boostaholic

My friends always criticize me for heel-toeing on the street. They say it is unecessary and puts more wear on the gearbox. I also double clutch, just to stay sharp. How many of you heel-toe on the street?

Ken

I do, but not often. Just enough to get alittle practice as I'm still not great at it. I would think it would put less wear on the transmission if you're doing it correctly because the syncros do less work.

PCinDC

Occasionally if I'm engaged in some spirited street driving (with no one else on the streets and areas where there are no pedestrians Zoltan), I'll Heel-toe, but not all the time and not in normal driving situations. If I have a passenger in the car, I would never drive in a way that could compromise their safety, so I've never had a passenger comment on it.

iloveporsches

If I downshift to accelerate (pass or maybe just to have a little fun) I match revs. When I'm slowing down/ stopping I'll just cruise in neutral, so I don't really need to. Aside from that, my legs are really too long to get the right angle to heel-toe properly. I can more "middle foot on brake, toe on gas" instead of the traditional way.

eugene

Double Declutch "Heel and Toe " downshift is part of my normal driving( street/track)in any car(manual box)

No thinking required.

I would say that your friends are not accurate.

You are doing fine.

Eugene.

Steve Lavigne

Whenever I brake and it requires a downshift, I heel-toe. Even in my grandfather's old truck.

Steve Lavigne

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Eugene Hahn:
<strong>Double Declutch "Heel and Toe " downshift is part of my normal driving( street/track)in any car(manual box)</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Double clutching is different from heel-toe. I used to double clutch on most downshifts. These days, it only seems necessary when downshifting to first gear.

Skip

everywhere! There is no susbstitute for the amount of practice you can get on the street. Heel-toeing has to be natural on the track, or you'll be food for thought.

Even my poor little black box (Jetta) has to suffer the punishment. It actually handles quite well for such a POS. Wife hates it because stops are usually 'just-in-time' except in heavy traffic. She's just jealous and has 'small-foot complex'.

Skip

Fishey

I have alot of problems with sliping on pedels for the "heel toe". I can match revs and downshift and Brake all at once but its not doing it with the "Heel Toe"

Luke

i can't drive w/o doing it. I've tried.

Waterguy

Never learned to heel/toe, but have been double-clutching all my downshifts for the last 30 years. Learned to drive on a Land Rover 88" SWB, been "double-declutching" (to quote the British owner's manual) ever since. For those who say its not necessary on a 951, how do you downshift into first smoothly at 20 mph on synchros with over 100k miles wear? <img border="0" alt="[ouch]" title="" src="graemlins/c.gif" />

rcldesign

Ever since I learned how to do it, I've been doing it at every opportunity. Track time is expensive... might as well get some practice on the street!

Florida951

Everytime I brake and need to downshift... thats what its for. And it doesnt nessesaryly mean you use your heel and toe. It just did in the old days. Today all it means is the throttle blip when you are braking. It also creates less wear since you are matching the rpms

M758

I do it every day all the time in my GTI. Just like Skip said... Practice. I want it to be second nature and smooth. The only way I can do that is by heel&toe everywhere all the time.

It is not harder on the transmission, but may create more clutch wear especially when you are learning.

I have NEVER doubled clutched in my life. Don't need to. That is what syncros are for.

Sami951

I heel&toe ... not just my car, but also dad's Passat and whatever else I might be borrowing at the time. It's like second nature by now, downshifting "normally" just feels wrong

(No, I'm not very good at this stuff, but it's still better than not doing it)