Remember: His car has Stabilitrak, Traction Control and ABS - a wheel (brake) will NEVER lock.Wheel brakes have a point, above which they drag but at lesser speed they will stop the wheel turning, resulting in a skid. You notice this in icy weather, brakes work at 15mph then lock up at 10 mph.
=================================Thanks a lot. As well mentioned condition of the road and traction would give the choice I think . I've drove for many years a manual transmission and I can say from my experience that engine breaking is the best first for incrementally slowing down the speed on icy slippery roads where otherwise traction would be lost on the first touch of the brakes regardless of ABS . Yes I would use conventional braking after being sure speed was reduced so skidding risk is minimum when applying conventional braking.
I've drove a lot in icy and snowy conditions but since I have this automatic I have never tried downshifting during driving as I was afraid of transmission malfunction so what I usually do is either drive like a snail or stop and then change to a lower gear depending of the road conditions ...
So I understand that downshifting while in drive in speed range of 35miles/hour wouldn't harm the transmission? Doing this only occasionally and if necessary of course...
=============================brakes slow the wheels, then the wheels (tires) slow the car. Wheel brakes have a point, above which they drag but at lesser speed they will stop the wheel turning, resulting in a skid. You notice this in icy weather, brakes work at 15mph then lock up at 10 mph. Engine braking almost never does this, its a drag force down to a much lower speed, in fact it is forward force at low speed and tries to keep the car moving, the opposite of a hard stop.
=========================any transmission should be able to spin up to redline rpms (not that you'd want to make a habit of redlining)
Are you talking front or rear wheel drive? There could be a big difference. When you first dump the clutch, the drive wheels are likely to loose traction and skid until the car slows down enough to match the wheel speed. Not a a real big deal on a RWD where they are simply trailing behind, but on a FWD, you'll loose steering capability until the vehicle speed slows down to the wheel speed. The length of time that lasts will obviously depend on the speed you are moving when you downshift as well as the road surface friction coefficient. Admittedly, this may be a bit technical and nit picky, but still a factor to take into consideration in the realm of this discussion.Thanks a lot. As well mentioned condition of the road and traction would give the choice I think . I've drove for many years a manual transmission and I can say from my experience that engine breaking is the best first for incrementally slowing down the speed on icy slippery roads where otherwise traction would be lost on the first touch of the brakes regardless of ABS . Yes I would use conventional braking after being sure speed was reduced so skidding risk is minimum when applying conventional braking.
