Skipping Gears While Upshifting/Downshifting - Good Or Bad?

Nacho · Post by **Nacho** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:02 pm

Getting mixed responses when asking this question. Good or bad....and why?

A penny for your thoughts?

Post by **vipfto** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:35 pm

all good as long as your not going from say 130 in 4th then to 2nd

Post by **I8A4RE** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 7:20 pm

Serously i cant believe your even asking this question. 90% of the time its totally inappropriate to change down from 5 - 4 - 3 -2.

Why would it be bad, please give me one reason why someone would say it's bad (excluding changing down gear from a high gear down to a gear that is out of its rev range.)

Doing burnouts, riding the clutch, pulling handbrakies, not servicing and grinding gears is what is going to f@#k your car

Nacho · Post by **Nacho** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:37 pm

It was meant to be a philosophical question. No arguments there with downshifting.

But say you were to shift from 3rd to 5th or perhaps 4th to 6th....that's where most of the mixed answers are coming from. What's your stance on this?

Post by **I8A4RE** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:26 pm

Nacho wrote:It was meant to be a philosophical question. No arguments there with downshifting.

But say you were to shift from 3rd to 5th or perhaps 4th to 6th....that's where most of the mixed answers are coming from. What's your stance on this?

well im guessing your talking about the absolute extreme's, because shifting say from 3 gear at redline to 5 gear, the rev's would most probably still be higher enough for a smooth transition. Its all about the rev range of the piticular gear, theres no point short shifting\gear skipping, if you are changing into a rpm that is too high or too low.

So in short, if you change into a gear and you either hit the rev limiter or the car begins to stall then you are in the wrong gear. Will you do any damage????? I hardly doubt it but why would you want to change to this extreme anyway you will be losing performance and probably just embarrass yourself. I hope that helps

Nacho · Post by **Nacho** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 1:43 pm

Well said Simon and I'm not being sarcastic. I don't actually skip gears while upshifting but it's bloody tempting sometimes. I just heard from a few people that it's a bad thing to do in general.

Eg. nothing too extreme when you've reached a cruising speed of 100km/h in 4th gear and have no need to shift to 5th so shift straight to 6th

Or in a 50km/h zone reaching 50km/h in 3rd then shift straight to 5th?

Tippin · Post by **Tippin** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:16 pm

skipping a gear is more fuel efficient ive been told...

its only bad if you dont change at the right rpm and bog down the engine

SG · Post by SG » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:06 pm

You only need about 4 grand on the clock to change from 3rd to fifth, i do it all the time.. esp getting up to speed in 70k zones... 2nd..3rd...(~4k)..5th

Post by **I8A4RE** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:50 pm

Nacho wrote:Well said Simon and I'm not being sarcastic. I don't actually skip gears while upshifting but it's bloody tempting sometimes. I just heard from a few people that it's a bad thing to do in general.

Eg. nothing too extreme when you've reached a cruising speed of 100km/h in 4th gear and have no need to shift to 5th so shift straight to 6th

Or in a 50km/h zone reaching 50km/h in 3rd then shift straight to 5th?

Nah both of those examples are completely fine mate and would have no negative on the car whatsoever

Nacho · Post by **Nacho** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:02 pm

Very interesting. I don't really watch people shift while they're driving so this is considered normal then? I didn't realise people actually do it.

So looking at it from a mechanical perspective (cogwise) it's all good if you're not racing the engine?

Post by **I8A4RE** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 7:57 am

Nacho wrote:Very interesting. I don't really watch people shift while they're driving so this is considered normal then? I didn't realise people actually do it.

So looking at it from a mechanical perspective (cogwise) it's all good if you're not racing the engine?

Sure is, as long as you are using the clutch correctly.... its alll goood

Post by **Bennoz** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 8:23 am

Interesting topic!

From a driving point of view, I do it all the time should speed / rpm be appropriate.

From a mechanical point of view, I have had a conversation with my gearbox guy about this. On new & newish gearboxes, its not an issue, but on older gearboxes, it can sometimes accellerate wear to the point of rebuilds - depending on how the gearboxes life was (lol he was a great guy, got on well with the diff)

A gearbox will wear to its owners driving style. The linkages, slide bearings & syncros bed in & wear as such. When you start upsetting the wear by altering the style in which the gears are changed, it can sometimes 'cross wear' the already worn components.

I never though about it like that till I had this conversation. Having said all that thou, by 'worn' gearboxes, I mean something that has done 2-300,000kms.

Nacho · Post by **Nacho** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 1:02 pm

That's why I put it in the Technical section.

Reason I brought it up was I had a long discussion with Gav about how to increase the life of a clutch. Long story short - minimise use of the clutch as much as possible. Eg. Not riding the clutch, avoiding unnecessary gear changes, etc.

So ideally to increase the life of your clutch and get better fuel economy you accelerate to your desired speed then shift straight into the highest gear possible at your current speed.

This may sound quite primitive but when I thought about skipping gears, the cogs of a mountain bike came to mind and I don't know if many of you have tried skipping gears in a mountain bike but sometimes when you do the chain will occasionally misalign or come out altogether or you get a rather nasty crunching noise.

Now with the price of clutches being at $800~$2000 and gearboxes $2000~$4000 it's worth the question.

Post by **Bennoz** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:11 pm

Clutches are a little different, yes you get wear from changing gears, but the biggest killer of clutches is torque load, primarily on take off. Key to a long life clutch is not to take off hard & avoid having a heavy right foot, no matter what gear you're in.

Mind you, the first thing to go in any clutch, is usually the throw out / thrust bearing. When it goes, its usually an indicator of a lot of gear changes, or a lot of time spent at lights with the foot on the clutch waiting.

My old man putted around in an old commodore for about 4 years, the clutch had done 190,000kms... just toeing about lightly, it never needed changing!

sublime19 · Post by **sublime19** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:21 pm

Thanks for the info Ben

I never skip gears, just cos I wanna make sure nothing goes wrong with my car and it stays in good condition for as long as possible.

I can also proudly say that I've never, ever redlined my car (We've had a discussion about this before lol) and I still choose to believe by doing so I'm ensuring a longer life of my engine.

Post by **Bennoz** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:24 pm

sublime19 wrote:I can also proudly say that I've never, ever redlined my car (We've had a discussion about this before lol) and I still choose to believe by doing so I'm ensuring a longer life of my engine.

Good for you

Its true thou, I've been driving Kaz's car a bit lately, its done 205,000kms & its never even had to have the tappets adjusted... quiet as a mouse thanks to it being treated well.

Post by **I8A4RE** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:44 pm

OMG subbie, so what? you want to selll the fto to buy a skyline which again, you wont redline cause you want the engine to last a little longer?? Wats the point? GO back to the excel you loved so much

Nacho, 2K for a clutch

2-4K for gearbox

I saw on ebay a complete engine and gearbox package for $500 less than a month ago.

This may sound quite primitive but when I thought about skipping gears, the cogs of a mountain bike came to mind and I don't know if many of you have tried skipping gears in a mountain bike but sometimes when you do the chain will occasionally misalign or come out altogether or you get a rather nasty crunching noise.

its completely different mate.

Nacho · Post by **Nacho** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:09 pm

Those prices are just rough estimates. And I never said FTO gearboxes or clutches.

And yes I know the gearboxes and bike gears are totally different. I was just using that as kind of a weird ass analogy that people might actually understand.

What about revs in general....is there a rule of thumb of how apart the revs should be when skipping gears? Eg. Shifting from 3rd at 4500rpm then shifting straight to fifth at roughly 2400rpm, Should only drop 500rpm between gear changes, etc.

And just to reiterate I know it's a feeling thing and I know how to do it....I'm just looking at it from the technican perspective.

sublime19 · Post by **sublime19** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 11:28 am

I8A4RE wrote:OMG subbie, so what? you want to selll the fto to buy a Big Ugly Soap Box Racer which again, you wont redline cause you want the engine to last a little longer?? Wats the point? GO back to the excel you loved so much

Nacho, 2K for a clutch 2-4K for gearbox I saw on ebay a complete engine and gearbox package for $500 less than a month ago.

This may sound quite primitive but when I thought about skipping gears, the cogs of a mountain bike came to mind and I don't know if many of you have tried skipping gears in a mountain bike but sometimes when you do the chain will occasionally misalign or come out altogether or you get a rather nasty crunching noise.
its completely different mate.

Haha nah man, I wanna buy a 350z, and you don't have to redline the car to go fast u gronk!

LOL @ that rental excel.. haha, 2 of my friends learnt to drive manual on that thing, good times

koolio1234 · Post by **koolio1234** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:48 pm

I have to admit, I do skip gears often mainly in peak hour traffic situations when takeoff and acceleration hold minimal importance. I just get the fto moving and pop it into 2nd then 4th or even 5th. Better fuel economy and less engine wear and tear due to the Revs staying fairly low keeping the engine cooler and under the least amount of stress. This might not be the case though, what does everyone else think?