1st gear

[seanele]

Originally Posted by petesimac

Yeah, typically I never downshift into 1st gear; sometimes I'll come to a near stop and then put it into 1st, but never to help me stop.

Trying to slow down by downshifting to lower gear..i think that is bad for the clutch.
to me,
i let the brake do all the job and a quick shift to neutral before the brake.

[Doc Zaius]

Originally Posted by seanele

Trying to slow down by downshifting to lower gear..i think that is bad for the clutch.

Nope... that's engine braking. Totally fine, and helps your brakes out too. What *is* better to do when downshifting is to rev-match to help out your synchros... by popping the gas with your heel while braking just before you let out the clutch in the lower gear. This heel-toe stuff has been discussed lots before in other threads.

But ya, typically you don't engine brake into 1st gear since you're pretty much stopped at that point.

[Edd]

Originally Posted by seanele

#1 Trying to slow down by downshifting to lower gear..i think that is bad for the clutch.
to me,
#2: i let the brake do all the job and a quick shift to neutral before the brake.

#1: No, it isn't. But you will notice that 3000RPM in 2nd gives you about the same speed as 2000RPM in 3rd. And no, you don't need a tach to notice this. Lower gear = slower wheel speed for given RPM but more torque. So if you downshift from 3rd-2nd, the clutch has to make up this 1000RPM difference. To avoid damage, you can release the clutch slower, but this will wear it more because it has to slip to syncronise the speeds. The best way is to clutch in, shift to second, blip throttle, release clutch. That way your clutch and flywheel only have to sync ± 200RPM, not 1000 = less wear and much faster clutch release.
#2: This is perfectly fine, just stay in gear until your revs drop really low (idle range), then clutch in and brake.