Gear changing question

[Stoo]

I find that engine breaking in traffic works better than using your breaks, as it helps to avoid building up queues..

[[GSV]Trig]

I used engine braking all the time, I seem to be the only one fo my close friends group that do tho as they all used to moan about the revs in the car, my car, shut up lol...

[Andeh13]

engine braking can cause more wear on your engine, especially if you do it harshly. Keep in mind brake pads are cheaper then gearboxes.

[dangel]

Yeah i wouldn't swap from the top of 5th (130+) to 2nd on my car

[Stoo]

engine braking can cause more wear on your engine, especially if you do it harshly. Keep in mind brake pads are cheaper then gearboxes.

Well, that depends on how you do it, if you're being a plank and going from 5/6th to 2nd/3rd at high revs it's obviously not going to do things any good, but careful planned engine breaking does no harm at all, in fact it's taught as a valuable skill in many driving schools.

[Starburn]

I'm being taught at the moment (test next tue )...
was taught to block change, e.g.. turning left, brake until slow enough and switch to second..

I even got moaned at a few days ago for going down my gears when approaching lights.. er can't remember what its called something to do with the "keep it rolling attitude" but I forget what she called it.. instead of just slowing right down, clutch down, stop, handbrake, wait.

[Big RICHARD]

Most modern cars don't engine brake properly any more, due to the advancement of engine management systems, which will prevent all but the most ridiculous of downward gear shifts from standing the car on its nose.

[5lab]

actually, they do it better. rather than using the amount of fuel used to keep the car @ ~900 rpm when engine braking, they now use none, so there is a little more slowing power