Is it brakes or gears?

Question

Nowadays the advice is to use your brakes to slow down and your gears to go faster, but when I was a kid my ather told me that if you used your gears to slow down you would save on the brakes. His reasoning was thus: If you wore out your gears you'd still have your brakes. If you wore out your brakes that would be the end of your life.
What's your view?

Answer 1

Here we go again!! This one keeps cropping up evey few weeks. If you want the cost of replacing your brake components every other service, go ahead and use your brakes to your hearts content. I have NEVER had to replace a gear box or drive line components due to my driving style. BUT if you drive properly, anticipating what other road users are going to do,- dont just look at the vehicle in front, but at what the vehicles ahead are doing, and be in the correct gear for the conditions you will be a better driver. It does not matter what your preference is - brakes or engine or a combination of both. Mine is: Initial engine braking using the gears,"covering" the brake pedal, then final stopping using the brakes. This has served me well for over 20 years driving Class 1 artics. The advent of even more sophisticated braking systems ( Volvo Engine Brake, and electric retarders for instance), have made great cost savings as the service brakes last approx 5 times longer, and these systems could eventually filter down to into cars, as others have filtered up to trucks.

*NOTE* Double De Clutching for the uninitiated is a method of changing gear by matching the engine speed to the road speed by "blipping" the throttle on DOWN changes, - a waste of time with the syncromesh gearboxes of today- if done correctly, there is no "shock" on the drive train as speeds are perfectly matched, it just takes practice. Where you should not use engine braking, is in an emergency stop if your vehicle is fitted with ABS/ EBS brakes, as these rely on the "drive" to the wheels being disconnected to work properly, and allowing you to steer around the obstruction - hopefully- without losing control.

Matthew : If vehicle has a manual gearbox and the engine is still being "driven" by the road wheels then the brakes will work, as the servo is operated by the vacuum at the inlet manifold. Other systems should also still work until the engine finally stops turning and vehicle comes to a stop.

Answer 2

In days gone by, when cars had 'drum brakes' on all four wheels, brake fade was a serious issue, so engine braking was a useful way to slow the car without using the brakes until absolutely necessary.



Nowadays, with modern disc brakes, it is less of an issue, but still worth using.



If you can control the speed of your car without constantly 'dabbing' the brakes (bloody annoying practice!) you are effectively controlling the car efficiently.



If you were to use the brakes just for the sake of losing a few MPH when entering a built up area, or approaching a junction, or a queue of slower traffic, you would simply be converting all that kinetic energy into heat - and heat equals wasted energy! energy that you pay for at the pump!!

Answer 3

the best and safest thing to do is to keep the car/vehicle in a gear appropriate for the speed at which you are travelling,



thus changing down when appropriate even when braking



progressive braking coupled with engine braking is far safer than just relying on the brakes



like the man at the top says. the truck drivers that don't use engine brakes kill the brakes and they burn. cars a just smaller versions of trucks



once again the thicko's are out in force any more thumbs down?

Answer 4

The giveaway is directly connected to their respective design function ie Brakes=braking, gearbox=a box holding the gears,themselves components for transferral of engine power at different ratios. The only exception would be to use engine braking in lower gears when going down long inclines/hills to avoid brake fade by prolonged overapplication.

Answer 5

gears all the time, even in an old crappy car i will out brake pretty much any run of the mill modern car by proper use of the clutch gearbox while heal and toeing. now adays people say use brakes because most drivers are morons who cant do more than one thing at a time like double clutch, i always use the gearbox to slow me down and if you no how to double clutch there is no wear on the gearbox, the other thing is if your driving a rear wheel drive and you dont double clutch and use the gearbox correctly and just brake when you put it in the gear you want and lift the clutch the back wheels are likely to lock up and send you into a spin especially if your on a corner at the time. also in snow and ice if you use your brakes the ABS wont slow you dont because the wheels are always wanting to lock up where as using the gears and double clutching you have no loss of grip and greatet braking capabilities, it pisses me off when people go on about using your brakes only to slow down they obviously know **** all about how to drive a car professionally and are just catering towards girls that cant drive for **** or multi task behind the wheel of a car

Answer 6

It's brakes to slow, gears to go. Modern disc brakes are nowhere near as prone to fade and wear as the drum brakes of old. Of course, a little anticipation and rolling off the throttle may avoid you needing to use either very much.



The principle in advanced driving is that you adjust your speed, either by decelerating or using the brakes, then select the right gear for that speed.

Answer 7

I think thats true when my Gran is driving its so annoying at every red light she puts the handbrake on and I keep telling her you'll wear your handbrake out but she's like if I put it in neutral I'll be riding the gears and I'll wear them out quicker.



So yes, for that and the reason you mentioned, I think it is much better to wear the gears out than the brake. My Gran was just worried about wearing the gears out cos there more expensive to get fixed than the brake.

Answer 8

I use both, If im traveling at say 50mpg in 5th gear i block change to 3rd whilst applying breaks gently, although by using your breaks you will use less fuel as you wont be raising the revs of the car so much, thes no real 'right' way to slow down just do what you feel comfortable with.



Breaking sooner and applying less pressure to the pedal will prolong the life of your pads as you will be creating less friction :)

Answer 9

my view is that brake discs and pads cost about £100 all around,and that a gear box will just cost that for the part,(it does wear the gear box out)

Answer 10

i prefer engine braking with brakes secondary thats what truckers do you can tell the ones who dont cause you can smell burning brakes miles down the road

Answer 11

save brakes but really theory is flawed if you loose engine you loose power servo to the brakes some cars rely on the engine running to power the brakes some maserattis for instance,but the majority would be save brakes let engine slow you down.

Answer 12

there is a different between using ur gears and using ur clutch....if u have a manuel transmissionn and u drop it into first gear on the offramp of the highway...going 60mph...u will burn ur clutch up...



but if u just leave it in gear to slow down...that just uses the normal added friction from the motor to slow the car down...that is fine to do and will save ur brake pads and rotors...



in the mountains u have to use your engine to brake or your brakes will burn up in a week...and their transmissions dont go



so thats my advice...use your engine to brake, but dont use ur clutch

Answer 13

Replacing brake discs in cheaper than replacing gear box/clutch.

Answer 14

brakes are cheaper to replace than a gearbox

Answer 15

Listen you your father, he know what he is talking about and he is right 100%.