Proper way to down shift?

Noc

I know what you are thinking 'what kind of stupid question is that?'

First off i apologize if it is a stupid question, most people around my generation did not have the opportunity to learn how to drive a manual transmission car. My parents dont, and the driving school i went to do not offer classes on manual trans. Basically all they say was "put it on drive and drive away"

Anyways, at what condition and situation should i downshift? What is the proper way of doing it so i wont damage the transmission?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

mikeSS

well i manual 370z gives the drive a really easy downshift. when downshifting around a turn the car slows down and put the RPM in the peak power point. you want the RPM to be high when racing.

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kenchan

you have a non SRM, i take it? clutch-in, shift to lower gear, blip, clutch-out smoothly.

(i think, i do it without thinking so i need to think if that was the sequence. )

you'd do this before turns or down a slope or just slowing down in general.

chops

you got it. you'll definitely jerk forward/back a few times while learning to manually downshift/rev match at the right rpm, but its so worth it! i still turn off SRM from time to time to see if i can still do it

Carbon_z

i always tap the gas a little bit when downshifting to make the downshift even smoother... The method I describe is the SAME method used in the sync gear downshifting offered in the sports 370z... I have a base but downshifting the way I described simulates the sports models.

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kenchan

yah, with the SRM unless im ON the brakes pretty hard i too slightly give throttle while engaging the lower gear to make the shift seamless.

Red__Zed

pretty much this, unless you are going into first while moving, in which case I would double-clutch.

Pelican170

Wow, im surprised all of you use the SRM all the time. I dont really like it for whatever reason.

kenchan

if the Z's throttle response was quicker i would probably not use SRM but i found that SRM can blip the throttle faster than manally stepping on the pedal so ive been using it.

the Z's throttle lag is considerably longer than say my G's pedal input.

ProfessorDave

The conditions under which you would downshift include the following:
You want to accelerate
You want to decelerate
Your RPMs have dropped and you are going to "lug" the engine (say, trying to get power from the engine at or under 2k rpms)
You want to impress that cute girl over there (just be prepared...she won't be impressed. She'll think you are a loud, annoying idiot who doesn't know a think about what women want. She'll tell you this if you are moving slowly enough and your window is down).

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kenchan

it's tuff biz being a guy.

Pelican170

See, i think its quick haha. when i shift gears, i chirp them everytime even at 4th gear. Either the throttle is quick or im dropping the clutch too fast? is there such a thing? ive actually been meaning to ask that question..

6spd

This sir is sheer comic genius! High five... better yet, high six

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Red__Zed

Very true. It drives me nuts to drive the Z with the epic throttle lag. I find myself overshooting my matches every time I drive another car because I'm used to having to apply full throttle to rev-match.

kenchan

you mean during a shiftup? if so you're sort of power shifting/dropping the clutch on every gear. quick way to get a shuddering clutch. you'd have to learn to time yourself so that you dont get a lurch during engagement.

if you're chirping on downshifts then you're doing it all wrong!
you'd want to rev match by blipping the throttle and clutch-out gently...otherwise in rain you could lose control of the car~!!