IS it bad to always downshift and upshirt your auto trans like you a 5-speed?
 

Just wondering if its bad. For example, you shirt you automatic from 1 to 2 then to drive and when your slowing down from D you downshift to 2 and then 1. If you do it right does it hurt the tranny. I dont do this all the time but from time to time I just have too, thanks!!

Upshift and downshift your auto like a 5-speed I meant

both are horrible to the tranny...but i believe upshifting is the lesser of the two evils in this case...most of the time, automatics shift better when you dont shift them manually anyways...you just cant hold gears (which bugs me too).

Yea i have this nasty habit of always starting in 2nd gear and then just upshifting to D everytime and then when I always stop I put the car in Neutral then back to 2nd then drive....Plus another nasty habit is at low speeds when i'm in drive like around 30 i'll downshift into 2nd cause it downshifts and makes that awesome sound, I do that when a Z or corvette is behind me :D

power shifts
 

The only real advantage to manually shifting an auto tranny is if you are racing and your car can benefit by a later shift point than the governor in the tranny will allow. With a modified engine with a different power curve, one may wish to shift later to take advantage the higher torque/power peaks.

For example, I shift mine at 5500-6000 rpm. In D my tranny will shift at 4500 rpm. About right when my engine was a stock "C code" 289, but not now.

Rev

what about ratchet shifters? if this is so horrible for the tranny, why do people put in ratchet shifters to manually shift, or does a ratchet shifter somehow make it ok to shift like this?

Dude, if you're cruising in 2nd, you're burning up your tranny. Just let the thing shift itself.

If you put on a valve body such as the Lentech, it will not harm your transmission one bit.

I dont ride in 2nd gear, i was saying off a stop i have it in 2nd til like not even 3000 rpms proberly like 2500, just like a normal shift just a bad habit