I'm a terrible driver

[e86nut]

I'm a relatively new owner of a Z4M and today when I tried to downshift/rev match the car from 5->4, I accidently went from 5->6. Happened twice today, feel like a total moron. Its never happened to me with other 6-speeds I've owned/driven. Probably took a few years off the clutch/synchros........hope I didn't mess up anything serious lol

[vt100]

5 -> 6 is absolutely fine. But never ever do 5 -> 2

[grannyknot]

Originally Posted by vt100

5 -> 6 is absolutely fine. But never ever do 5 -> 2

The money shift.

[wdb]

Even though the gearbox is supposedly the same in the M and 3.0i/si, I always found my 3.0si much much friendlier to shift. The M shifting ain't the greatest. I have a very nice short shift kit, which helps, but I still shift the car deliberately.

[Emmrbee]

There nothing like going from 6th to 3rd and getting into the higher revs. Great for passing and making others cars smaller in the mirrors.

[e86nut]

Originally Posted by Emmrbee

There nothing like going from 6th to 3rd and getting into the higher revs. Great for passing and making others cars smaller in the mirrors.

LOOL I can hardly nail 4->3 smoothly let alone 6 to 3!

[Coi]

I'd recommend using this hand position technique, especially during aggressive driving: http://store.uucmotorwerks.com/artic..._technique.htm That's for a 5 speed but you can extrapolate to 6th. Basically you backhand all your upshifts and downshifts except 1>2 and 3>2 are forehand while 6>5 and 4>3 you push straight forward. Keep practicing all your rev-matched downshifts. I rev-match every downshift on every drive.

Those shifts definitely didn't do permanent damage to the clutch or synchros. You'd have to do that many times to actually cause measurable damage to the clutch. Slipping the clutch a bunch in an aggressive hill start is just as bad if not worse than messed up downshift in terms of just the clutch. If you didn't get the clutch hot enough to smell it when stopped you're putting minimal wear.

My advice would be to slow down your hand movement to give the gearshift more time to center before pushing it into 4th. This is a big reason I'm not a fan of weighted shift knobs (and actually prefer extremely light ones) because the momentum is too strong and can increase the chance of a money shift. My car came with a shift knob so heavy that sometimes after pushing it out of reverse it would go straight into 4th. That scared me about accidentally going 5 to 2 so I got a really light knob now.

Depending on the mileage of your Z4M your transmission bushings might be shot. Replacing them will help precision of shifts. I also have a short shifter on mine that makes shifts less refined but far, far more precise than stock.