Hi, Im trying to practice how to shiftdown when stopping to reduce brake life, but everytime i do it, the car jerks a little. Also, is it good to to shift down before stopping? I heard ppl said is bad for the tranny, is this a myth? thank you.

 

its called heel toe. before you downshift,blip the throttle to raise the rpms then simultaneously let out the clutch to make for a smoother ride,and be on the brakes too

 

you mean to increase brake life.

how much are brake pads?
how much is a new engine/tranny?

which one does it make more sense to reduce wear on?

if i'm coming to a stoplight/stop sign i usually put it in neutral and use my brakes

if i'm really driving i will down shift, but usually using what referred to as "heel toe" shifting in an attempt to reduce the wear on the drive train.

 

When coming to a complete stop I just disengage the clutch.

As for downshifting, when you move to a lower gear you are raising the revs, but if you disengage the clutch and get off of the throttle then you'll drop engine revs. So now the engine is trying to decelerate just as the engagement of the lower gear is going to force the engine to accelerate. In this case the engine/transmission is gonna put up a fight. However, with heel-toe downshifting you can apply the brakes with the ball of your foot while moving your heel over to blip the throttle as you re-engage the clutch in the lower gear. Essentially the transmission and engine are more in unison now and that makes clutch engagement smoother.

 

i stop in neutral, unless needed i downshift

 

id rather replace pads any day than the other stuff you'd be replacing in the future sooner than you might have too. it can be hard on the ISB

 

when asshats pull out in front of me i down shift and brake but in normal driving brakes work just fine.