to slow down, or speed up, easier. Once again it is not necessarily harmful to skip but it promotes LESS wear.

So by doing rev matching techniques you are helping to slow down the wear process as well as achieve smoother transitions. I rev match constantly except for in neighborhoods because of my exhaust lol
 
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