Ok to shift gears manually with an A4?

[F1GT]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by PrtyBrd94:
How about before coming on here and puttin up your little rolly eyed smiley face, you explain your comments? that would be much more helpful. thanks.<hr></blockquote>

Well, to answer your original question of whether it's bad for you to downshift into curves and all, the answer would be Yes. Because it puts more wear and tear into your tranny. It's like downshifting to a redlight or downshifting to go faster for a manual, you will wear out your clutch discs sooner.

[RaVeN1469]

Yeah F1, everyone is asking questions and wondering if it's a good idea or not. Sarcasim isn't needed.

Might as well neutral drop? I don't see how that is even close to being a neutral drop. I think you missunderstood him. I think he ment hit the gas then drop the shifter into gear to give it a little more incentive to shift faster, then you leave it in that gear and make the gear go longer. If you leave the car in OD or D it shifts at 5500rpm where as if you tell it to wait you can last until 6000. By that point your horsepower and torque curve is dropping off like a mofo so I don't know if theres any benefit to it. It feels alot faster to me though and if you time it right it feels like it launches into 2nd with alot more momentum.

Wearing the clutch disc, I don't know what it is but I can imagine what it is. My guess is that if you can match the engine rpm's with the speed or at least get close enough this wear will be very minimal. It's all about knowing your car and what gear goes where at what speed. Your acting as if we are ripping apart our trannies. Other than heat and clutch disc I have heard no other reasons. But trannies are very complicated so who really knows. So far the way I see it is get a tranny cooler and know your car and you should be doing little damage. Just my $.02 though

[Fusion]

So if i get what F1 Gt is saying, Downshifting in a manual will in turn put more stress on the tranny and allow it go faster. So it's pretty much the same with autos....yeah...

[PrtyBrd94]

i'm just stoked that one of my posts got the flame folder thingy. it's a proud and monumental day. [img]smile.gif[/img] so, let me simplify the question. Shift an auto, yes or no?

[pgriffith]

Ok I tell you this not because I am some smart mechanic, I really lack the technical ability's that most of you have. But when I had my '89 Camaro with a 305 V8 and a 700R4 auto trans I did this all the time. I would cruise at 30 then downshift to first and take off, I dont think its bad because I did this on like a daily basis for about a year and a half. Didnt mess up anything. Might want to listen to the other guys on this because I speak from experience and not knoledge. I may have been lucky but no problems whatso ever when downshifting, I even downshifted to slow down, NO PROBLEMS AT ALL.

[RichGot6banger]

i love the rush from downshifting, but i feel GUILTY afterwards. dropping the shifter down throws the tranny back HARD, i dont know if this would be good, its not the smooth shifts auto's are supposed to make :( Some of the guys above are right, if we wanted real racing and performance engines we would have gotten manuals and not autos. I had no choice, but the rest of you might have. Just might opinion, it is FUN but i doubt it is not damaging since the tranny does heat up after constant downshifting.

[RaVeN1469]

I agree with Dom and the rest of you, this isn't good for your tranny. But I would have to say there is no clear cut answer. Read what everyone has to say and weigh out the risk vs fun then do what you want. I spent a good 3 almost 4 years practicing on my 86 firebird and I've had this car well over a year and from what I could tell there was little damage. Howerver I'm real good at busting tranny mounts. I didn't know enough about my firebird to know what was wrong but I'm sure that's what it was. Now my torque arm bushing is busted and I'll have to replace that. I didn't have a choice on getting an auto either, camaro's w/ground effects are hard to find for sale here and even though mine was arrest me red, no power windows and an auto I couldn't pass it up w/only 8k miles on it.

Oh and what would bouncing off the rev limiter do other than sounding like a Si that won't give up?

[ May 28, 2002: Message edited by: RaVeN1469 ]</p>

[F1GT]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Fusion:
So if i get what F1 Gt is saying, Downshifting in a manual will in turn put more stress on the tranny and allow it go faster. So it's pretty much the same with autos....yeah...<hr></blockquote>

That was my friend posting when I was in the shower. Anyway, downshifting in a manual will wear out the clutch faster and manuals are designed to get shifted, a lot, so that's different. It's ok to to downshift the auto once in a while, it's no biggie. Sometimes you might want to hold a gear longer too, so it won't hunt. But some of you are talking about gassing it and downshifting it, now that puts a lot of stress on the tranny. I've done that B4 on a Dodge Ram Van V8 and the transmission needed to be repaired, TWICE. It wasn't mine, it was a company vehicle, so I abused it.
[img]graemlins/burnout.gif[/img]

[Fusion]

Well i havent done it in a while, because my friend had a 1988 Rx7 and he did this all the time. Now he has no 2nd gear....haha....sucks to be him...BTW this is 1600 on the POST - o - Meter weeeeeee

[99Camaro99]

ok change of opinion...IT'S BAD. SES light is now on for me and I'm getting MAJOR SLIPPAGE. Car shifts really hard (kinda cool ;) ) and when slowing down it shakes like a mofo (so I'm just throwing it in neutral to ease it). I'm assuming it's a busted torque converter but it couldn't happen at a better time...my warranty expired YESTERDAY!!! @*#$^&@(#$ :(

[ May 29, 2002: Message edited by: 99Camaro99 ]</p>

[PrtyBrd94]

just a word of advice. i do know this. putting a auto in neutral while rolling is very bad. i'm not sure why, but i've always been told not to do this. it's not like a stick, where the gears disengage. the gears don't disengage in an auto i don't think, they just spin freely. i've hears this can blow seal on your tranny and everything else. someone correct me if i'm wrong, but i'm pretty sure it's not a good thing to do.

[99Camaro99]

maybe so...but I don't think it's as bad as the bucking I have while it's slowing down. I think I've slammed the gas down to hard while holding 2nd gear at 4,500RPMs. Damnit...I hate learning the hard way. :(

[PrtyBrd94]

don't we all.

[pgriffith]

get the extended warranty offered by the dealer?

[99Camaro99]

happily yes I did, but now I have to pay a deductible. Here's the funny thing...I was just at the dealership yesterday.