To downshift or not to downshift?

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hey mr. "built not bought" my car is much more than a h/c/i car and i don't rpm match you dumb a**. it takes no more pressure to stop a 3000 lb car than it does to rip it off the line. you sir are a moron and should have an automatic do your shifting:nonono:


LOL holy ****. Where did this guy come from? A little harsh, but yes you are correct.
 
the only reason that i rev a little to rev match is so it doesn't jerk like it does when i just put it down a gear and let off on the clutch, while still breaking. it cant be worse for your clutch than shifting up a gear driving down the road. i usually put it in 4th going from about 50 down, then 3rd from 30 down, and i rarely engine brake 2nd, and even more rarely engine brake first. ive only done that once or twice. the arguing needs to stop, you all are talking about ages and arguing over who is right. that doesn't do much for your age.

when driving by myself normally i go down a gear while on the breaks, and let the clutch out.

when driving spiritedly or with another person in the car smoothly, i put it down, rev a little, and then let the clutch out.
 
If you slip the clutch a little like you should, there will be no jerking. If it does, you have other problems. I also dont engine brake 1st and I only 2nd when I have to slow down real fast and Im on the brakes hard.
 
Aliate X is correct that rev matching is tapping the throttle on downshifts instead of riding the clutch to bring up the rpm. There is nothing actually wrong with either way imo. It depends on how you're driving. When driving normally in traffic, there's no reason to rev match your downshifts other than sounding cool. Like pacecar said, over a long period of time, it might wear the clutch down a tad quicker, but it would never actually damage the transmission. The time for rev matching is when you're driving really hard, usually road racing type driving. When you're driving really fast and coming into a corner hard, you don't have time to slip the clutch when downshifting. You have to blip the throttle to match the rpm which will allow you to drop the clutch without locking up the rear tires, which will make your downshifts much quicker. This is why Nascar does it on road courses, and every other form of road racing does it. I'm pretty sure they're not downshifting incorrectly. So for normal driving on the street, rev matching is unnecessary, but it is a must when driving hard.
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Yes I feel the need to rev match only when I dropping the car down into a lower gear and will be at a high RPM. If Im throwing it down into 3rd and the cars only going to be at 2000 RPM, a little slip of the clutch and theres no bark of the tires, no jolt, it just engages like a regular upshift. Now if I were to do the same to third and the car was going to be at 4500 RPM, you better believe I am going to blip the throttle and bring the R's up. I DONT like riding the clutch in my cars, and in order for that to not feel painful Id have to ride it a good deal.

Different driving styles bring on different ways to downshift. Fighting about which one will wear a clutch out 5 miles earlier is a mute point. Its the same debate with breaking motors in, some say calm and low RPM for 1000 miles, some say give it hell the first day. There are too many different ways to do things out there, choose the one YOU want and stick with it. Remember everyone is right...


in their own mind. :D