BRAKES v DOWNSHIFTING

[elcarrodeloomis]

Have owned my 06 HSE for a couple months. Not a problem to date, knock on wood. I live on a hill and start every day going about a half mile down a moderate grade on a small road. I seemed to have had to replace my brake pads in my old Jeep more frequently than when I didn't live on a hill. I was wondering what some folks that know a lot more about the vehicle than I do think about using the sport transmission feature versus brakes to control the speed. Will I save any significant wear on the pads? Will I cause any more wear and tear on the transmission?

 

[nwoods]

I use command shift VERY often to control downhill speed. Sport mode is just 5th gear, and my truck will coast up to about 75mph on a big hill we have here when I'm in 5th, so I often pop it down to 4th to keep it under 70 (heavily patrolled hill).

I also pop down into third on a large hill near my kid's school (35 mph zone). Works great.

When off roading and in low range, I frequently keep it in 1st with HDC turned off and just let the tranny walk me down the hill

 

[AlpharettaRK]

I think the tradeoff in wear on your brake system and engine / tranny is an easy call. It doesn't strain the drivetrain much, if at all, and especially as heavy as LR3's are they will abuse brakes if they are they only thing you use to control speed down hill.
I followed a loaded van down from the hill after snowboarding last week. It's a 4 mile descent with 7-15% grade the whole way. The driver of the van relied soley on her brakes and there literally was large clouds of smoke coming from the front wheels at the bottom. Her brakes were hotter than I get my race car brakes. I had the LR3 in second the whole way and only occaisionally had to tap the brakes. Downshifting is the way to go.
Cheers
Randy