What are the advantages and disadvantages of downshifting to slow down?

[jsbush]

Wouldn't down shifting add more wear and tear on the engine? But it would save your breaks.


Why would someone want to downshift?
Why would someone want to avoid downshifing?

Thanks

 

[Platypus]

Advantages:

Save on brakes
Easier

I dont know any disadvantages other than wear and tear on the clutch. The engine was made to be shifted and downshifted.

 

[LAUST]

For me I like to use the breaks rather then downshift.. it takes me 2 -3 hours to do a clutch cause while I'm at it I take the flywheel down to be resurfaced, the brakes I can do in 10 minutes a wheel plus the cost, Pad's are not bad at all, clutch is $200

Other then that CorpRec is right, not other wear tear involved

 

[GagHalfrunt]

That's about the size of it. Downshifting places the burden on the clutch instead of the brakes. I've always found it easier and cheaper to replace brake pads than to put in a new clutch, so I use the brakes 99% of the time. About the only time I don't use the brakes is for a rolling stop or a traffic slowdown where I know I'm going to have to downshift anyway to get going again.

 

[TurboQuattro]

You all are right, it's brakes or clutch

Personally I'll choose brakes anytime!

 

[RedRooster]

You guys are forgetting one major area where wear takes place when you downshift, and that's in the entire exhaust system, mainly the muffler.
The increased backpressure that the engine is making when it's revving high with no load is actually pretty bad on the muffler/cat/resonator(if your car has one).

For me, I shift down when slowing down, but recently I've been doing that less as I know that $10 brake pads are cheaper to replace than a $80 muffler, even though the brakes will need changed about twice as many times as the muffler as a trade off.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Advantage 1) Save the brakes (this has been covered)
Advantage 2) You stay in gear. This is important if you have to do some quick acceleration for one reason or another.

Disadvantage 1) You wear on the transmission - however if all of your downshifts are reasonable the effects will be virtually insignificant

 

[jsbush]

Thanks for the info.

No more down shifting for me.

Edit: Is it possible to put an Automatic in compression? Is this bad to do?

 

[RambleOn]

<< Thanks for the info.

No more down shifting for me.

Edit: Is it possible to put an Automatic in compression? Is this bad to do? >>



You can downshift your auto tranny into 2nd and 1st gear usually, although i'm not sure if it's good to do all the time....

 

[CocaCola5]

Advantages: car has a cool sound, makes braking fun.
DisAdvantage: you take longer to slow down.

 

[atrowe]

Advantage: In mountainous terrain, especially when going down a long decline, brake pads can easily overheat, causing signifigant damage and possible brake failure. Dropping into a lower gear and using the engine to hold back the speed of the car can prevent this from happening. That's about the only instance where I can see downshifting to slow down being justified.

 

[woodie1]

Your method of downshifting has a lot to do with any wear and tear. If the engine RPM is raised while releasing the clutch you reduce a lot of the wear.