My Left Foot (Where do you put yours?)

cormie

Where do you put your left foot when driving and when the clutch is not in use? Do you rest it on the clutch itself with your heel on the floor or do you put your whole foot flat down on the floor?

dubstub

On the foot rest next to the clutch

Dr.Bunson

technically it should be away from the clutch. My parents used to beat me when I was learning to drive, because they thought I was riding the clutch. Each car is different, in my car there is space to the left of the clutch where I can put my foot when I am to using it. If you are doing your driving test beware that your foot is away from the clutch when not using it. The tester may dock you points.

sandyg

same here. Footrest!

Stephen

Footrest here too.

cormie

Is there not an allowance on the clutch pedal itself to allow you to rest your foot there?

leeroybrown

It depends on the situation. If I'm cruising in one gear on the open road it will be on the foot rest. Otherwise I my foot stays conveniently placed on the clutch. I've never driven a car where this was a problem.

Perhaps it is for people who tend to ride the clutch. I did all my driver tuition and sat my test with my foot on the clutch with no problems. This was mainly due to my large feet/shoes and footwell space.

Anan1

Footrest.

Max_Damage

I've no foot rest, so it's on the floor for me.

miamee

cormie wrote:

Where do you put your left foot when driving and when the clutch is not in use? Do you rest it on the clutch itself with your heel on the floor or do you put your whole foot flat down on the floor?

Always have my foot flat on the floor or if its a long journey I'll stretch my leg out in front of me for a bit (I have short legs!)

seamus

cormie wrote:

Is there not an allowance on the clutch pedal itself to allow you to rest your foot there?

If such a thing existed, I would say it would vary between manufacturers. Think about resting your foot on the brake pedal (not hovering) and how much extra wear that would incur over time.

Footrest for me.

Anan1

Perhaps it's just my legs, but I would find it quite uncomfortable to drive for any distance with my foot held over the clutch. That said, clutches are a bit of a pain in the tits in general, IMO.;)

Signpost

footrest, well unless some left foot braking is going on!!!

RobAMerc

In my Auto Merc I have it on the brake pedal about town, but its too uncomfortable to do this in the MX5 so on longer trips I tend to bend my knee up and place it on the floor.

cormie

Aha, just reading the IAM advanced driving book and it says "Other faults that can quickly wear out a clutch are using excessive revs when pulling away from a standstill and driving with the left foot resting on the pedal"

Anan1

RobAMerc wrote:

In my Auto Merc I have it on the brake pedal about town, but its too uncomfortable to do this in the MX5 so on longer trips I tend to bend my knee up and place it on the floor.

You drive an auto with your right foot on the accelerator and your left foot on the brake?

Hotwheels

On a long drive, up on the dash nothing beats a good auld stretch

It BeeMee

Footrest.
And a footrest for my right foot while using cruise control....

Rew

Foot rest

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

dubstub wrote:

On the foot rest next to the clutch

same as that..... but then again mine is an auto.

leeroybrown

seamus wrote:

If such a thing existed, I would say it would vary between manufacturers. Think about resting your foot on the brake pedal (not hovering) and how much extra wear that would incur over time.

I'd be more worried about the brake lights being on constantly.

cormie wrote:

Aha, just reading the IAM advanced driving book and it says "Other faults that can quickly wear out a clutch are using excessive revs when pulling away from a standstill and driving with the left foot resting on the pedal"

Only if the pressure on the clutch is cauing it disengage slightly and slip. If you have a 'heavy' clutch foot or a very light clutch with a short travel it might be an issue but I've never found an issue with it. That said, the above is good advice for a learner as it will avoid them picking up a habit where they leave pressure on the clutch.

cpoh1

There is a certain amount of play between the clutch pedal and the clutch itself engaging but this differs with any manufacturer. Just resting it on or hovering it on the pedal wont do any damage as such but its a better idea to leave it in the footrest area.

blastman

Footrest here too. This was something that turned me off the BMW 3-series when I drove one a few years ago. There's no space beside the clutch for your foot, which I found very awkward and uncomfortable. I was very surprised to find this in a car with a rep like BMW's.

Rovi

Anan1 wrote:

You drive an auto with your right foot on the accelerator and your left foot on the brake?

Absolutely.
There have been a few threads on the subject here, but 'Search' is borked so I can't point them out.

People who throw their left leg in the boot and drive their automatic exclusively with the right never realise the full potential of the transmission.
Once you've 'educated' your left foot to brake as sensitively as the right, you'll wonder how you ever drove the other way.


/back on topic
My left foot lives either on the footrest or the floor, except for when it's hovering over the clutch (in a manual) or brake (in an automatic) in slow moving traffic.

.

leeroybrown

Rovi wrote:

People who throw their left leg in the boot and drive their automatic exclusively with the right never realise the full potential of the transmission.
Once you've 'educated' your left foot to brake as sensitively as the right, you'll wonder how you ever drove the other way.

To my knowledge some auto boxes can also be a little touchy when the driver abruptly lifts off prior to using the brake in certain situations.

saobh_ie

On long trips I usually put it on the footrest but most other times its somewhere on the floor, flat foot with heel to the seat, on a heel hovering (not resting as theres only a bare minimun of freeplay in my clutch and accelerator cables) over the clutch, foot on its side near the clutch.

Irish Salfordia

footrest at left if there is one or in a comfortable position on the floor.

Don't ride / hover / rest your foot over the clutch, you will burn it out quickly. Very expensive repair.

In a test, let the examiner see your clutch pedal when it is not being used.

JHMEG

RobAMerc wrote:

In my Auto Merc I have it on the brake pedal about town

:eek:

tyney

I had the misfortune to be driving my mother's clio for a few days, and it really is a girly car. My shoes are only size 11, but I couldn't fit my left shoe down past the clutch to put it on the footrest. If I managed to squeeze it past, I wouldn't feel too confident about getting it back out quickly in an emergency.

Capt'n Midnight

"riding the clutch"
Think of synomyms for riding.
For that reason some dealers won't cover the clutch on secondhand cars since you can ruin it in 300 miles if you are a complete muppet. And most cars nowadays have very light clutches compared to much older cars.

my car has a nice metal foot rest so you don't have to lift your foot up and down.

mike65

Auto, so the foot spa!

Mike.