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Originally Posted by Fiero rehaan ,this is what i understand from your post
suppose the force needed for minimum possible braking distance is Y
when you brake ... you don't know how much to press the brake to get retarding force equivalent to Y ... you the brake too hard ... you risk locking
let braking force be X and engne braking force be Z
X + Z in practical situations will be closer to Y ... thus less braking distance
but then what happens if X + Z is greater than Y ... skidding ???
and what about cars with ABS/EBD ... the effect of engine braking should technically(and even practically) be minimal , right ?? coz the car will apply force Y(or very close to it) |
Fiero,
I understand what you are trying to say in your example, however, my point is that "Y" is not a constant, it changes according to the current speed you are at, temperature and lots of other factors. Hence, having "Z" as a constant added to "X" gives you more flexibility to control "X".
Regarding ABS / EBD, keep in mind that they are not
applying brake-force, but
reducing/governing brake-force (atleast in the case of ABS, and probably EBD to the best of my knowledge? barring the new S class etc< is that even still called EBD?). Your question still is valid though, and i cannot give you a entirely knowledgable answer without going into details that i am not well versed in.
Given the fact that brakes are basically friction, you should do some research on friction and look at
graphs to get an idea of what i am talking about. etc.
And hopefully somewhere in the midst of that physics talk and confusion you will feel that having engine braking will be better
Sorry i cannot verbalize my thoughts on this accurately. But as i said in my earlier post. TRY IT...and see the difference.
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but still I can't convince myself to do a gear shift when i see an urgent need of braking, I guess my eyes will be clenched closed and full force on the brake
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Vivekiny2k, I agree with you there. Its almost impossible to downshift in a PANIC situation.
BUT, its still better if you are IN GEAR in this kind of situation than if you were in neutral / clutch depressed.
cya
R