Downshift Without A Headbanging Lurch?

[Supreme Leader]

Whenever I downshift it usually isn't smooth and the car lurches/lunges forward and sometimes violently if RPM's too high. I know this is normal and that is what everyone says. It's just the transmission slowing down with engine. When I am at low RPM and downshift it's usually smooth. But the thing is if I'm going around 40 mph (for example)and I wanna drop it from 4th to 2nd, I wanna know how to do it smoothly. I hear people say they blip the throttle or rev match but I don't really know. I would like to learn how so I can try it tomorrow.

[Ebohan74]

Heel and toe the brake, clutch and accelerator...

[Harry.S]

clutch in
shift
moderatly rev the motor to about where the RPMs should be
clutch out

as you gain more experience you'll be able to tell where the rpms need to be in the lower gear
you'll downshift the smoothest when the rpms are perfectly where they should be before letting out the clutch

[13FastBlkSS]

Originally Posted by Harry.S

clutch in
shift
moderatly rev the motor to about where the RPMs should be
clutch out

as you gain more experience you'll be able to tell where the rpms need to be in the lower gear
you'll downshift the smoothest when the rpms are perfectly where they should be before letting out the clutch

This.. based on your original post, it sounds like your not tapping the throttle before downshifting (which causes the violent lurch your feeling)..

[flyinglow57]

Get moving in 2nd gear to 40 mph... Look at what the rpms are. Say 4300 rpm for the hell of it

Now drive up to 50 mph shifting thru the gears. Say you in 4th at 50. Slow to 40mph push in clutch shift to 2nd while lightly reving the engine to 4300 rpm release clutch slowly. You just kindof sortof heel toe'd.

You will get better with time maybe ask a friend to ride with them and see how they do it if they can drive a stick well.

[the barber]

Press n clutch, shift into 2nd, while clutch is pressed down accelerate to about 5k rpm and dump the clutch and dont forget to hang on

[Supreme Leader]

Originally Posted by the barber

Press n clutch, shift into 2nd, while clutch is pressed down accelerate to about 5k rpm and dump the clutch and dont forget to hang on

Ok I'm gonna try this.

[the barber]

Keep gas accelerated and dont redline it... lol

[Dyk-NO]

I think it's just a matter of "feel" talking about the rpm if its too high then clutch til it hits a lower rpm or if its just 2-4k rpm then just go with the gear lower than it. well in short just practice and youll not even look at your dash anymore

[the barber]

Originally Posted by Dyk-NO

I think it's just a matter of "feel" talking about the rpm if its too high then clutch til it hits a lower rpm or if its just 2-4k rpm then just go with the gear lower than it. well in short just practice and youll not even look at your dash anymore

+1 I only occasionaly glance at rpms when im haulin a$$

[enyce0387]

#revmatch

[Supreme Leader]

I think i tried this once (push throttle before let out clutch) but i was prob too slow and it did nothing. Just gotta practice I guess.

[Cookie Monster]

I'm new at driving a stick, but rev matching works great when downshifting. After I depress the clutch, I gas it up a bit, usually about 1Krpms above what I was doing before clutching. Once the rpms matches up, you can let off the clutch pretty quickly and still shift rather smoothly (not necessarily dumping the clutch per'se)
...
However, I noticed that if I downshift even when the rpms are as high as 2K, as long as I let of the clutch really slow, the shifts are still smooth without any jerkyness.
...
Now again, I am new to all this so I can be wayyyyy off line with my points, but it works for me so

[Supreme Leader]

Ok so I push clutch in and downshift. Then rev it to desired RPM. after I do that do I take my foot off the gas before I go into gear or just keep it and let off the clutch?