I like the sound of downshift in my coupe, but i wonder if it will hurt the car?

 

I am pretty much rev-matching and hgeel-toe downshifting pretty much all the time as I drive. I do this on my 6MT and have been doing it in my prior 2 cars and never had any problems with the cars. I don't expect I will in the G either.

 

is it bad just to downshift??? i don't know how to rev match yet

 

do some web searches and you can find how to rev match for downshifts. Basically, you push in the clutch, move shifter to lower gear while blipping the throttle to rev to engine speed that it would be in in that lower gear, and ease out the clutch.

Heel-toeing is the next step, so you can brake into a turn, rev-match and shift, all in a smooth quick motion. I'm still practicing.

 

If you are talking about downshifting and letting the clutch out slowly to let the motor catch up to the tranny, then it will accelerate clutch wear slightly, but the tranny should be able to handle it. But I would learn to rev-match. You'll find downshifting much more enjoyable, comfortable and faster if you do.

 

rev-matching is pretty easy, very little parctice needed
heel toeing is harder if you have shoes on, a pair of racing shoes will make it easier

 

downshifting is great, just be sure to rev match too.

I went 120k on the original clutch, and 62k on the original brake pads on my Z-24 in high school because I consistently downshifted and rev matched.

 

i always match rev when downshifting. it's a habit from my previous cars. it feels a lot better as well. i'm trying to get the heel toe down, however it's frustrating!!

 

The pedal setup in the g is not really heel-toe friendly. I used to be butter smooth on the wrx, now I struggle. I need to nail it down before the next track day.

 

Can someone define rev matching? Just curious, seen the term a couple of times on the board.

 

Read my post above!

 

rev matching is reving up the engine to match the rpms at the lower gear.
For example, in my altima, when i downshift from 3rd to 2nd and im goin 50mph, before i engage 2nd, i rev up the engine to about 5k, then ease out of the clutch
this makes ur downshifts extremely smooth

 

escobar929 is exacly right. rev matching is the process of matching the engine speed to the road speed for the gear you are shifting into. on the upshift, this happens naturally as the engine spools down between shifts, but on the downshift, the engine generally has to speed up to match the road speed of the lower gear.

I read a technique somewhere that really helped me when I started doing it.

While cruising along the interstate, practice downshifting and rev matching between 6th and 5th: Clutch, shift from 6th to 5th, blip the gas pedal to bring the RPMs up about 750-1k, de-clutch. You know you've perfected it when you can do it repeatedly without a change in velocity, and without making your passenger's heads bob. The only telltale sign should be the change in the engine noise. That is to say, if your passenger was deaf, and looking out the window, they wouldn't even know you did it.

Once you perfect 6 to 5, try 6 to 5 to 4. The 5 to 4 at 65mph requires a significant throttle blip, but during agressive driving and downshifting, you will need to perform these kinds of downshifts.

Once you have perfected 6 to 5 and 6 to 5 to 4, start using it in traffic as you slow down. Set it up so that you can slow down from engine braking alone. A good downshift means you are able to quickly and smoothly let the clutch out, and neither the car, nor your head lurches forward (except slightly, as it would if you were lightly braking).

Once you have rev matching perfected, you can move on to heel toe braking. This is rev matching, downshifting, and braking all at once. While braking with your right foot, clutch, shift, then blip the throttle with the edge of your foot (I don't know why they call it heel-toe...i've never been able to use either on any car...I always use the edges of my feet and roll my knee to accomplish it...maybe on old race cars the pedals were different), then let the clutch out. I recommend practicing this one when no other cars are around in case you don't brake hard enough, or you brake too quickly. Once you've perfected straight line heel-toe braking, you can move on to heel-toe braking in the corners. I started heel-toe shifting by learning to carefully modulate the brakes with just the left edge of my foot, instead of the ball, then I added the whole gas pedal bit.

I had the techniques nailed in my WRX, but the pedal placement along with my shoe size is causing me problems in the G. YMMV.

 

I had a wrx too. That car had one of the best traditional pedal
setups for heel and toe.

I just use the cheater style heel&toe on the G35C. Ball of right foot on
the brake, pinky on the gas. I started doing that on a Protege5 long
time ago cause the brake pedal was so damn high vs gas. Worked
great. Then my Cooper-S has the organ pedal type so that car requires
me to do this cheater style too. It's especially good on the streets cause
you don't use so much brake pressure all the time.

 

Can you rev-match on an 5at?