Double declutching will help on a downshift. On an skipped up shift it doesn't help because on a skipped up shift we want the transmission parts to slow down rather than speed up. They will naturally slow down if we just wait for friction to do it's mysterious thing.

Of course if you are talking about down shifting then I'm with you. I wasn't sure if you were generally posting or posting in response to the good point Jason was making.

 

[QUOTE=VTEC_Junkie,Dec 11 2008, 09:12 PM] double clutch...

 

I was posting more for the OP, because right at the bottom it says about downshifting more than one gear at a time, and I also wanted to point out that if you DO do that, then a DD is required.

Chrisj, your sig is brilliant!!

 

I never skip a gear in either direction anymore its just not worth the risk to me but to each his own good luck

 

When braking hard for a corner, I skip gears on downshifts regularly in order to be in the right gear upon exit. I usually don't downshift in order to use engine braking for stops at lights, etc. Cheaper to buy brake pads than syncros and engine rebuilds and stuff.

 

^
let me get what your saying strait......
you dont downshift when stoping
you skip gears regularly

And You think your synchros will last

 

No reason to skip on downshift except on the track. I do it on the track when necessary, but it does require extra care. In fact if you're not really confident about doing it, it's probably faster (and better for the car of course) to not try since our cars can shift so quickly anyway.

 

If I've got a red light/stop sign in front of me and I know I'm going to stop, I kick it into neutral and coast/brake to a stop. Unfortunately the pedal package on the Mustang isn't set up for heel/toe and I'm too lazy to fix it. So, if conditions are right I'll double clutch it (rev match) when approaching a sharp turn. But it requires me to dance on the brake pedal. If I'm too late to dance, then it's heavy braking and drag it into the right gear once the wheel speed drops. Syncros are holding up fine.

 

Double clutch with the downshift and you can go in to any gear you want if you rev match well. I never skip gears on the upshift but I ease it in slowly so the synchros can match speed. I don't know what's a better approach but this has worked for me flawlessly, even if the car is older with worn synchros. Not rushing the shift helps a lot too. Being smooth is better than shifting fast both on and off the track (unless you're dragging).

 

Pffft, pansies!


Coming down from 6, I'll downshift to 5th, and I skip 4th like 90% of the time (keep in mind that brake is applied + the double-clutching). If coming to a slow and steady decrease, I'll row through 4th as usual. But if I'm coming up too quick on a corner or stop, I'll downshit to 5th, and then to 3rd.

It all depends on driving style though IMO. It works damn well for me, but from reading the posts above, it's all about styles.