Teach me how to paddleshift!

[mc_acoustic]

I really dont know how to "use" paddleshift....

I mean "REGULAR" shifting is easy I guess... the car downshift most of the time on its own when braked.

I got a couple questions for you guys.

I'll remind you guys, I am totally learning the "manual" side of the car just now, I have NEVER shifted gears before or anything like that... so im a totaly freaking NEWB and my questions will probably get people laughing at me lol

1) When on the street, If I am wanting to pass someone I obviously have to shift back down right? If that is the case and I am in 4th or 5th gear should I drop it 2 shifts down to pass? Or 3 shifts down?

2) I have no idea how DRIVE shift works... but lets say I am in drive and I FLOOR it, how does the gears go? I usually drive in 5th gear most of the time... Does it go from 5th gear straight to 1 and builds up that way?

3) For saving gas, should I leave a stop light in 2nd gear? or 1st?

[its a syn]

These cars are set up with a lot of nannies built in to the automatic. If you miss, stay to long in 1st it will rev down if that makes any sense. In other words it won't self destruct itself. Just shift up,won't hurt a thing. It will not let you down shift into a harmful situation either. It will say shift denied. Start in first and watch your RPM's on your tach. Expieriment and have some fun with it.

[SS785]

Originally Posted by mc_acoustic

1) When on the street, If I am wanting to pass someone I obviously have to shift back down right? If that is the case and I am in 4th or 5th gear should I drop it 2 shifts down to pass? Or 3 shifts down?
First, to gain power and pass another car, hit the gas pedal to bring your RPMs up from whatever gear you are currently at (5th, 6th, etc) and then hit the negative paddle (-) to bring the car down a gear. That should give you sufficient power. Don't go 3 gears down at once unless you want to hit the rev limiter, big no-no for normal driving.

As an example, let's say you are cruising in the hwy at 65mph @ 2k rpm, to pass another guy, hit the gas to raise your rpms to 2.5-3k and then press the (-) paddle and off you go.
2) I have no idea how DRIVE shift works... but lets say I am in drive and I FLOOR it, how does the gears go? I usually drive in 5th gear most of the time... Does it go from 5th gear straight to 1 and builds up that way?
I didn't understand what you meant here.

3) For saving gas, should I leave a stop light in 2nd gear? or 1st?
To save gas, probably second.

Try it out and have fun.

[mc_acoustic]

Originally Posted by SS785

Try it out and have fun.

2) I have no idea how DRIVE shift works... but lets say I am in drive and I FLOOR it, how does the gears go? I usually drive in 5th gear most of the time... Does it go from 5th gear straight to 1 and builds up that way?
I didn't understand what you meant here.

When I set my stick to "DRIVE" not manual, the car is in 5th gear when I am driving in the city. Now when I slam my foot down it shifts to a different gear because it just takes off like a ROCKET... Which gear does it shift too? Just one down like you suggested?

[oldfriend]

Stick the stick into S , and as soon you touch any of the paddles it will show on the tach M
Right hand paddle it shift up
And the left one it will shit down

And believe it or not , you just can't brake anything , even if you wanted , if you do anything that the car can't handle , ( like someone have said before ) it will show SHIFT DENIED
Just go and experiment , yeah just like that other time

[its a syn]

Originally Posted by mc_acoustic

2) I have no idea how DRIVE shift works... but lets say I am in drive and I FLOOR it, how does the gears go? I usually drive in 5th gear most of the time... Does it go from 5th gear straight to 1 and builds up that way?
I didn't understand what you meant here.

When I set my stick to "DRIVE" not manual, the car is in 5th gear when I am driving in the city. Now when I slam my foot down it shifts to a different gear because it just takes off like a ROCKET... Which gear does it shift too? Just one down like you suggested?

Not sure, but it probably goes to 3rd. You will notice a severe dead spot when you mash it and it responds. The ported throttle body takes care of that problem very nicely.

[its a syn]

Count how many shifts it does the next time you get on it. Shift to manual then and down shift, see where it ends up.

[SS785]

Originally Posted by mc_acoustic

2) I have no idea how DRIVE shift works... but lets say I am in drive and I FLOOR it, how does the gears go? I usually drive in 5th gear most of the time... Does it go from 5th gear straight to 1 and builds up that way?
I didn't understand what you meant here.

When I set my stick to "DRIVE" not manual, the car is in 5th gear when I am driving in the city. Now when I slam my foot down it shifts to a different gear because it just takes off like a ROCKET... Which gear does it shift too? Just one down like you suggested?

Ah gotcha. Yes, the transmission downshifts to put you in a higher RPM range and give you higher torque to get going. It's probably one or two gears down at the most. If you pay attention at how high the rpms get to, you can figure out the degree of the downshift.

[oldfriend]

Originally Posted by mc_acoustic

2) I have no idea how DRIVE shift works... but lets say I am in drive and I FLOOR it, how does the gears go? I usually drive in 5th gear most of the time... Does it go from 5th gear straight to 1 and builds up that way?
I didn't understand what you meant here.

When I set my stick to "DRIVE" not manual, the car is in 5th gear when I am driving in the city. Now when I slam my foot down it shifts to a different gear
because it just takes [[[off like a ROCKET.]]]Which gear does it shift too? Just one down like you suggested?

Like that suppose to be a bad thing !!!

[oldfriend]

Originally Posted by mc_acoustic

I really dont know how to "use" paddleshift....

I mean "REGULAR" shifting is easy I guess... the car downshift most of the time on its own when braked.

I got a couple questions for you guys.

I'll remind you guys, I am totally learning the "manual" side of the car just now, I have NEVER shifted gears before or anything like that... so im a totaly freaking NEWB and my questions will probably get people laughing at me lol

1) When on the street, If I am wanting to pass someone I obviously have to shift back down right? If that is the case and I am in 4th or 5th gear should I drop it 2 shifts down to pass? Or 3 shifts down?

2) I have no idea how DRIVE shift works... but lets say I am in drive and I FLOOR it, how does the gears go? I usually drive in 5th gear most of the time... Does it go from 5th gear straight to 1 and builds up that way?

3) For saving gas, should I leave a stop light in 2nd gear? or 1st?

Time for a girlfriend , or a newer one

[mc_acoustic]

Originally Posted by SS785

Ah gotcha. Yes, the transmission downshifts to put you in a higher RPM range and give you higher torque to get going. It's probably one or two gears down at the most. If you pay attention at how high the rpms get to, you can figure out the degree of the downshift.

Okay, yeah I might have to play around with it a little bit and learn i guess!

Also, what is a dead spot? I mean I have heard about it, learnt that it is bad... I do have a ported throttle body on the way

Just curious as to what a dead spot is

[Dan1028]

Step 1: Collect underpants.

[PalmerGA]

Originally Posted by mc_acoustic

Okay, yeah I might have to play around with it a little bit and learn i guess!

Also, what is a dead spot? I mean I have heard about it, learnt that it is bad... I do have a ported throttle body on the way

Just curious as to what a dead spot is

Your new PTB will eliminate the "dead spot". Dead spot is just an RPM range (1400-2000 on the 1LTs, if I recall) where the factory intake hesitates, for some reason, causing a lag or soft spot in acceleration.

I think GM should replace all throttle bodies as a recall but, apparently the stock TB is within spec. Bad engineering if you ask me.

[its a syn]

That dead spot you will notice when you floor it, there is a noticeable lag to the throttle response. That throttle body will fix that and might get you an extra hp or two. Worth the money if you ask me.