Quote:
Originally Posted by OneBadBird
I'm not getting this...how are the brakes being worn out more? Are you actually saving SO much gas that you think the car is a perpetual motion machine that must be held back from its neverending gogogo?
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This is engine braking. As you coast down a hill in gear, the engine absorbs some of the kinetic energy in the form of resistance. The wheels' energy is being transmitted back through the transmission to the engine, and is in effect governing the engine's RPM. This is why you speed up going downhill when you disengage the transmission. If you don't distribute any of this kinetic energy to the engine, it must be absorbed by the brakes, by rolling resistance at the bottom of the hill, or ... by damage from an impact.
It's ALWAYS more cost effective to change brakes instead of clutches or transmissions; the only exception was mentioned above: so much braking that braking will reduce the brakes' abilities to stop the car because they're overheating.