Tiptonic gear shifting
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Newbie
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 9
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'01 W220 S320 CDI, '96 W210 E220 Diesel, '94 W124 E200, '89 W124 E250
Tiptonic gear shifting
Hello guys.
I prefer to use the tiptronic function in my W220 as I could use engine breaking to slow down my car and reduce wear on my brake rotors. I just want to ask if it is ok to shift down in a hurry? Suppose you are cruising in the 4th gear and you see a car crossing an intersection just ahead, so you want to slow down the car to the 1st or the 2nd gear in less than 2 seconds. Would this kind of shifting cause any undue strain or damage to the automatic gearbox?
I prefer to use the tiptronic function in my W220 as I could use engine breaking to slow down my car and reduce wear on my brake rotors. I just want to ask if it is ok to shift down in a hurry? Suppose you are cruising in the 4th gear and you see a car crossing an intersection just ahead, so you want to slow down the car to the 1st or the 2nd gear in less than 2 seconds. Would this kind of shifting cause any undue strain or damage to the automatic gearbox?
Super Member
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 508
Likes: 1
From: california high desert
2003 S500, 03 C240, 03 E320, 03 tahoe
no "pun" intended
stop that!. automatic transmissions are designed to move you forward, smoothly and efficently. brakes are a wear item that "sacrafice" themselves at an affordable replacement cost. they are specifically designed to slow you down for any reason you choose. 
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 4,949
Likes: 39
From: Clifton, NJ
96 and 08 911 turbos
Hello guys.
I prefer to use the tiptronic function in my W220 as I could use engine breaking to slow down my car and reduce wear on my brake rotors. I just want to ask if it is ok to shift down in a hurry? Suppose you are cruising in the 4th gear and you see a car crossing an intersection just ahead, so you want to slow down the car to the 1st or the 2nd gear in less than 2 seconds. Would this kind of shifting cause any undue strain or damage to the automatic gearbox?
I prefer to use the tiptronic function in my W220 as I could use engine breaking to slow down my car and reduce wear on my brake rotors. I just want to ask if it is ok to shift down in a hurry? Suppose you are cruising in the 4th gear and you see a car crossing an intersection just ahead, so you want to slow down the car to the 1st or the 2nd gear in less than 2 seconds. Would this kind of shifting cause any undue strain or damage to the automatic gearbox?
You want to save wear on $300 brake rotors by aggressively shifting a $7,000 transmission?
simply stop doing this.
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 354
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From: Massachusetts, USA
Car
I suppose it's possible, but I see two problems:
1. The speed of the shift: S-Classes unless you reset the TCU will provide "softer shifts", meaning that longer gap or slower shift between gear engagements might give lateral forces similar to downshifting too early (this is usually eliminated in automatic cars that "blip" the throttle or double-clutching in a stick shift car).
2. Shifting down in a "hurry": To protect the transmission, often the Mercedes TCU will prevent the driver from actually downshifting until the speed and RPM is low enough for the next lower gear. For example, if the TCU judges that 5500RPM is too high for the next gear it will downshift to, the car needs to slow enough that the next gear's RPM is low enough.
Oliverk finds that this idea is too aggressive; from what I know, Mercedes TCU programming prevents a significant amount of ways to destroy the transmission, such as automatically upshifting at the rev limiter and what I mentioned in point #2.
In my opinion, this is not necessary unless you are going down an extended descent such as driving down Mount Washington Auto Road from the summit.
1. The speed of the shift: S-Classes unless you reset the TCU will provide "softer shifts", meaning that longer gap or slower shift between gear engagements might give lateral forces similar to downshifting too early (this is usually eliminated in automatic cars that "blip" the throttle or double-clutching in a stick shift car).
2. Shifting down in a "hurry": To protect the transmission, often the Mercedes TCU will prevent the driver from actually downshifting until the speed and RPM is low enough for the next lower gear. For example, if the TCU judges that 5500RPM is too high for the next gear it will downshift to, the car needs to slow enough that the next gear's RPM is low enough.
Oliverk finds that this idea is too aggressive; from what I know, Mercedes TCU programming prevents a significant amount of ways to destroy the transmission, such as automatically upshifting at the rev limiter and what I mentioned in point #2.
In my opinion, this is not necessary unless you are going down an extended descent such as driving down Mount Washington Auto Road from the summit.
