some heel/toe difficulty

[RoNiN240sx]

alright, so i kno one the better things to do when downshifting is to heel/toe, so that one can brake and rev match simultaneously right? and that most of the time you use heel/toe on the track in racing situations and/or daily driving if you want to make it that much smoother. i drive a '96 240sx, and i've tried the heel/toe, heel on the gas toe on the brake right? problem is, it's so crammed down there it's almost impossible to get my leg in that position, and when i finally do, i always end up pressing the brake waay too hard, now i kno practice makes perfect, but is this how all of you do it?

p.s. i've only been driving stick for almost a year, so don't be too hard on me

[AKADriver]

Yeah, that's how it's done.

Practice practice practice! I'm bad at it as well.

How big are your feet? Are you trying to do this in boots? I can only do it in soft soled shoes (Converse all-stars, racing shoes, wrestling shoes, etc)

[RoNiN240sx]

heh naw, i don't have big feet but, only size ten's, and i wear converse chucks, or all stars, whatever, it's just the area under the steering wheel's so compact, to get my leg in the crooked sideways position is difficult, i've tried it in my cousin's 95 BMW and it's much easier, i dunno, just practice i guess huh?

[Dousan_PG]

practice practice. simple as that

[the head]

i cover both pedals with the toe of my shoe then just roll my ankle a little to increase the pressure on the throttle on my daily because i cannot get my leg to fit twisted like that so i can correctly heel toe in it
but i also have bigger feet than you

[ruf]

You gotta do it all twisty-legged, unless you get those ricer pedal covers. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to do it on a bottom-hinged accelerator... I tried and it was annoying. Every car takes some getting used to I guess.

[Red]

So no chance of doing this at 6'4" and size 13's huh? lmao yeah right..

I cant belive you guys can twist your legs in this car.... I'm guna suck at drifting... I have to move my leg just to pull the E-brake..

hehe short people... must be nice.

[Dousan_PG]

i just bend my knee and toe on brake, heel on acclerator..blammo. no problem. do it everyday.
just took a bit to get used to first time, now its second nature.

[fooddude]

My old honda was easy to do it in. But now, my knees hit the steering wheel/or the pillar is totally in the way.

[the head]

no i do this with stock pedals but i have done this for a while also
i am going start practicing real heel toe thing b/c it is not as reliable onteh track to do it my way

[Warwick5s]

a lot has to do with shoe size and leg size. i have skinny legs so thats not a problem, but i have 11 EEEE shoes so that is it's a lot harder to do in my NB991's than my reeboks, but i've practiced enough that i can do it in wingtips

[CleanS14]

Ok here's how I learned while daily driving... don't try to be a hero all at once... just learn to slightly turn your heel out toward the accel pedal... once you get used to the motion start hitting the gas... should come easier that way... but like everyone said... practice makes perfect!!!

[sykikchimp]

If you really want to make it easier, buy an aftermarket steering wheel, and a steering wheel spacer to bring the wheel closer to you. The 240 just wasn't built for tall guys, but with that adjustment, it makes things much easier.

I personally just can't rotate my feet that way. So I use the left side of my foot on the brake, and the right side to blip the throttle. Still not great at it, but getting better everyday.

Also, you can adjust your pedals to help you as well. Make sure the brake pedal is stopping just before it's even with the gas pedal when threshold braking. This makes it easier to pivot OVER the gas, and not on to the gas. Much easier to control as well. The best way to do this, is with pedals (not covers) and washers. DO NOT BEND the brake lever. You may weaken it, and it will become a safety hazard.

[240SX714]

it's easier to do with aftermarket pedals (clutch, brakes, accel)

[Got Sileighty?]

i know its called heel-toe downshifting. but does anyone do toe-heel? so that the heel is on the brake and the toes are on the gas? its easier for me to get in this position (size 12s) but i still dont do it cuz its so damn cramped. ive tried what sykikchimp does (right side of foot on gas, left side on brake) but its risky cuz i always end up hitting the brakes. o well.

[Rennen]

Mine is more like toe-toe. My size 14 shoes are less than graceful down there . The only way I have found is the sidestep method, but even then I can't keep enough of my foot on the brake to make me comfortable trying it at speed.

If you do a search, MrMigs had a nice healtoe video on here some time ago.

-Matt

[orange-grey]

I started learning heel-toe in a Dodge Shadow, so for me the 240 is a dream. I don't know if this is "cheating" but I blip more with my ankle than my heel. Under hard braking I can't lift my heel high enough to get over the gas pedal, so I just sort of roll my foot over quickly and smoothly. Works best for me, but I don't think it's proper technique. Oh, and around town I found it easier to do the rev-match seperately from the braking, so coming to a stop I'd downshift first, then press on the brake. Once you get used to rev-matching you can try doing both at once.

[DuffMan]

Yeah, the 240 sucks in the foot-room department. With size 11 I can pull it off, but sometimes the heel hits the tranny wall preventing the throttle blip.

Now that it's summer i think I am going to try driving exclusively bare-foot.

[SilviaDriver]

use ur third leg hahaha

[Johny5]

I used to just throttle match then brake until I saw this thread. I've tried toe-heel before but i was doing heel on the brakes and toe on the accel, wow that sucked. Tonight I tried the other way around thanks to this thread, it was so easy. Then again I wear like 9.1/2 shoes so i have smaller feet compared to all you guys. I'm probably still gonna buy some pedal covers though just for the ease of toe-heel.

[Bill Roberts]

I wanted to get to this earlier but I had company..

For really smooth H/T, you can get a throttle pedal extention. Basically you can make one of buy one. It is as simple as a 2" thick piece of wood siliconed to the face of the gas pedal. The ones I have also seen were made of rubber. I also knew a guy that glued a rubber door stop to his gas pedal. It makes the throttle higher and more even with the brake pedal. Just look at where your gas and brake pedals are in relationship to each other in height. You want them "even" when the brakes are applied at about a normal stopping pressure. If you look at the pro hangers for other performace cars, you will find the brake way low and even with the gas pedal.


Makes for effortless H/T

[old_s13]

Bill, why put wood on top of your plastic gas pedal when all you have to do is bend the metal rod for the gas pedal?

Bend the pedal, wallah.. perfect location. Its not glamorous, but NSX owners seem to be doing the same thing.

- Mike

[sykikchimp]

from turnfast.com

Also, you may need to use shims to raise either the brake pedal or gas pedal to allow comfortable reach when operating both pedals. The brake and gas pedals should be close to the same height at the time you need to operate both simultaneously. When the brake pedal is fully depressed, it's height should be roughly equal to the height of the gas pedal when it is not pressed. This allows for more comfortable and controllable heel-toe maneuvers.

I use their quote cause they state it better than I can. It's going to be user preference how you like your pedals. play with it.

Also, I see no reason why you shouldn't bend the gas pedal. Seems like a viable solution, since the gas should never see the kind of pressure that the brake pedal does, I wouldn't be worried about it braking mid corner.

[nrcooled]

I can't heel toe propperly (like in option vids) but I roll my foot like sykikchimp does. works pretty well but I would like to learn the propper way so I can become my consistant. It's just that dam footwell is so tight