Heel Toe Braking - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

Bulldog · 07-18-2003, 19:31

Could someone please explain the purpose of heel toe braking?
Thanks

XR6 VCT UTE · 07-18-2003, 21:15

A couple of reasons heel toe braking is used,if you are going quick,and want to change down the enigne will be reving lower in a higher gear so to bring engine speed up to the desired gear speed
1. allows the sycros to in the lower gear to mesh in gear easier.
2.reduces compression lock up.
3.keeps the car more balanced under braking /decellerating(so long as you are smooth with your feet)
ya da ya da..........

Some car pedals are laid out better than others,which can make it ,bit of a task,and dont practice with it the family in the car they get abit annoyed jerking back and forth,till you get it right.(No real use to you on the road anyway)

Grunter · 07-18-2003, 21:17

Normally used in manual cars to assist with the downshift by matching the revs to the lower gear your shifting to. It's a very worthy skill to learn if you ever do track work (helps stop those nasty rear wheel lockups). Not sure if it's relevant to normal street driving, but funnily enough I do it in my daily driving without thinking now.

Btw, best to practice well away from any traffic as until you get used to it you can mess the changes up quite easily.

edit: What ELXR6 said. :s6:

Fordy · 07-18-2003, 21:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grunter

Not sure if it's relevant to normal street driving, but funnily enough I do it in my daily driving without thinking now.

Btw, best to practice well away from any traffic as until you get used to it you can mess the changes up quite easily.

edit: What ELXR6 said. :s6:

I do it all the time its just habit now.

xacoupe · 07-18-2003, 22:00

try doing it in something like my XA .. it's a dream !!
Well, if I had more track time under my belt I could probably sort it out

smciner1 · 07-18-2003, 23:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by xa-coupe

try doing it in something like my XA .. it's a dream !!
Well, if I had more track time under my belt I could probably sort it out

Easy enough to do once you get the hang of it, Top Loader and all.

YuGoStaR · 07-18-2003, 23:30

I think I'll have a go at this, this weekend. Might go down to an empty car park and have a go, who knows, might even get the hang of it.
hehe

Cobra · 07-18-2003, 23:51

Very handy skill to have in the wet. But also it's not good for the gearbox to use it to slow down. I guess that's why they did put brakes there.

Rollin · 07-19-2003, 00:06

all of the above, plus when you get it perfect it sounds hell cool and all your mates think you are a bloody legend, not to mention the fact you feel like dick johnson

well, i always get a huge face-splitting grin on my face after a perfect ultra-late-brake-heel-toe-into-second-and-turn-in manouver is completed...dunno about the rest of you...

!Gn|T|0n · 07-19-2003, 00:55

I always found it difficult to judge the pressure you have to put through your heel - this is in our manual VR commodore.... feels good when you finally get it right tho'