sc351W

What do you guys think...

My friend will be driving his stang around and when he comes up to a light he'll drop it down a gear and let the engine brake help slow him down.... is it bad to do that bc i think it is, and would it not be bad if he did a lil heel toe braking?

88_5.0

do you mean downshifting? there's nothing wrong with that

87mustang347

its not bad but i myself dont really like to do it cause i think it wears out the motor more and haveing your brake pads and rotors changed is alot cheaper then doin somethin with your motor

FoxGT

I don't think it's too horrible on the engine, but does put more wear on the engine. I only do it if I have to stop fast. Usually, I just leave mine in whatever gear I'm in then shift into neutral when I am almost stopped.

Ezrider

i always downshift, i guess its just habbit from driving alot of mountain roads, i dont even think about it, iv been trying to stop doing it in the bmw cause i dont know when the timming belt was last changed and i havent had a chance to do it yet, so im trying to avoid quick rpm changes, god i hate belts

roundman

which would you rather change, the clutch or the brakes???? personally I think the brakes are a lot easier to service than the clutch.

dc_mann8

i do a mix of both, i put a little pressure on the brakes and downshift easy.

Derf00

I do it all the time, as long as you release the clutch all the way so the clutch disc doesn't get fried by half-a##ing and riding the clutch pedal. It doesn't hurt the engine unless you downshift into 2nd while cruising at 60 or 70 or something that just throws your RPM's into the red or beyond.

fats429

I thought you wer going to be talking about putting a Jake brake on your pony

Guest

eventually (like... 100,000 miles from now depending on how good your engine is and how many miles are on it currently) it can wear down your valve springs and cause valve float, but as long as you downshift at a low rpm -say sub 3000 rpm- it won't hurt it at all. I sometimes do that to slow down, but not a whole lot.

At the end of the day, I agree with the old man...



[8D]