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A high-school friend of mine had a VW Bug, and he claimed it was easier to change the clutch than the brakes, so he downshifted to decelerate as much as possibl
by HankStallone 1y ago
A high-school friend of mine had a VW Bug, and he claimed it was easier to change the clutch than the brakes, so he downshifted to decelerate as much as possible. Maybe Bugs were special that way; on every manual shift vehicle I've owned, brakes were much easier.
- trenchpilgrim 1y agoThe Bug's motor was in the back of the car, in a very accessible spot.
- mikestew 1y agoWhen I was a pro mechanic, I watched someone drop the engine on a Bug in like 15 minutes. For that car, clutches are easy. Now do a front-wheel-drive of any era. Hey, guess what you get to do first? Take the wheels off, thereby exposing the brakes.
- smileysteve 1y agoMy original clutch is at 197k miles, and I downshift to decelerate until i use the brakes the last 10-20'. The clutch is much more difficult to replace on my car; (i've done the brake discs 2x -- track days), If you're relatively smooth on your downshifts, each downshift should be much shorter than your average braking duration. More generally speaking, if you're in a gear that slows you down, or downshift to it, you're more likely to avoid a full stop and start, which puts much more wear on the clutch than a series of downshifts. ... I also downshift when I drive automatics ... when I can... there are large downhills near my neighborhood (in a school zone) coming from a stop, if I switch to manual mode or short/sport mode, I can be in 3rd, at a controlled speed, and barely touch the brakes (versus others ride their brakes all down the hill)