Fact or Fiction--Trailer tie downs

I have towed my Barracuda road race car for many thousands of miles all across the country, and have never given one thought about wearing out or heating up the cuda's shocks! I have an enclosed trailer, and use four 3" wide ratcheting tie downs. The front uses a pair of straps that wrap around the front sway bar corners, and at the rear I use two 3" ratcheting straps that cross and tie to a couple of small forged eyebolts added to sides of the rear shock plates. On the floor of the trailer is E-channel to tie everything down.

IMHO, you do want to use all 4 straps. The most important ones I think are the rears, which will keep the car from moving forward during a panic stop situation. I don't think I can accelerate the trailer fast enough to slide the car backwards!

There are debates as to whether or not it is advisable to keep the car in gear when towing as some say that the transmission gears are rubbing back and forth as the car moves around, and that can cause pre-mature wear. (I am assuming a manual trans, which is what I have.) I personally keep mine in 2nd gear when towing as I would rather worry about it moving around being in neutral if a strap fails! (My car does not have a parking brake, which makes the question relevant).