DRIVE a 5 spd car, when the downhill, I use the Neutral and let the car slide, if I want to slow down or stop, Can I JUST press the break without the clutch? or I need press them together?
I somebdy told me if the transmition is Neutral, I Can not just apply the break without the clutch, which will made the break oil decrease rapidly and lost the break. does it make sense??

 

Yes, you can apply the brake when the car is in neutral and your foot off the clutch. I think your friend was trying to tell you that it is hard on the brakes which would possibly be true if you were going round a race track. Your brake fluid won't just disappear but it can heat up, along with your pads, and degrade the usefulness of your braking system. Again though, the chances of you actually doing this on the street are slim to none.

 

well if you clutch in, are you bringing into gear? your not achieving anything if you clutch in but leave it pressed.. in fact you may just pointlessly put wear and tear on the clutch bearings..... the beauty of manual tranny is you can downshift to reduce brake usage with engine breaking.... or in your case shift into a gear one lower then what you would be in at that speed and you'll slow down...

 

got it!!Thanx!!!

 

I've heard that engine breaking, while sounding great in theory, actually puts a lot of wear on the engine, as well as wear on your clutch because you need to downshift. Cheaper to replace brake pads than trannys and clutches, eh?

 

Which is exacly what I was about to say. If you think your brakes alone won't stop you in time, then downshift 1 or 2 gears, use the compression + your brakes. Otherwise, only use the brakes. Costs alot less to change your pads, then to change your clutch.

 

people claim this wear but i see old 5spd cars all the time on stock engine and transmissions over 200k that have been slowed like this... infact i was taught of this being proper method downshifting using gears and brakes to slow.. The big ticket to reduce drivetrain and clutch wear though is rev matching......

 

Or you could try double clutching and heel and toe braking

 

best option!

close your eyes and full gas!!!!

 

A quick question about double clutching........

Why cant I just raise the RPM's with the clutch depressed, why do you have to release the clutch in neutral, raise the rpm's, then depress the clutch and put it in gear.

Might be a dumb question, but deserves an answer

 

You want to get the synchros in the tranny spinning up. If you have your foot on the clutch, you've disconnected the engine from the tranny and all your doing is reving the engine which is not the point.

 

yeh, that's how i normally power stop..if it's sudden..haha..best keep away from that though...bad on teh brakes...learn hwo to downshift...u wont go back to neutrall..lol

 

yeah, well, you could buy into that argument, but if you do, you'd better never bring your car's RPM above idle on acceleration either.

The forces on acceleration, and compression braking are EXACTLY THE SAME. There is no difference. All the motor knows is that it's at a slightly higher RPM. Given the love of these cars to do that, and the fact that they're designed to do that (provided you're not redlining the car) it's perfectly fine, and preferable.

Compression braking doesn't hurt motors, and it doesn't wear clutches any faster. In fact, if anything it's easier on the clutch because you don't engage it for as long a period of time.

It does however save you brakes. Most people I know with autos, or who believe in not compression braking in a manual go through brakes every 15-25k miles. I'm going through brakes every 80k+ (in my truck at least).

There is a cost savings, it's just in the brake department.

 

Another point worth mentioning is that being in gear is helpful in case of emergency. Every fraction of a second counts when you need to accelerate quickly. If you find yourself needing to accelerate while in neutral you have to shift into gear. If you're already in gear (especially a lower one like 2nd or 3rd) chances are you're in mid range revs with plenty of torque available and will be easily able to accelerate as needed. Just another thought for the pro-engine breaking side. Unless I'm at or near a complete stop I like to be in gear.

 

Yah I for one engine brake allot...it makes me feel like i am control.