so i did the search and bumped couple threads to see how people down shift smoothly, but had no luck with people responding... is there a good method to down shifting smoothly? this is my first manual car, and i noticed that our cars shift smoother at higher RPM's, so how do you guys down shift?? i know that you have to blip the throttle to a certain rpm to get it smooth, but should i be down shifting while holding the brake or is the brake unneccesary?? any help will be greatly appreciated!

 

I rev match (blip) the throttle if I am driving aggressive. When driving normal, I downshift and let out on the clutch slowly to help decelerate the car smoothly and just assist with minimal braking.

 

I would say always rev match with every downshift to avoid unnecessary wear on your clutch. Besides, down shift rev match is part of the fun about driving stick.

You just have to practice and get a feel of how much to blip the throttle to match the rev. It's almost impossible to explain exactly how much to blip except for you to try it and get to know your car.

Don't have to hold the brake while rev matching. You can, after you've gotten rev matching down. It's called heel-toe, technique used in racing to down shift while braking to prepare for exiting the turn.
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someone should get the revmatch of the 370z and put it in our cars. now that would be a mod worth getting!!

 

thanks for the responses guys, but i was wondering, what is the real definition of rev matching?? is it just clutch in and blip the throttle and clutch out??

 

also do you guys downshift all the way to 2nd gear until you come to the stop light, or just throw it to neutral and brake all the way to stop?? cuz sometimes, id be going about 40-50 and the light turns yellow so i feel like i dont have enough time to downshift all the way to 2nd from 4th or 5th, so i just throw it neutral and brake.

 

Nothing wrong with that. You don't have to down shift before stopping. I rarely downshift to 2nd unless I go slow enough before a right turn or something.

rev matching is just like you said, clutch in, blip throttle, clutch out. End goal is to bring up the rev at a lower gear so the down shift is smooth and doesn't affect the balance of the car when switching to a lower gear.
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thanks bruin! much help and much appreciated!

 

I typically brake with the car in whatever gear I was driving in. No real reason to change gears if you're not racing, which you shouldn't be when not on a track. When I get slow enough for the engine to be near idle speed in gear, I disengage the clutch and have one foot on the clutch and one on the brake and the tranny in neutral. That way if I need to I can put it into whichever gear it needs to be in and take off when the time comes.

If you rev-match to downshift, you would disengage the clutch, put the car into neutral, engage the clutch, rev the engine to slightly higher than where it would be in the gear you're looking to shift into, disengage the clutch, shift into the desired gear, engage the clutch, then drive off because you're finished with the rev-match and in the gear you want to be in.

 

I agree with Itchytoe. Although coasting to a stop in neutral is fine, leaving the car in gear during deceleration both saves gas and allows one to accelerate if necessary suddenly. Disengage the clutch before the engine starts to lug.

Also Itchytoe is describing double-declutching which is a more complete procedure of downshifting but some would say you could omit the neutral step with synchros. I personally always double clutch.

 

save the double clutching for trucks and cars from the 1930's


I drive with my hair on fire. I even dialed back my brake pedal, like the lotus dudes do, so I could heel and toe the car on the street. when rev matching/heel+toe, keep the clutch in the slip zone, and go straight to the gear you want as you blip the throttle. once the car is happy and at the correct RPM, you can release it. should take you a split second after lots of practice

down shift rev matching is easy to master. heel and toe may take you months good luck. keep VDC on, and dont try downshifting on fast turns

once you master the above, you can even try your hand at lazy shifting without the clutch. good skill to learn if your clutch lines go bust

 

Youre describing double clutching.

Too many steps, just blip the throttle while you're crossing neutral.