Heel-Toe vs Rev Matching On Downshift

[the_trademarc]

Who does what??

I personally struggle with the Heel-Toe, maybe cuz I have big feet or just unco, but I rev match on downshift, which I feel I've got down pat....

Here's the thing though, is either one worse than the other for the clutch and/or engine??

 

[bj42turbo]

your doing this on a race track or day to day driving??

I too have tried heal toe but I too cant get the hang of it


Dazz

 

[the_trademarc]

Day-to-day.

Came up in conversation last night when my mate was heel-toeing to a stop at a set of lights in his Accord, just seemed strange to me.
He reckoned it was better for his engine, I couldn't see how though....

 

[Jesterarts]

I don't heel-toe but I do tap the throttle on down shifts so the speed and engine rpm match etc. But that's usually because I only use the engine to slow the car if I have lots of space and don't really need to get on the brake. Otherwise I will just keep it in gear until the rom it quick low and the shift down doesn't cause a massive RPM increase. EG go through the gears 1 by 1 rather than say dropping from 4th straight 2 second.

From what I understand, in normal driving it doesn't make too much difference. Unless you throw it into say 2nd @ 80kmph then the rpm has dropped.

If you downshift like a spazz it causes unnecessary load on the whole driveline plus also the timing chains from what I understand.

 

[azkwazere]

yeah with size 13-14ish feet i struggle to get anywhere close to a decent heel and toe action going... ive gotten the really good and 50/50 (half your foot on the break and the right half on the acc). The pedal gap on the coomies is good in that you can get away with with it...

Though, on the street its completly pointless.. you really shouldnt be accelerating or decelerating rapidly enough to worry about it (emergencies excluded)

aZk.

 

[VT-565]

Pedal position is **** for one.
Two, I hear a LOT of people trying to rev match, only to fail as they don't release the clutch until the engine has slowed back to near idle speeds anyway.

Brake pads are a lot cheaper and easier to replace.

 

[wraith]

It's a commodore not a race car.....

 

[MikeCuzzy]

 

[Dr HaxZaw]

If i'm double downshifting to accelerate then as i feed the clutch in im already on the accelerator so the engine revs match... if i'm slowing down i just go down through the gears or wait till the rpm hits about 1100 before shifting down

 

[Reaper]

The reason for heel/toe blips of the throttle slowing down started with old manual gearboxes that rarely had synchro's and thus, unless the engine revs matched the gearbox revs it would grind the gears. When syncromesh gearboxes were introduced it became largely redundant although if you were racing, matching the revs on the downshift will prolong syncro life. For normal day to day driving it is not necessary but under high rev/heavy braking applications on a track day it will save your gearbox. That said - mess it up and you are likely to do more wear.

Reaper