thrashing a car

[jks24]

Alot of ppl say it and i take it that it means driving the car really hard. Is this the basic idea when ppl say you are thrashing your car?? I usually shift at about 4000, would this be clasified as thrashing??

[kiwi135]

no.....

[jks24]

would it even hurt the engine one bit shifting at 4000 cause my dad always says, they are only four cylinders so just change around 2000-3000. Hes not young anymore and drives soft. lol

[DreadAngel]

Thrashing you're car isn't just about where you shift, thrashing your car is not giving a **** about it, dumping the clutch, flat shifting, not rev matching on downshifts, shoving the stick... Generally treat the car like crap...

[SHOGUNOVDDRK]

As above.

and

4k shifts are ok.

Aslong as you're not going for >9000 EVERY-SINGLE-SHIFT its fine

[jks24]

Thrashing you're car isn't just about where you shift, thrashing your car is not giving a **** about it, dumping the clutch, flat shifting, not rev matching on downshifts, shoving the stick... Generally treat the car like crap...

im a bit of a noob to this stuff wanna explain shoving the stick, flat shifting and not rev mathcing??
I do care for my civic though

[terrabyte]

Thrashing a car, is going overboard with certain things, often causing damage to mechanical parts of the car. Things I would classify as thrashing, although many people may disagree:

Revving out a cold engine, some people just don't seem to understand that engine oil doesn't lubricate properly until it's warmed up, engines when cold also don't have the correct clearances (metal expands when heated).

Sudden acceleration, I'm talking about jumping on the throttle unnecessarily. Foot to the floor is fine, just take longer than 1/8th of a second to put it there. This is especially the case when standing still, either planting the foot in an auto, or dropping the clutch in a manual. Most of the drive train will be stationary (not spinning/turning) and giving it a sudden huge amount of power, can cause things to twist and/or buckle.

Statics (burnouts). If you've got a car with vast amounts of power and the drivetrain is setup for this, so it requires minimal effort to spin the wheels, I don't see a problem with. It's the people who rev the shit out of the car, and simply drop the clutch to generate enough sudden power to get the wheels spinning. This relates to above, Gearbox @ 0rpm : flywheel @ 6000rpm, suddenly connect the two and bad things can result.

Plus many many more.


As for shifting at 4000rpm, really depends on the car, I wouldn't recommend it in a big V8. But as long as your gentle it should be fine. The problems can result if you're not smooth about it. If you're at 100% throttle straight from the get-go until 4k rpm, then shifting up and straight back to 100% throttle, I don't recommend it (not constantly anyway).

[Red_EG4]

its mainly only car enthusiasts that rev match on the downshift.

I would say thrashing is not letting your car warm up. Redlining ever gear, every time you drive. Riding the clutch. Downshifting in high RPM. Not maintaining the car (servicing, checking fluid levels etc).

[terrabyte]

im a bit of a noob to this stuff wanna explain shoving the stick, flat shifting and not rev mathcing??
I do care for my civic though

Flat shifting, is not using the clutch or just jabbing the clutch and ramming it into the next gear. Might make the shift slightly faster, but is it really worth the risk of destroying your gearbox?

Rev matching, is making the downshifts smooth. When changing down a gear, the revs are obviously going to be higher, so while the clutch is in, you accelerate until the revs match what they would be in that gear, then you realese the clutch. This makes it much smoother and you don't feel the car surge backwards as the gearbox makes the engine rev up.

I'll give you an example, travelling in 4th at 2500rpm (around 55-60km/h), I want to start slowing down for a set of lights, so I would put my foot on the clutch, and move the gearstick up to third, but by this time my revs have already starting dropping and I might be at 1500-2000rpm. But in third gear at 55-60km/h I would be around 3000rpm, but my engines only at 1500rpm. So while the clutch is still depressed, I jab at the accelerator so the revs jump to that 3000rpm and then release the clutch. Once you practice it should get so smooth you can't even feel the downshifts (just hear them).

[Type R Positive]

would it even hurt the engine one bit shifting at 4000 cause my dad always says, they are only four cylinders so just change around 2000-3000. Hes not young anymore and drives soft. lol

Tell your dad, its a Honda and revs to 8k rpm..... Not even VTEC yet, yO

[jks24]

yeh i knew about lettin the car warm up, i have never redlined any gear so i spose im safe there. I get my car serviced by honda every 6 months so im safe there. I check my oil and water everytime i fill up pritty much. I used to ride the clutch when i was on learners lol but no tanymore. By revving out a cold engine you mean revving it up to redline right? Ive noticed when i used to drop back to second, i never go back to second above 40 kms. When i used to do this i would feel the change. Hitting the accelator while my cluth is in and then puttin it in second should solve this from what i have just read above. BTW my ek is non vtec so it sounds shit in high revs anyways, lol

[terrabyte]

yeh i knew about lettin the car warm up, i have never redlined any gear so i spose im safe there. I get my car serviced by honda every 6 months so im safe there. I check my oil and water everytime i fill up pritty much. I used to ride the clutch when i was on learners lol but no tanymore. By revving out a cold engine you mean revving it up to redline right? and just for my information what is flat shifting??

Just any high revving or sudden acceleration while the car's cold. I drive like a granny till operating temperature (just remember oil takes longer to heat up then water).

Things like this are a really bad idea: Saw a guy come out of the same movie that me and some mates were watching. Walks over to his supra that's been sitting there for at least 3-4 hours (long movie), it's like 15C and raining, so it's stone cold by now. What's the first he does after he starts it... Hit the rev limiter.