The dangers of hitting redline

[KrisZ]

Quote:
Why not allot more time in the commute and take life easy? Have some satisfaction to cruising.


Yep, people just seem to rush everywhere. Just a couple of days ago a guy was flashing his high beams behind me because I had about 100 feet of space in front of me. I was in the middle lane (3 lane highway) doing about 100km/hr, the right lane was moving slower, and the left was about the same.

The car in front of me was also doing about the same, but the guy behind me thought I should be speeding up, I just ignored his flashing and riding up behind my car, eventually a spot opened up on the left lane, he gunned it, moved to the left lane, passed me and then cut me off really close and continued accelerating until he had to brake for the car that was originally in front of me. So he saved 2 seconds of his commute, shortened his life by a couple of years because of high blood pressure and his stress and I had a laugh.

 

[rslifkin]

Most people floor it everywhere in a hurry. I simply like to enjoy a nice WOT rip getting on the highway, or pulling out onto a higher speed road.

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: bigmike
In all my years of driving, I've needed WOT a handful of times. I'm just curious as to what the purpose is if it's not needed?

...

Why not allot more time in the commute and take life easy? Have some satisfaction to cruising.


Because we enjoy our cars and it's fun? I make sure to allot plenty of time to my commute (doesn't usually matter if I'm "on time" anyway though) and do most of it at a leisurely 60-65 mph cruise.

But it's still fun to gun it on onramps sometimes. One of the benefits of having a slower, less powerful car is that you can hammer on it a bit without reaching unsafe speeds.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: Thermo1223
Too scared of using all the HP you payed for, that is a good one!



Dont laugh,we had customers bring back their 05-06 GTO`s when I worked at the Pontiac dealer. They claimed it scared them....

(personally I had alot of fun driving one)

 

[bigmike]

I believe it was in 1979 or 1980. My father claimed he was at a Honda dealership when a guy brought back a 1 day old CBX 1000. He told them he took it out on a wide open road and cranked it up. He said he was so scared that he knew he'd kill himself on it and wanted to know if he can return it.

 

[expat]

Originally Posted By: bigmike
I believe it was in 1979 or 1980. My father claimed he was at a Honda dealership when a guy brought back a 1 day old CBX 1000. He told them he took it out on a wide open road and cranked it up. He said he was so scared that he knew he'd kill himself on it and wanted to know if he can return it.


Yes, I believe that.
Some Cars/Bikes are like snorting Coke (not that I have done that) They feel so good, you just know they will get the better of you.

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: bigmike
In all my years of driving, I've needed WOT a handful of times. I'm just curious as to what the purpose is if it's not needed?


It's just madness. Some people buy vehicles with an engine larger than the base version, even though modern base engines are more than enough to allow the car to travel at typical highway speeds. It's unfortunate that I was unable to buy a 80 hp version of my car; same basic engine but with a 3500 rpm limiter. They could have manufactured it more cheaply and saved me a few hundred bucks. With the right gearing, it would be capable of over 90 mph on flat ground. It would still get me where I want to go, without all the unnecessary fun!

 

[garlicbreadman]

my friend 05 rsx-s is a testimony that redlining does not hurt the car. he bought it with 17k on it, now it has 70k. it has seen redline over 1000 times and he shifts at 4-5k every gear. It consumes oil but not enough to add over an OC. Plus its a vtec motor and those tend to use a little oil especially if youre in vtec.

 

[Smokescreen]

My auto transmission vehicles only allow me to come within 100-200 RPM of red line, and that is enough for me.

Rarely is peak power found at red line on any vehicle.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
My auto transmission vehicles only allow me to come within 100-200 RPM of red line, and that is enough for me.

Rarely is peak power found at red line on any vehicle.

But I don't think you'll find too many drag racers short-shifting almost any motor... Especially a naturally aspirated one. The only recent car I've ever heard that short-shifting is common, is the mazdaspeed3, which had a mountain of midrange torque from its turbo. Even then I bet the fastest time at the strip would be redline shifts.

 

[Smokescreen]

I wasn't aware we were discussing drag or any type race cars as they aren't regular production vehicles.

I guess I should quantify. Peak power rarely is found at red line on any mass produced vehicle.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
I wasn't aware we were discussing drag or any type race cars as they aren't regular production vehicles.

I guess I should quantify. Peak power rarely is found at red line on any mass produced vehicle.

But the goal of redlining a car is usually to achieve maximum acceleration, so to have the greatest average power output on a trip through the gears, usually redlining is required. Only a CVT could have the engine staying at is maximum power rpm.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
My auto transmission vehicles only allow me to come within 100-200 RPM of red line, and that is enough for me.
Rarely is peak power found at red line on any vehicle.


Indeed it is rare.

On my car the power peak is shown at 6200 rpm and the factory shift occurs there also. Factory limiter is at 6400.

Small wonder that raising the shift points really helps these cars.

 

[rslifkin]

In mine, peak power is at 4000, and falls off fast above 4500 or so. Shifts at 4600 are probably about as good as it gets without mods.

 

[morris]

years ago a friend had a rear engine dragster, with a small block chevy. he would rev it to 7500 rpm. every two weeks he had to put valve train parts in. i told him to lower the shift point to 6500 rpm. when he did the car was not slower, but he never had to put valve train parts in. new subject: i have a stock 2001 dakota v-6 with 3.54 rear gears. iam saving up to put some form of pois and 4.56 gears. i dont use the hi way much. in the last 3 years i can count on one hand the number of times iv been on the hi way. so i think it should work for me.

 

[Spazdog]

I used to have a 1985 Mustang LX 5.0.

It had an AOD and as a consequence, came with CFI HO (TBI).

It wasn't unreliable, but Ford phoned it in when they selected the redline and shift points for that car.

Redline was something like 5800 rpm. It upshifted at 5500 rpm. The engine didn't do [squat] above 5000 rpm.

I found the car to be quicker when I lifted off the throttle at 5000 rpm and mashed it back down when it upshifted than when I waited for the 5500 rpm upshifts.

If I hadn't had a Gran Fury end the Mustang's life prematurely, It probably would have received a manual transmission at some point and been just fine.

 

[andrewg]

Originally Posted By: bigmike
Originally Posted By: ryansride2017
No thanks. First off, if I would take my vehicle to the red line, the last thing I would worry about is the engine. I do a fair amount of maintenance on my own vehicles including bearings, axles, differentials, etc. Why unnecessarily beat on a car when it very well could cost you more in repair costs (and I'm not talking about the engine here)? To each their own I suppose. I'll just continue driving my vehicles in a normal fashion and keep repair/maintenace costs as low as possible.


+1

I'm glad I'm not purchasing some of the vehicles being mentioned in this thread.

Agreed....there is a reason it's called a REDline. Anything mechanical (or physical as well) that you stress frequently to the point of excess, would have a higher likelyhood of wear and/or failure.

 

[Colt45ws]

Yes, thats why the redline is not plucked out of thin air. Its calculated to keep stresses on the parts within tolerable levels.

 

[SteveSRT8]

And the point to note is it is very reasonable calculated by the Mfgr.

For example, Lexus stated that the new IS-F had it's redline reduced strictly for long term reliability concerns. This is what all MFGR's do to ensure durability.

The stock redline is very safe for any engine, and if it's healthy and well lubricated there is no damage from hitting the factory limiter.

 

[Nick R]

I hit redline frequently, and the only thing it hurts is my gas mileage.

The Jeep sees redline even more often (2.5L OHV) as it is so slow that any acceleration above 20mph requires WOT. Highway driving, it's usually sitting between 3k and 5k. 3 speed automatics suck. Long periods of time to maintain speed it could be sitting at just under 5krpm (redline). The PS Pump is noisy at that speed, but it's been noisy and whiny since day 1 so we don't worry about it.