WOW- A million dollar wrong answer!
I hope Tom and Ray reverse themselves on this one, because their advice is going to lead to a lot of expensive damaged sheet metal. In a two-wheel drive automatic transmission car the driven wheels are always getting a little push from the engine. As the driver tries to gently engage the brakes the non-driven wheels lock up while the driven wheels are actually pushing the car downhill! With a pait of wheels locked a car cannot be controlled- and will crash! No question, anti-lock brakes help with this a bit, but they really don’t work well at the low speeds that (should) be involved when driving down a slipper hill.
If you haven’t learned this lesson yet just watch the TV news the next time there is a snow disaster in a hilly city- you can actually see the cars sliding down the hills with one pair of wheels locked and the others pushing them on to disaster!
“I hope Tom and Ray reverse themselves on this one”
Nobody on this thread is named Tom or Ray. You sure you posted in the right place?
Happy holidays!
Tom and Ray don’t bother themselves with us or our opinions on here…
I would LOVE to see them chime in one time…that’d be fun. They don’t have/wont make the time to peruse our silly conversations however…
As far as Anti-lock brakes go…I am one person who can well do without them. Every single time they have activated on me…they have lengthened my stop distance…YAY…I didn’t temporarily lock a wheel up, but who cares…Anti-lock usually DOUBLES my stop distance…but of course i never LOCK a wheel up…Oooooooh…YAY again! What a useless technology.
I personally can stop a vehicle FAR FAR FAR better using my own brake modulation rather than let ABS take over…HATE HATE HATE ABS.
Me too, I’d rather not have them.
“Downshifting and engine braking are NOT bad for your automatic transmission.”
“Is spirited driving harder on the car than driving sedately? Of course it is.”
Aren’t these contradictory remarks? Both are quotes by JayWB
I hear you Elly…when people ask whether this or that is bad for a car, all you can say truthfully is, everything but storage is bad for a car and even that isn’t going to make it any better.
Thank you!! I bought a near new minivan in May and by now it has bugs in the paint on the front of it, a place in the rear door caused by someone else’s door, a skinned up bumper where I backed into a huge rock, and little nicks here and there.
"I don’t know what I am talking about. I have never destroyed a transmission. But I know , and anyone should know, that if an auto transmission stayed in one gear all the time, the clutches might last forever. And if allowed to shift as needed, might last as long as the engine. But if shifted many more times than needed, might quit before the engine. SHIFTING GEARS DOES WEAR THE CLUTCHES. "
Elly, you’ve admitted you don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t see any further need to continue.
I am waiting for you to admit YOU don’t know what you are talking about, you obviously don’t.
Any extra shifting just adds to the wear of the clutches and other parts. With all your expertise., just how can you tell what caused a transmission failure? Can you tell if it was abuse or being too careful?? Maybe babying a vehicle makes it weak and puny. Maybe we should kick them around a little, make them shape up, HU? Maybe we should keep the RPMs up around 4000 also.
Transman, another transmission expert argued with me that a torque converter would never hold back a car, like downshifting on a hill. I proved , at least to myself, that it could. I could turn my ign OFF at the top of a hill and turn it back ON at the bottom of the hill and it would start right up, proving that the engine was turning all the time. I still had power brakes and steering. I timed it several times and it would be as long as 47 seconds, about a quarter of a mile. As ignorant as I am, I knew something that Transman didn’t know.
So, you old pros don’t know everything!!
Go ahead and drive anyway you like, I don’t care, but I am going to try to make mine last as long as possible.
Jay’s right. Firmer shifts cause LESS wear on friction elements. Thats what shift kits are for, thats what “Corvette Servos” do. Shift kits aren’t just for racing applications, I use them in towing and “Just your fathers oldsmobile” applications. There are limits to the firmness where drivetrain damage can ocurr.
transman
Well I understand well what you are saying and agree also. However even with “shift Kits” It still would be better to let the car decide to shift, rather than forcing shifts at higher RPMs or “Sport Shifting”.
I’ve been watching this from the sidelines, no rooster in this particular rooster fight. Just to be clear, now you agree that “Jay’s right”?
“transman618 December 26 Report
Jay’s right.”
“EllyEllis December 26 Report
Well I understand well what you are saying and agree also.”
Cool closed thread, bro.
The OP’s question was 'I’d like to know if downshifting to slow the vehicle rather than using the brakes could be causing the two issues described above. Also is doing this bad for the vahicle in general?"
The answer is; YES Jay is wrong about that!
Honestly, Elly, do you even remember what I said? Or are you just convinced that EVERYTHING I say is wrong?
I said THIS:
“Downshifting and engine braking are NOT bad for your automatic transmission. Bad for gas mileage? Sure. Is spirited driving harder on the car than driving sedately? Of course it is. Is hitting a bump while going fast harder on the tires and suspension than hitting the same bump going slow? Obviously.”
Read it carefully.Read ALL of my posts if you must. Then quote me where I’m wrong. Don’t just say I’m wrong. Quote me. If you can’t show me exactly what I said that’s wrong then you don’t know what you’re talking about. Again.
Well Jay , you said "Downshifting and engine braking are NOT bad for your automatic transmission."
Now you say, " Is spirited driving harder on the car than driving sedately? Of course it is"
Then you started talking about “shift kits” which has nothing to do at all about the question asked by the OP.
Then Transman tried to comvince me that a “shift kit” made the clutches last longer, something which I already knew Sorry, I never noticed that you had changed your opinion!!!