How to effectively use the car brake and low gear?
I want to minimize the tayar wear out also
sometimes I accelerate a little bit but my brake mcm x strong sgt

Don’t step on gas. Stick to left lane. Brake on and off to control speed not just when reaching cornering.

Check you brake pad condition before go to Genting. Brake Pad and Tyre is still cheaper than others else.

Just stick to low gear and let engine do the braking

ts brake mcm not strong...

time to check your brakepad...

This post has been edited by gashout: Apr 18 2025, 07:45 AM

For Auto car, is it still maintain at D ? Or need to shift to lower gear 2 or 1 ?

I try at D, sometimes at steeper slope, the RPM shot up...

what car are you using? and also whether it's auto/manual?

What car are u driving to genting ?

Is there a car make that is dangerous to drive to GH ? 😲

CVT cars no good driving downhill. The gear braking macam no effect 1.

brake from from far, dun keep doing last minute braking. periodically pumps brake n release, minimize brake pads fading from overheat

correct, so go gently with cvt when doing downhill. can only engage L mode @~30kmh for further low gear engine braking if necessary

You will need to read the car manual to find out how and when to engage and maintain the lower gears.

There is either a S or L on the gear shif. (Aside from P, R , N and D - that is Parking, Reverse, Neutral and Drive.)

This S or L will prevent the car going into the highest gear. This is the preferred driving mode when going uphill and downhill as lower gears give the car more power as well as higher engine braking.

In some cars, there is also the O/D Off button on the gear stick. This "overdrive off" button is off in default mode. Meaning the car will go into overdrive mode for better fuel efficiency.

When you pressed the button and the O/D Off is lighted on the dashboard, it means overdrive is off and it will not go into the highest gear. This maintain the car in lower gear and maintain power when going uphill. And provide more engine braking when going downhill.

true, experienced this with Livina, damn cringe when at certain sloping corners, can feel like brake have no effect

I normally leave at D unless very steep curve of which will use 2 or 3. If got manual mode, use it.

Downhill damn syiok with paddle shifters on AMT or DSG.

somewhere down the hill can smell brake burnout smell

Auto old car, I've serviced my break pad few months ago, went genting like once last month

So press the o/d on when going downhill?
I think the button is on the gear stick side
can I suddenly change from D to L immediately will it break the gear box?

Drive slow. Keep left. Manual keep it just gear 2-3 with brake on and off, dont press it all the down you might lose it from overheating. Automatic cars, the same, switch to 3-2 if there is such option, or D.

Both methods require no gas unless you decide overtake slower cars. Be extremely safe during rain weather. Practice makes perfect. Good luck.

This post has been edited by Chisinlouz: Apr 17 2025, 11:42 AM

It's called the O/D OFF button. Press the button, it will cut off overdrive. Normal driving, you want overdrive for better fuel efficiency.

From D to L, this you need to refer to the car manual. Some cars got L1 and L2 - you must slow down and not at high speed (already at top gear) when going into L1 or L2 and back to D.

You usually go into L at the foothills, not like changing it later midway. (Or at the top before starting the journey downhill.)

Along flooded roads, you slow down and go into L just before the flooded stretch, not midway.

The O/D Off is a bit different. This can be done at higher speed. A good road example is karak highway, a few kilometers before and after the tunnels, you press the O/D off and maintain constant power (and speed) on the long uphill stretch. Turn it off by pressing the button again after a few km after the tunnels.

L restrict it to 2nd or 3rd gear. O/D Off restrict it from going into 5th gear.

that means I just press the OD button regardless normal driving or down hill la for fuel efficiency?

sorry my literature
I don't have a lot of mechanic knowledge when it comes to cars

Have you tried L gear all the way when downslope?
I tried change from D to L the sound change I'm afraid the gear box will break if I keep changing from D to L along the slopes

Your gearbox is tougher than you think. It would not break that easily unless you push it to the limits (redlining all the way)

D is normal drive, computer shift gear according to speed. Higher speed = higher gear. You don't want that going down hill. Downhill must have engine braking using low gear, some AT car can go down to 1, but nowadays probably only down to 2 only.

Up slope with D, computer sense not enough torque then will auto drop gear to give torque / acceleration so revs go up.

All normal unless for whatever reason you drive until red line

The O/D Off switch will prevent the gear from going into 5th gear. If cruising on highway, this of course will be more fuel consumption.

What car are you driving? Not all cars have this O/D Off switch. Do read my previous post again, as it tells the different btw L (or L1 and L2) and this O/D Off switch.

If talking about Getting Highlands, normally I will switch to L at the top and switch back to D at the polis pondok. If driving Xtrail 2.5, using the O/D Off switch is good enough, as its bigger engine (than say a 1.5 car) is giving higher engine braking.

If talking about Cameron Highlands, just D will do.

Uphill also use 2 right? I felt like whenever the road is too steep I will change from D to 2 immediately

Uphill not necessary since computer will do the gearing work. But if you insist as it feels to give you more power then also no harm

So, meaning, going downhill with steeper slope, AT car needs to shift to lower gear eg. 2 or 1, right?

Recently, I experience AT car going downhill at Cameron Highland with D Gear, the RPM shot up and car like want to rush forward (lost control)...

I think many people are unfamiliar or scared of engine braking because of the high RPM and loud engine noise...

That is actually fine because it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do

Just go youtube search for engine braking for further explanation

Very dangerous with D while downsloping at genting
It's even wtf case if during holiday everybody stuck at downslope

Tak kisah auto or manual transmission just give your self a distance dengan kereta di hadapan like 3 cars or more

Anything within 60km/h is acceptable with braking and release technique without need doing the low gear things

Once at 30km/h release acceleration and let it role with D will do too when almost reach 60km/h brake slowly until reach 30km/h and let it rolling again

Imagine if u in downslope traffic jam gear no longer can help you because you literally also braking all the way down more than using transmission low gear at the end your brake also over heat

If no traffic jam within 60kmh slow to 30km/h and let it rolling with D it's always work for me.

Can go 2nd gear, rpm high is normal, that is engine braking

If you have not driven for quite some time or you're not comfortable driving up and down steep inclines better take it easy, i.e. nominate another driver or ride a Grab car instead.

the brakepad only wears out fast when being stepped immediately and hard all the time?

Doesn't matter the brake pad worn out fast or slow they're design for this everyday task, Is like chef hand can handle specific heat then release few seconds then grab the hot thing again, if hold the hot object and no release chef hand also injury can no longer holding hot object concept get it?

of cos and the brake fade will happen where the brake will not work anymore, means no brake when you step on it, will need to stop the car and cool down.

If you use L that's mean you 1st gear all the way down. Safest but you will create a long traffic. Drive on left side and give as much space possible to others. Signal to others so they will pass you.

Braking is still "press-let-press-let" and not pressing all the way downhill.

What happens when you have regenerative braking? And you have max charge

Not 1st gear la. You can't hardly drive in gear 1. 1st gear is getting the car moving from standstill, and quickly change to gear 2.

When engage into L (or S), you can still move up to 60-70 kmh. Which is gear 3 if in a manual car.

From the top of Genting going down to where there's the police guard house, this stretch is the steepest and most winding. I would use L (or S) on this stretch, and do less braking.

At the guardhouse where there got road bumps and you need to go very slow, this is where I would change back to D.

I reckon is because younger people these days only drive auto cars all their life, so never had to select their own gears and know the cause and effect.

Hopefully this thread will be informational to many

Regen will be limited and you’ll have to use the brake pedal instead.

Use only original brake pad, never the chapalang

So no alternative if the regular brake fails in ev

depends on car I guess, but overall engine braking is your best bet
like my car, the engine braking speed is in 20km/h block, ie, I let go of gas at 15km/h, it'll max go to 20km/h and maintain there
I usually do 40 and let it there


reliant robin

if my car has the L / 2/ D-3 kind then how?
does the L mean it will stay at first gear even if I start to pick up speed and the 2 means at max it will go up to 2nd gear and stay there?
or should I just stick it to D and hope for the best

I think it can be very confusing to explain the explicit auto gear selection in auto cars. Manufacturers label them differently between different brands and models. Some cars with different driving modes (for eg: Sport mode) will also downshift or hold gears when detecting that you're driving downhill. Better to explain it in manual gearbox perspective.

Basically the key is to use engine braking while going down hill, you can do that by engaging low gears all the way or you can actively change it also if you feel like it. You have to understand your own car gear selector on how to engage low gears. Would suggest you to drive in all gear modes and count the number of gears it can shift up to. Eg: "O/D" only shift max until 3rd gear, "L" shift max until 2nd gear, etc.. these can vary a bit by brands and models so best is to try and map these selection to the actual gears.

I do this for all the cars I've owned and change gears "manually" after understanding the actual gear to the labelled gear. Very useful for over taking on highway as well. And pretty fun if you don't mind the risk of your gearbox blowing.. I'm the kind who tend to red line before upshifting.

This post has been edited by RS42: Apr 17 2025, 09:41 PM

EV turun genting relax jerr.. no need fully use engine beaking or brake pad...

I think I'm the weird one out for reading the whole manual when I got my first new car Having a car enthusiast brother is one thing, but I also learned a fair bit from the book. In fact, it advises you to run on low gear on slopes too. Here are more things I remember:
- when side parked at a steep slope, you should turn your wheels such that if your brake fails or loosens up, you only roll into the kerb away from traffic and not all the way down like a bowling pin. For example:
Head facing downhill + car parked on the left = turn left / twist your steering wheel anticlockwise
Head facing uphill + car parked on the left = turn right / twist your steering wheel clockwise
- you have X litre reserve fuel tank even when your fuel indicator goes 0. If you calculate your mileage, you will know how much leeway you have before you refuel. Note: I learned my car doesn't calculate its mileage accurately by manually tracking my fuel on spreadsheet lol, that's one thing the manual didn't tell me but it is still very, very conservative: it said that for 5 litres of reserve, I could still run like 20-30km, which is way way way lenient for my mileage.
- it is normal for the airbag seat to always light up and then go off after a few seconds
- when your key fob is low/out of battery, you can still try your luck by sticking to the driver car door and the push start button. Worst case, there's a spare key you can use to pry open and expect alarm, but note that once the cover is pried open, you must go to service centre to reattach it. I've had a low-battery crisis once but didn't have to resort to key, so I don't remember the steps in car anymore
- recommended tyre pressure is on the sides of your door.
- you can configure to un/lock just the driver door instead of all doors (I forgot how).
- you can open boot of a locked car by just having the key fob with you.
- there are list of functionalities for all the buttons, twists and turns of the steering wheel stalks and dashboard.
- it explains when your car auto-locks e.g. when you drive above X km/h, when you unlock and do not open the door in X seconds...
- it tells you when you need to press the gear button when changing from/to a gear. For example, you can just push up/down to switch N/D, but you must press the button to switch into R and P, and when switching out of P.
- hill hold assist only works if you stay in D. Once you come to full stop on a slope when in D, you can release the brake and it'll stay braked.

Finally a disclaimer: the car features I listed above may not apply to you ya, you should RTFM to understand your own

Have you tried genting downhill? Or after menora tunnel? It's very hard to maintain within the speed limit you mention using 'D' unless you keep braking, which is not a good practice and a bad advice for drivers who don't know what they are doing

If driver no idea what they're doing they're not suppose to drive .

Last time I drove X70 up the hill, don't even need to put low gear. Turbo settle all the way.

But downhill, need to put low gear.

You just described many Malaysian drivers on the road

I tried the OD/off light on
It is a massive difference compared to just D all the way downslope

Go up use 2.
Go down use 1.

I think what most people did was brake for far too long very lightly instead of braking harder and releasing the brakes every now and then to cool it down. Another problem is they panic when the brakes goes soft which isnt a problem really unless they did what I said earlier. I just cant see why they cant navigate these corner at 40-50kmh instead or having to slow down to 20-30kmh everytime.

that's why i said to suggest people to use brakes all the way downslope instead of relying on low gear / engine braking is a bad advice

majority of drivers don't know what they are doing with the brakes since this is not taught in driving school (as with many other defensive driving techniques)

what is OD ?

Overdrive.

When your output rpm is lower than your input rpm - ie gear ratio less than 1:1.

Usually means the tallest gear available in the gearbox.

OD off means the car doesn’t select the tallest gear.
For example if 4AT, it just uses the first 3 gears.

This post has been edited by Chinoz: Apr 21 2025, 08:35 AM

ok

Using H city. just switch to S gear . Don't keep braking . Just release the accelerator, braking and lower your speed gradually . keep to left lane. I just press brake intermittently , and let engine braking do the work. Once the RPM whine too much (road is flat again, switch back to D) .

for us using cheap econoboxes, don't bother following those YS / aderen lim stunts.