`red-lining

I did that exiting the freeway in my last Toyota. It sucked a valve into the combustion chamber and broke a piston rod destroying the engine. I gave it away to a needy person who installed a used engine and ended up with a nice car.

So you're suggesting I shouldn't do it?

Unless your freeway was going very steeply down hill, I would think you came close to the redline even less time than I have!!

This is a 2021 or 2022 Citroen C-3. A rental with only 9000 miles on it, so it must be new. I think I bought the insurance, but regardless, I don't want to hurt the car. mAYBE I shouldnt go lower than 3rd gear and rely on the brakes for anything more.

Rather a silly comment if you end up crashing because the brakes overheat and you can't stop.

micky snipped-for-privacy@fmguy.com wrote

Undesirable in both scenarios.

The trick is to downshift before the speed is high enough to get it to redline.

Smart drivers know when engine braking is needed and when not. Depends on conditions but it is not good practice to do all the time.

Exactly.

If that's happening you DESERVE to crash.

Only once -- the very first time I drove down a mountain road -- did my brakes get too hot to stop as quickly as I wanted. Lesson learned.

Micky isn't doing it all the time and it does no hard to do it all the time and does see less wear on the brakes.

No he was not when you change down before there will be any red lining.

But changing down so you don't redline doesnt.

That's wrong too. Doing it properly does produce less brake wear.

But perfectly possible to not over rev in that situation.

Which is presumably why micky changed down. All he needs to do is chang down earlier, before the steep drop, so it doesn't red line.

I've heard that disk brakes don't overheat, and I think this Citroen has

No, it was so that I'd use mostly the engine and use the brakes much less and have them in reserve if... if a child ran out in front of the car, for example, or a car pulled in front of me, or whatever.

I had used the brakes so little at that point there was chance of overheating even drum brakes.

That would have been next to impossible. Thhe hills show up quickly and unexpectedly.

More rpm = more wear. Can't change the laws of physics and friction.

But at the cost of engine wear. I don't know the $$ figure but there is one. Brakes are pretty cheap though.

Thats wrong.

Yes it does.

That's what I meant. And with a car you are not familiar with it makes sense to play safe.

No it isn't.

You ALWAYS come over the crest and can see what is in front of you.

Downshift as you brake to so engine RPM matches your speed . I never engine brake over 2/3 of redline .

Mindlessly simplistic. In the real world, engines last longer doing lots of long trips rather than short ones around town.

And the reality is that modern car engines hardly ever need replacing due to wear anymore.

Or those like you not understanding how engines work.

The reality is that hardly anyone needs a new engine due to wear and almost everyone needs new brake pads and sometimes discs too due to wear.

Unfortunately sometimes it is a giant truck passing another vehicle and headed straight for you in your lane.

--scott

The one likely to downshift and cause high rpms are more likely to wear an engine faster. There are still rebuilders out there as there is a need. Certainly not like years ago, but I bet more than you think.

Having done a couple of complete rebuilds, I have a pretty good idea how they work. My brother had 26 cars so we did a lot of work on them.

The first vehicles I learned to drive in the early 1960's were all stick shift, and I was taught the rule listed above. I've never forgotten it. It was true then and it's true now.

I still remember one summer when my friend and I (I was 12, he was 13) got hired to drive trucks and other implements on a neighboring farm, and my friend used to slip the clutch on a regular basis, prompting the farmer to yell, "The clutch has two positions! In or out! Stop slipping the damned clutch!" He never had to tell me that. :-)