am I driving wrong ? uphill traffic clutch ect ..

[normspanners]

1 foot on clutch 1 heel on brake toes on throttle known as heel & toe

I use the left side of my foot on the brake and the right side on the throttle and just angle my foot, like this:-

I bet Mr Plod wouldn't been too impressed!

Ha There is no law that says you have to use which foot on which pedal as long as you are in control.
I recovered some people in their car 200 ish miles and came back , a few years ago for the RAC, and the clutch linkage went pedal to the floor on my IVECO recovery truck, shortly after loading the car, they where in the back of the crew cab and hadnt a clue anything was wrong.
thing that was funny, their car, the clutch fork had broken nothing else wrong and I drove it on the truck !!

 

[normspanners]

A better example

That is normal driving (too me) braking and throttle at the same time to balance the car
But he does'nt use his left foot on the brake

 

[rtbcomp]

Ha There is no law that says you have to use which foot on which pedal as long as you are in control.
.........

True, but if I was a Plod and found someone with one useful leg driving a non-adapted manual I'd say he wasn't in control, and I think the magistrate and insurance company would agree with me. Try an emergency stop with one foot.

 

[Bill Edwards]

You just stall... more likely to be inconvenient than dangerous.

I've an idea though that I read somewhere that it isn't legal to drive while plastered up, anyone know if this is true?

 

[rtbcomp]

Your stopping distance would be increased as you would be braking the car and the engine.

Also you'd react instinctively to an emergency, right foot on the brake, left on the clutch. Your right foot in plaster isn't going to do much braking.

 

[Robotstar5]

That is how the handbrake on l/rover is tested on mot.

Which is why I always had my MOT's done at "Land Rover friendly" garages, they would check the mechanism while underneath then check the handbrake held when getting it off the ramp.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Your stopping distance would be increased as you would be braking the car and the engine.

Also you'd react instinctively to an emergency, right foot on the brake, left on the clutch. Your right foot in plaster isn't going to do much braking.

Your brakes should be good enough to deliver full braking force against both the momentum of the vehicle and engine power - think what happens in an automatic if the accelerator jams down. Wedge your foot onto the brake and it will stop you, an engine at idle takes very little to stall and shouldn't alter anything unless there is a serious deficiency with the brakes.

As to whether you can instinctively use the right foot or apply enough force through a foot in plaster may be another thing, down to the operator.

 

[owas]

Are you referring to an automatic here? If not, then I`m missing something as how can you “find the biting point” (both feet required) and still keep your foot on the foot brake?

Nope manual.
This is how i do it, and i wasnt sure if i should be hence the thread.

ill stop with the usual brake then clutch down and in to first.
When i need to move off i just bring up the clutch to were it would hold the car, off the brake pedal and straight on the gas pedal, finish releasing the clutch and off I go.

on long waits i put the hand brake on and put it in neutral ..the heavy clutch hurts after a while

 

[fixerupper]

It's the "after a while " thing that gets me .... I'd rather do a brake shoe or pads replacement (cheap and easy 1 hour tops )...than a clutch replacement ...(cos when the clutch gives up you ain't going anywere) jeff...

 

[the snooper]

It's the "after a while " thing that gets me .... I'd rather do a brake shoe or pads replacement (cheap and easy 1 hour tops )...than a clutch replacement ...(cos when the clutch gives up you ain't going anywere) jeff...

I agree keeping the foot brake on and using the clutch to ensure you don't roll backwards until you can accelerate only puts more strain on the clutch, where as using the handbrake you can take the handbrake off and instantly take up the drive not to mention you have full control of the vehicle

 

[Bill Edwards]

It's fine not to use the hand brake.
But don't sit waiting for traffic with the clutch down, only put it down and select a gear when you're about to need it.

 

[the snooper]

It's fine not to use the hand brake.
But don't sit waiting for traffic with the clutch down, only put it down and select a gear when you're about to need it.

on a hill ?

 

[fixerupper]

Yeah, biting point is a clutch/ gas thing... brakes are'nt in the mix ....jeff

 

[owas]

It's the "after a while " thing that gets me .... I'd rather do a brake shoe or pads replacement (cheap and easy 1 hour tops )...than a clutch replacement ...(cos when the clutch gives up you ain't going anywere) jeff...

is that in regards to keeping the clutch pedal depressed for a while? I only did that a few times when I first drove it, now I put it into neutral and take my foot off the pedal if I'm stationery for long.

Usually just crawl forward without fully stopping if its slow moving traffic .. its the start stop traffic that gets me, not fast enough for a crawl but doesn't seem long enough to put the hand brake up and down every time I want to move.


ill start using the handbrake more though now

 

[Browser]

I had to do the school run in rush hour Brussels traffic for 2 weeks and used a LHD Merc with foot operated handbrake. Think about it - handbrake was on left of clutch pedal so after braking / operating clutch you had to then select neutral so you could lift your left foot off clutch pedal and engage handbrake. Then it was foot back down on clutch and select gear. Right PIA in heavy traffic.

Our old Kia Sedona was the same, Mrs B never got used to it, hill starts used to totally freak her out. Glad to hear from another poster that Vauxhall are going back to conventional handbrakes on some models, I think electronic hbrakes are just complication for complications' sake.

 

[dannyp]

electronic handbrakes are asking for problems. the vw one is crap, vw rear calipr handbrake mechansium has never been over brilliant but then putting an electric motor on it. at least with a leave if the handbrake wasent holding over well you'd notice and pull the lever up a bit more and leave it in gear and know its needs fixing.

got a passat here atm that has electric handbrake that dosent work you can push the car back and forth on the drive with the handbrake on or off the renult seems better but it has been found in the hedge in the morning a couple of times.

 

[Rocketman]

Your brakes should be good enough to deliver full braking force against both the momentum of the vehicle and engine power - think what happens in an automatic if the accelerator jams down. Wedge your foot onto the brake and it will stop you, an engine at idle takes very little to stall and shouldn't alter anything unless there is a serious deficiency with the brakes.

As to whether you can instinctively use the right foot or apply enough force through a foot in plaster may be another thing, down to the operator.

Correct any modern car has more than enough breaks to activate the ABS without putting the clutch in.

Now if you want more powerful breaks in a old car and give it the effect of ABS the trick was to ram it into a low gear and let it out while breaking hard. The sudden high revs of the engine would effectively act against lock up but also being now in a lower gear would also decrease the speed of the car.

 

[norlander]

You just stall... more likely to be inconvenient than dangerous.

Last time I did an advanced motorcycle training course with police riders, the new thinking on the emergency stop was brake hard and leave the clutch alone and allow the bike to stall as it stopped you faster.

Personally, I did not like it as it leaves you with a dead motor, and having avoided contact with the numpty in front,you cannot accelerate out of the way of the numpty coming up your chuff.
I suppose though, a Police rider in all his gear is not likely to have someone driving up his chuff, so stopping to a stall would be less of a problem.But for me, I keep the injun a runnin in case I need to wazz it out of the way of madam makeup check coming up on my rear.

 

[fixerupper]

It's years since I had a bike but ...I you just brake hard without the clutch don't the rear wheel lockup ?..that's how I failed me bike test ...in the 70s ....jeff..

 

[CRB]

I was taught to press the button when applying the handbrake back in the late'60s.

In the 80s for me, but same goes, Get it on as far as you can, drop the button onto ratchet, and if it needs a little extra pull up one click.

Last time I did an advanced motorcycle training course with police riders, the new thinking on the emergency stop was brake hard and leave the clutch alone and allow the bike to stall as it stopped you faster.

Personally, I did not like it as it leaves you with a dead motor, and having avoided contact with the numpty in front,you cannot accelerate out of the way of the numpty coming up your chuff.
I suppose though, a Police rider in all his gear is not likely to have someone driving up his chuff, so stopping to a stall would be less of a problem.But for me, I keep the injun a runnin in case I need to wazz it out of the way of madam makeup check coming up on my rear.

I just did the first round of rider training ?Gold Star?. I was taught to leave the clutch until you were almost at a standstill to prevent a stall, so you were then able to move off quickly and safely.