Well last night i was riding in my friends bmw 325 and he was engine braking on just about every turn, stop sign, street light, etc... I was watching him, and he just downshifts and drops the clutch, i dont usually do engine braking, for the purpose because i had a new car and i was breaking in the engine so i didnt wanna put to much stress on it, but now if i try it, i still get like a really big whiplash, is this because my clutch is still to new, when i want to engine brake, i gotta rev it up alittle higher and drop it, im at 5200 miles

 

there is really no purpose to engine brake everywhere, and i wouldn't reccommend it. Engine braking puts extra stress on an engine, and you might as well save your engine some stress when you have brakes that work just as well. i figure 60 bucks for new pads, vs. how much money your going to spend on your engine when something goes wrong. There are correct places and times to engine brake, every stop sign, stop light, etc arnt the places you really need to be doing it.

 

yea i agree, dont like giving my car some stress, although i engine break a little, when im going fast and i need to stop fast, i slowly hit the brakes, shift down rev up a lil then release the clutch.. something like that... but not too much-_-

but as for downshifting and release the clutch right away... i dun like that, feels like my engine is gonna break on me lol...

 

I mostly do it when road conditions need it. If i feel its too slippery then I downshift.

 

engine breaking has been done as long as manual cars have been driven (which is longer than automatic cars have existed). it is perfectly safe, and thats the end of that story. there is no proof it hurts an engine. speculation is useless...its actually safer, for the fact that its better to have the car in the appropriate gear at all times incase anything happens and you need to make a quick adjustment. that extra second u spend trying to put it into gear could cause u to get into an accident u would normally have been able to avoid.

about your question tho, the higher you rev the engine in a gear, the more wiplash you will have when downshifting. the clutch on tC's seems to be really grabby...just keep at it, try letting the clutch out gradually when you downshift instead of just dropping it. eventually you'll find out what works for you.

 

thx for the response guys, but solot tc does this mean i kinda burn my clutch while engine braking/downshifting?

 

the reason why you get WHIPLASH is because you dont rev high enough and dropping the clutch to hard.

if you heel toe'ed a lil better or add more gas, and put the car in gear at right RPM, then you wunt feel the whiplash.

and engine braking is worthless unless your racing and doing racing related stoff. but it does help you stop or slow a lil faster then braking

 

I usually engine brake on offramps and stuff or if Im coming into a stop or corner hot and heavy.

 

So, when conditions are dicey, you use two (front!) wheels to slow the car instead of four wheels with anti-lock capacity?

Seems unnecessarily risky.

 

I always heel-toe downshift because i think its fun and its good practice for the trips to the mountains

 

If done properly, engine braking doesn't have to cause whiplash. In fact, you shouldn't really even notice it. You shouldn't use downshifting only to slow you down, but downshifting and braking at the same time. Porsche recommends (or used to, anyway) shifting down through the gears coming to a stop, at least to second gear. There are a couple reasons to do this. First, if you suddenly need to accelerate as you're slowing down, you're already in the right gear. Second, you put less stress on the CV joints by slowing down the car with the car in gear. Now the downside is you will put a little more wear on the clutch (and a very small amount more on the motor mounts) but the choice is up to you. I usually downshift as I'm slowing down or stopping, but I also leave it in gear until the RPM drop to between 1000 and 1500 or so.