Heel-toe braking problems with BMW

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#1
I have had my 1994 325is for about 6 months now and I am confused with the brake pedal set-up. When I get on the brakes hard, the brake pedal goes down about a half inch or so below the accelerator. This makes heel toe very difficult(More like-toe ankle). I tried putting my toes on the brake and bliping with my heel, but this causes my knee to hit the steering wheel. Any suggestions on how to remedy this problem?
 
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#2
The phrase "Heel and Toe" is somewhat incorrect these days. It really applies more to cars that are dedicated to racing. In all of the cars that I have driven in recent years, heel and toe (at least for me) is really "Left edge/right edge with ankle twist" LOL.

That is, the ball of your foot (where your big toe joins your foot) presses on the brake pedal, and the right edge of your foot presses the acelerator. As you implied, the modulation is achieved by twisting your ankle. That's the way that I have been doing it for years, and this has worked well for me. I guess foot size might affect this technique, I wear 10 1/2 or 11, maybe that makes it a bit easier?
 
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#3
i agree with kirby, i roll my foot when i "heel and toe" i also where about a size 11 shoe, but the puma driving shoes i wear everyday are sort of narrow so i might switch to adidas
 
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#4
Never tried the role the foot for the Heel to Toe - feet too small. Do you feel it more dangerous as your foot can slip off the brake ?
 
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#5
Nataku said:
Never tried the role the foot for the Heel to Toe - feet too small. Do you feel it more dangerous as your foot can slip off the brake ?
Yes, but the pedal placement doesn't allow any other method.

Heel and toe refers to using the toe on the brake and the heel to blip the throttle. In the old days, you could do that.

Now, the pedal placement (and the steering column/interior design) usually means that toe-toe is all that can be done, as described above.

The key is to focus on the brake as primary. That way, if you miss the throttle blip you are still on the brake and can just downshift without blip. That is much better than coming hot into a corner without enough brake pedal pressure. The key is to maintain pressure on the brake while blipping the throttle. It takes a lot of practice on the street before you progress to a track environment.
 
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#6
brahtw8 said:
The key is to focus on the brake as primary. That way, if you miss the throttle blip you are still on the brake and can just downshift without blip. That is much better than coming hot into a corner without enough brake pedal pressure.
Once again, I agree w/brahtw8. The point he makes here is very important and is what I still strugle with. I get so involved in RPM matching that I "forget" to brake and end up coming into the corner too hot. The result is that I end up taking a bad line through the corner.
 
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#7
gpoints said:
Once again, I agree w/brahtw8. The point he makes here is very important and is what I still strugle with. I get so involved in RPM matching that I "forget" to brake and end up coming into the corner too hot. The result is that I end up taking a bad line through the corner.
I also struggle with this when on track. It scares the crap out the instructor because they think the brakes are going away when the problem is lack of pedal pressure on the part of the driver (me). I sometimes start out the session trying to integrate heel and toe into my driving, but I usually end up going back to non-blip downshifts and working more on my line and smoothness. Eventually, with enough practice on the street, it will become more intuitive on the track.
 
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#8
I heel-toe as kirby described, but it just seems that the pedal goes way lower than the accelerator. This causes my foot to clip the throttle and really zing the revs. The brake pedal goes so low I have to put my foot in an uncomfortable angle inorder to do it properly.
 
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#9
I'll have to try it and conciously note the brake pedal height, but I have not noticed any problem in my 325i as you describe. It seems to me that my pedal height is well matched.

FWIW, I have heard of people adjusting the brake pedal height and spacing by notching the arm, bending it, and rewelding the notches, or by messing around with thicker or thinner pedal pads.
 
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#11
I ALWAYS heel-toe in my E30 and the pedal setup for me is just right.

My mum's E46 325i is another matter however. The brake pedal is set far too high in relation to the accelerator and it is utterly impossible to heel-toe in that car. It's so annoying and so un-BMW.
 
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#12
Frank -

I forced myself to pay attention to the pedal height in the 325. The brake pedal is *slightly* higher than the gas pedal with feet off. When I press the brake, when it starts grabbing it is just about equal to the gas pedal height. A twist of the ankle to the right blips the throttle nicely.

FWIW, I did read in the Bently manual that, after checking fluid levels, bleeding, etc. , if the brake pedal is low, the master cylinder may be bad.
 

epj3

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#13
Yea bleed your brakes. When my friend got his 1994 325i the pedal travel was like an american sedan. We flushed the brakes with some ATE racing fluid and the pedal travel is back to where it should be.

BTW the way kirby said he does it is the only way I've ever been able to do it in my e30 and my e34.
 
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#17
Wadula said:
just get the SMG. it will do all for you [hihi]

(and here come the flames....[rofl])
Hehe, even with SMG you can still heal toe. You just don't need to manually push in a clutch. Even though the car can/will rev match you can still blip the throttle to get a better rev match to where it is smoother. I do it some times.....
 

epj3

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#18
///M SPEED said:
Hehe, even with SMG you can still heal toe. You just don't need to manually push in a clutch. Even though the car can/will rev match you can still blip the throttle to get a better rev match to where it is smoother. I do it some times.....
PROVE IT!!!!! [:p]
 


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