Why do people tailgate? I got rear ended—

[an]

[quote=spdrun]

That would work for most user. What would work better is to just move to a slower lane. When people do that to me, I just gun it, pass that person and get into their lane, then slow down below the speed limit just the piss them off.

Lovely. Just the kind of punkass idiot I want to be sharing the road with.

Hopefully one of the people whom you brake-check will either not react and rear-end you, or follow you home and beat the living snot out of you.

BTW – if someone tailgates me in the passing lane, I’ll move over, and I generally keep right when not passing anyway. If someone does it on a 2 lane road but refuses to pass, or on the right lane of a freeway, I’ll try to detach them. Brake checking isn’t cool, but slowing down and speeding up slightly isn’t dangerous, but still gets the point across.[/quote]
Same sh!t, different pile. Using your words, hopefully, some of those people whom you try to piss off by slowing down will not either react fast enough and rear-end you or follow you home and beat the sh!t out of you.

BTW, the only time I tail gate is when some punk ass cut me off and drive like a granny on the fast lane.

[an]

[quote=spdrun]Lastly, I’m from NYC. Driving is a competitive blood sport here, but at the same time, brake checking and road rage aren’t all that common here. Relax and be a good sport about things. How can San Diego drivers be so angry in such a lovely place? Paradox.[/quote]
When I’m in the city, I don’t get road rage. I get road rage when I’m on the freeway and get cut off by punk asses who after cutting people off, drive like a granny or slow down and pace the cars in the slower lane.

So, if I’m driving in NYC, I’d probably be more mellow than you and not even bother with slowing down/down shifting to piss off the tail gaiters.

[spdrun]

Regarding brake-checking:
If I’m slowing down, I actually look in the mirror and don’t let the gap close too much. Brake checking where you actually slam the brakes is a whole different game, and a fool’s game IMHO.

My goal is NOT to piss off a tailgater, BTW. In fact, I really don’t want to annoy them at all. I just want them to pass me or back off. It’s not a question of revenge or whatever, it’s a question of the safety of myself, my passengers, and my car.

Gently speeding up and slowing down will generally cause them to detach without even knowing why they did. Brake checking would put myself, them, and everyone else next to us on the freeway in danger. Not an option.

[an]

[quote=spdrun]If I’m slowing down, I actually look in the mirror and don’t let the gap close too much. Brake checking where you actually slam the brakes is a whole different game, and a fool’s game IMHO.[/quote]
When I break check, I look in the mirror, I make sure I have a big gap. But at lease when I break check, the people behind me see that I’m slowing down. I also only break very quickly and I’m not stepping on the break 100%, because I know my breaks are better than most cars on the street. So if I really slam on my break, I would be rear ended. Me, brake checking and moderately stepping on the break and really slow down. I start the break check at a far enough distance where the person behind can see that I’m breaking.

You down shifting 2 gears though, is just asking to be rear ended by people who aren’t paying attention and not notice the space difference. Down shifting 2 gears will slow you down more than me break checking AND you don’t let the person behind you know what you’re doing. So, you sir, are operating in a more dangerous game than I am.

[an]

[quote=spdrun]My goal is NOT to piss off a tailgater, BTW. In fact, I really don’t want to annoy them at all. I just want them to pass me or back off. It’s not a question of revenge or whatever, it’s a question of the safety of myself, my passengers, and my car.

Gently speeding up and slowing down will generally cause them to detach without even knowing why they did. Brake checking would put myself, them, and everyone else next to us on the freeway in danger. Not an option.[/quote]
Your intention doesn’t always have the same reception. I’m sure those who are tail gaiting you would be pissed off when seeing you slow down and leave a wider game, which would slow them down. Down shifting 2 gears is not gently slowing down. Down shifting 2 gears going 70 MPH will DRASTICALLY slow you down without letting the person tailgating you know your intention. You’re just asking to be rear ended. I would never attempt to do such a thing.

[spdrun]

Nope.
(a) my car’s a diesel. No throttle plate, so not much engine braking
(b) if you rev-match properly before letting the clutch back in, and ONLY THEN gradually let off the gas, the slowing will be very gradual. Not to mention that downshifting and letting the clutch in with the engine idling chews up clutch plates.

If you’re talking about doing the same in an automatic, I’d actually agree, but unless it’s an electric car, any car I own will have the correct # of pedals.

[an]

[quote=spdrun]Nope.
(a) my car’s a diesel. No throttle plate, so not much engine braking
(b) if you rev-match properly before letting the clutch back in, and ONLY THEN gradually let off the gas, the slowing will be very gradual. Not to mention that downshifting and letting the clutch in with the engine idling chews up clutch plates.

If you’re talking about doing the same in an automatic, I’d actually agree, but unless it’s an electric car, any car I own will have the correct # of pedals.[/quote]
I never have a diesel, so I didn’t know down shifting in a diesel behave differently than down shifting in a gas engine.

Your (b) sounds a lot less dangerous than your initial description. I though you’re talking about going 70 and down shift to 3rd or 4th gear and just let go of the gas. Now, that’s dangerous. Doing that can easily slow you down 20+MPH very quickly.

[spdrun]

See my response above. If you’re driving a stick correctly, downshifting doesn’t have to make you slow down hard, since the engine is already spooled up before you re-engage the clutch. Once you’re running at 4000 rpm or so, you can basically control speed with the gas pedal alone.

[an]

[quote=spdrun]See my response above. If you’re driving a stick correctly, downshifting doesn’t have to make you slow down hard, since the engine is already spooled up before you re-engage the clutch. Once you’re running at 4000 rpm or so, you can basically control speed with the gas pedal alone.[/quote]
Again, it might be different in a diesel, but with a gas engine, at 70MPH, down shifting to 3rd or 4th gear will put you at near red line. Which will slow you down hard. At least with my car, it would slow me down hard. There’s no way my RPM would be at 4k in 4th gear going 70MPH. It would probably be around 5k+. That would force the car to slow down 10-20MPH in a very short period of time, unless I’m stepping on the gas. What’s the point of down shifting 2 gears if you’re going to keep your foot on the gas? Why not just leave it in the same gear and just let go of the gas? Unless you’re trying to piss someone off?

[spdrun]

Yeah, the point was to put the car in a position to control speed without flashing the brake lights. This control can be very precise, whereas just letting go of the gas in top gear will cause the car to sort of roll along. Note that I did say “gradually slow down” not “put it in 3rd and dump the clutch at 70” 🙂

[an]

[quote=spdrun]Yeah, the point was to put the car in a position to control speed without flashing the brake lights. I did say “gradually slow down” not “put it in 3rd and dump the clutch at 70” :)[/quote]
You said down shift 2 gears. That, in my mind is the intention of drastically slowing down using the engine vs the brake. You don’t have to dump the clutch to engine brake. Again, it might be different with a diesel.

However, engine braking will give you no more control than you tapping on the brake. At least with tapping on the brake, the person behind you can see you slowing down, vs engine braking.

[spdrun]

I said “a gear or two.” The point is to vary distance by a foot or two, making the tailgater uncomfortable without him knowing exactly WHY he’s uncomfortable. It generally works.

[an]

[quote=spdrun]I said “a gear or two.” The point is to vary distance by a foot or two, making the tailgater uncomfortable without him knowing exactly WHY he’s uncomfortable. It generally works.[/quote]
Exactly, a gear or two, which to me, means if you wanna be a real punk ass, you’ll down shift 2 gears, let go of the gas, and slow down 10-20MPH w/in a few seconds. That’s what would happen if you did that with my car. Down shifting 2 gears will NOT vary the distance by a foot or two. To do that, I just let of the gas.

[spdrun]

Try this.

Push the clutch. Downshift a gear. With the clutch still pushed in, rev the engine to roughly where it would be revving if it were in the “new” gear. Let go of the clutch pedal with the engine still revving.

No braking effect at all until you start letting go of the gas. Unless you want the clutch to last 30,000 miles, that’s the way a downshift should be done.

Double-clutching to save on synchros is optional (my first car has no synchro on 1st gear) 🙂

[an]

[quote=spdrun]Try this.

Push the clutch. Downshift a gear. With the clutch still pushed in, rev the engine to roughly where it would be revving if it were in the “new” gear. Let go of the clutch pedal with the engine still revving.

No braking effect at all until you start letting go of the gas. Unless you want the clutch to last 30,000 miles, that’s the way a downshift should be done.

Double-clutching to save on synchros is optional (my first car has no synchro on 1st gear) :)[/quote]
Thanks for describing to me rev-matching. Just so you’re aware, I rev-match 100% of the time I down shift. I also do heal-toe as well.

Of course there won’t be braking effect if you step on the gas. Why would you expect there would be brake effect if you’re stepping on the gas?

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