What's Best? Downshifting or coasting in neutral and using brakes?

[Mach 1]

Originally posted by rbatson
What extra wear and tear is there?? There is none if you just downshift and don't ride the clutch.

You and I are not going to agree on this one..

I would think every time you shift to another gear, you are dis-engaging and re-engaging the clutch, which would cause some wear on the friction material. You are putting extra wear on the throw-out bearing, more applications of the pressure plate, etc...

And if you downshift to the point that your engine RPM's increase (which would be the only time you are using "compression braking" in the first place) you are increasing wear on your engine by increasing the rpm's every time you stop.

If you wait to downshift that you are going so slow that engine speed does not increase, what was the point in downshifting in the first place? You accomplish absolutely nothing.