Foo - Do you use engine braking?

I can't decide whether or not to make a habit of it :(.

I use regenerative braking on my Prius.

I do. Brakes are cheeper than clutches and gear boxes, but it's a good thing to know. Especially given your winters, slowing down in the snow without risking the wheels locking is a good thing.

Every time I lift my foot off the throttle.

I drive a 5 speed. I will downshift and allow the engine to slow me down 10 mph or so. Nothing drastic.

As an old mechanic put it to me years ago: "Brakes are a lot cheaper than transmissions ..."
I never engine brake. Unless I'm screaming down a mountain and the brakes overheat and fail.

Never trust for advice a person who makes money on your failed brakes...

I have never replaced either a transmission or a clutch and I always am using the engine to slow me down. Just don't ride the clutch.

You're driving a standard ... of course you should be engine braking ... just not from 3rd to 1st. I agree with AllenG, it's a handy skill to know how to do efficiently in case you need to do it for real. Always keep one eye on the guy behind you since they may not realize you're slowing down since your brake lights will not go off.

Yes. All the time. But the trick is to make sure you rev-match everything. EVERYTHING! Espically when letting out the clutch. As long as you properly blip the throttle to match the engine speed to the transmission speed and reengage the clutch smootly and gently (but not necessarily slowly), it's no different than accelerating up to redline and then letting off the throttle.

I've already gotten into the habit of Rev matching. It has been confirmed that my clutch is original, with 272k miles on it. So, I want to extend that life all the way!

So I think that I was cruising at 50mph and wanted to slow down to a stop for a redlight or whatever, I'll rev match and shift it into 3rd. Maybe I should very lightly press in the brakes, just enough to get my brake lights on, but not enough no really engage the brakes.

No, the $10 Ultegra brake shoes work just fine!"D

Well since I am the engine, and I operate the brakes... then yes, I use engine braking.

If driving a car, no. Unless you mean downshifting for a long steep decline.

I've been known to blip the throttle in an automatic to get it to downshift when I want to slow down without hitting the brakes.

One of the big advantages is that if you are down shifting and the light changes, you are in the right gear to smoothly accelerate. Also, you are supposed to always keep the engine in gear and not coast - again, it is a control issue.

I downshift to slow down also. Look at it this way: would you want your brakes to fail when you're going around a bend? I will live with engine failure. I will not live with brake failure. It is so much more dangerous. My understanding is that there is very little wear and tear on your engine-transmission when you downshift because the engine speed can be matched with the transmission speed. What puts the most strain on the drivetrain is acceleration from stand still.

It doesn't hurt to do it. But that's an outdated method of controlling cars. Brakes work much better than they used to so hitting the brake pedal is a more effective way of slowing down. Plus gearing down increases the engine rpms. Computers in cars may sense a need for increased fuel. Unless you are really pushing a car in turns and want the power to come out flying, it's better to just use the brakes. Brakes are cheaper than a new clutch.

Also, you are supposed to always keep the engine in gear and not coast - again, it is a control issue.

Yeah, when I was learning to drive my first car (manual), my dad told me that.

Very rarely, unless I am coming in hot into a corner and wanna accelerate quickly out of it..

always

My clutch has over 355,xxx kms on it. I engine brake all the time. You do the math.

I do. Brakes are cheeper than clutches and gear boxes, but it's a good thing to know. Especially given your winters, slowing down in the snow without risking the wheels locking is a good thing.

What makes you think you cant lock the wheels up, on snow, while engine breaking?

All the time. That's the advantage of manual transmissions. Use it mostly on downhills, not as much brake wear.

What makes you think you cant lock the wheels up, on snow, while engine breaking?
It's harder to do. No matter what you do, you won't have the same braking power as literally slamming the brakes, which instantly locks the wheels. My mom uses engine braking all the time in the worst of bad weather (she is on the road a lot for business, and has seen it all).

I do. Brakes are cheeper than clutches and gear boxes, but it's a good thing to know. Especially given your winters, slowing down in the snow without risking the wheels locking is a good thing.

I always felt like I had more control ( when I drove a manual ) when I would take it out of gear and use the brakes to the control the car's speed on snow instead of using the engine as a brake.

I can't cite any experiences as examples, but I think of it kinda like ABS; when out of gear, the wheel is only being turned by the ground and therefore keeping consistent contact with it. When using the engine as a brake, the engine is controlling the wheel more and is more likely to lose contact (spin fast or slower than is should) on a slippery surface like snow. If you lose contact, you lose control, more or less.

But its been over two years since I've driven a manual in the snow, so I maybe wrong.

i do but cats have a lound tendency to pop when they do that but it sounds cool

I still have the original clutch in my Toyota T-100 pickup. It has 190,000 miles on it. I use the gears to check my speed in the mountains all the time.

I do all the time on my fixie:rolleyes: Transmissions are designed for engine braking. Just don`t over do it you don`t want your engine tacking 4 grand down a hill, if so its time to hit the brakes.

how about power braking? i do that a lot.

I trained for a class B with passenger endorsement (bus driver) liceinse. It was drilled into us to use the engine for braking as much as practical. The bike equivalent would be to have a resistance trainer unit on a rear rack, to be pulled into contact with the rear wheel as needed. Tandem stuff, like the soup plate sized disc brakes Santana has.

If you rev match, it doesn't hurt your clutch at all. Yes, I engine brake frequently when I drive, which isn't much at all these days.

I am not sure if there should be so much concern for the transmission as much as the engine.

I read somewhere once that intense/regular engine braking should not be practiced because it imposes reverse pressures on the engine itself, which in the end causes more wear - i.e. that the engine works best when used only for acceleration.

Can anyone definitely confirm if this is myth or reality?

Many years ago when I was poorer then I am now, I was driving an old VW Bug. It was in baaaaaaaaaaaaad shape. Floor boards rusted out so bad, slush would splash up and hit me from the road in the winter. I tried many things to prevent this, boards and rugs, etc, but some would still get through :lol:

Anyway, I was going almost 70 down the expressway, and when I came to my exit, I had to brake suddenly because traffic was backed-up at this exit all the way onto the expressway.

My brakes went out completely! I swerved on to the embankment to avoid a collision, which was such a huge slope I am lucky I didn't flip the bug, and brought the car to a stop by downshifting (the emergency/parking brake was long gone already too)

When I'm driving a standard, always. What's the point otherwise?

Always.

I typically go 4-3-2 and then pick 1st when I've come to a complete stop. (No 5th gear, that failed long ago because of a gear oil leak. :( A friend's got a transmission for me, though, so I can eventually get that fixed...)

Oh, and yes, the engine computer (or whatever mechanical fueling system your car uses) will detect higher RPMs. It's just that it'll also detect that your foot is not on the throttle, and won't provide any fuel, in most modern cars. Heck, even my 21 year old diesel does that. As an experiment, when you're in a straight line and know you won't have to panic stop, get going, and then get off the accelerator. Turn off the key. Turn it back on. Notice no change in sound.

I used to when I drove a stick, but ever since getting married I've had an automatic transmission and so tend to have forgotten all the fun driving tricks.

BTW, out of habit from years of fast-winding tape decks, I still use "engine braking" when autolocating a Digital Audio Workstation...even though it not only serves no purpose, but usually winds up screwing up where I want to be! But back in the Good Old Days "engine braking" was the only way to get a 2" reel of tape to stop anywhere near where you wanted it to: basically, if you were Fast Forwarding you'd hit Rewind prior to Stop (and vice-versa).