Do you use cruise control?

[thomsbrain]

i use it to keep my speed down. i'll set it for 70 at night or 80 out on a big interstate, to keep myself from accelerating to outrageous speeds, which i will be tempted to do otherwise. generally i use it when i don't want to bother watching for cops like a hawk. however, i can actually maintain a more even speed than my cruise control can, since it is always slow to react.

 

[yhelothar]

Yup I use it on long highway trips on 3900RPM. The second cam on my car kicks in at 4000RPM, causing the engine to burn a lot richer, thus I try to limit it under 4000 while cruising. It's hard when everyone around you is going 80+ though.

 

[imported_goku]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: goku
Because your foot is slightly resting on the brake??? And if you can feel the brake, why would you move your foot any further to the left?

Your foot should NEVER, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES rest on the brake pedal unless you are using it. Even slightly resting your foot on the brake pedal will trigger the brakelights and slightly engage the brakes, which will not only wear out your brakes much faster and significantly reduce fuel economy, but also eliminate any warning to cars behind you when you begin braking since the brake lights will always be on.

ZV

While I agree with what you said, I don't believe it's engaging the brakes because if it was, the cruise control would have been disabled. I tested this theory on the way home today by pressing ever so slightly more than I usually do and the cruisecontrol was disabled. Is this the equivalent of me resting my hand on the shifter? (Causes it to wear out faster)

 

[drinkmorejava]

meh, i don't, I'd fall asleep half the time if i wasn't

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: goku

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: goku
Because your foot is slightly resting on the brake??? And if you can feel the brake, why would you move your foot any further to the left?

Your foot should NEVER, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES rest on the brake pedal unless you are using it. Even slightly resting your foot on the brake pedal will trigger the brakelights and slightly engage the brakes, which will not only wear out your brakes much faster and significantly reduce fuel economy, but also eliminate any warning to cars behind you when you begin braking since the brake lights will always be on.

ZV

While I agree with what you said, I don't believe it's engaging the brakes because if it was, the cruise control would have been disabled. I tested this theory on the way home today by pressing ever so slightly more than I usually do and the cruisecontrol was disabled. Is this the equivalent of me resting my hand on the shifter? (Causes it to wear out faster)

There's no free play in the brake hydraulics. Resting your foot on the brake pedal, even if you are not triggering the brake lights (which is itself a very fine line and the cruise control pickup may or may not run off of the same sensor) you are causing the master cylinder to move and therefore, you are imparting a force on the brake pads, causing them to drag at least slightly. It's the same as resting your foot on the clutch or resting your hand on the shifter of a manual transmission.

ZV

 

[imported_goku]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: goku

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: goku
Because your foot is slightly resting on the brake??? And if you can feel the brake, why would you move your foot any further to the left?

Your foot should NEVER, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES rest on the brake pedal unless you are using it. Even slightly resting your foot on the brake pedal will trigger the brakelights and slightly engage the brakes, which will not only wear out your brakes much faster and significantly reduce fuel economy, but also eliminate any warning to cars behind you when you begin braking since the brake lights will always be on.

ZV

While I agree with what you said, I don't believe it's engaging the brakes because if it was, the cruise control would have been disabled. I tested this theory on the way home today by pressing ever so slightly more than I usually do and the cruisecontrol was disabled. Is this the equivalent of me resting my hand on the shifter? (Causes it to wear out faster)

There's no free play in the brake hydraulics. Resting your foot on the brake pedal, even if you are not triggering the brake lights (which is itself a very fine line and the cruise control pickup may or may not run off of the same sensor) you are causing the master cylinder to move and therefore, you are imparting a force on the brake pads, causing them to drag at least slightly. It's the same as resting your foot on the clutch or resting your hand on the shifter of a manual transmission.

ZV

Damn, figured it was the hand and shifter thing, eh... What does resting your hand on the shifter do anyways?

 

[Eos]

Originally posted by: DrPizza

Originally posted by: JoeFahey1
Sometimes I will begin to drift down to a lower speed then I want, so what I do sometimes is set the cruise control at the minimum speed I want, and so I can drive with the gas pedal as I normally would, but when I get down to the minimum, the cruise control keeps me at the speed I don't want to go below.

I've had cruise control on for a 45 mph zone, forgotten, driven in a 65 mph zone for a while, then while coasting down the off-ramp, kinda freaked out momentarily when suddenly the car applied some throttle - it had slowed to 44 and was trying to pick the speed back up. Of course, tapping the brake takes care of the problem, but it's one of those "gasp" types of situations.

My car disengages cruise when applying the throttle.

Sucks to be you...

Also, my cruise control 'control' is a stick similar to the turn signal stick on the opposite side of the steering wheel. It has a cancel feature if I pull it toward me. No brake tapping is required, thus not freaking out those effing tailgaters on the interstate.

 

[drum]

Originally posted by: speg
I would if my car had it.