Hi,

I wonder if you could help settle an argument between my wife and I
(at least this one is related to cars!).

She drives with her left foot covering the clutch and says that she
was taught this technique as the correct way to drive and it helps her
if she needs to stop quickly.

I on the other hand say that if you need to stop quickly it is the
brake pedal she should be worrying about and that her left foot should
be flat on the floor or on the purpose built foot rest, unless she is
in the process of changing gear.

She insists that her foot is not on the clutch and just above it so is
hovering and therefore not causing the clutch any problems.

If anyone could help settle this friendly discussion I would be most
grateful. Especially if I could be proved right :-)

thanks
H Phillips

If anyone could help settle this friendly discussion I would be most
grateful. Especially if I could be proved right :-)

thanks
H Phillips

And my vote goes to...
-
-
-
-
-
Mrs Philips

Andy C

Heds wrote:
Hi,

I wonder if you could help settle an argument between my wife and I
(at least this one is related to cars!).

She drives with her left foot covering the clutch and says that she
was taught this technique as the correct way to drive and it helps her
if she needs to stop quickly.

Someone has once told her "If in doubt, both feet out....", and it
stuck. At least if so, the right foot wouldn't be long behind to stamp
on the brake pedal.

Try that in an Automatic forgetting the missing clutch pedal, ye
forehead tends to hurt after it's hit the steering wheel...

--
Adrian C

Heds wrote:
Hi,

I wonder if you could help settle an argument between my wife and I
(at least this one is related to cars!).

She drives with her left foot covering the clutch and says that she
was taught this technique as the correct way to drive and it helps her
if she needs to stop quickly.

I on the other hand say that if you need to stop quickly it is the
brake pedal she should be worrying about and that her left foot should
be flat on the floor or on the purpose built foot rest, unless she is
in the process of changing gear.

She insists that her foot is not on the clutch and just above it so is
hovering and therefore not causing the clutch any problems.

If anyone could help settle this friendly discussion I would be most
grateful. Especially if I could be proved right :-)

thanks
H Phillips

When driving down the motorway? I see no problem with putting your foot
in a comfortable position, quite possibly on the 'foot rest' (if the car
has one, a recent Fiesta I drove has no space to the left of the clutch
pedal at all!).

However, having your foot on the 'foot rest' is incompatible with your
suggested approach of "if you need to stop quickly it is the brake pedal
she should be worrying about". A few times I've caught my foot under
the clutch pedal when taking it off the rest and trying to get to the
brake. It's a lot further from the rest to the brake (plus involves two
movements - up and across), than from hovering over the clutch to the
brake (one movement - across).

So, as long as the clutch isn't actually being touched, then I see no
problem with it. I certainly wouldn't see it as being 'wrong', and
would probably see it as prudent in situations where you anticipate
having to brake quickly.

D

Heds wrote:
Hi,

I wonder if you could help settle an argument between my wife and I
(at least this one is related to cars!).

She drives with her left foot covering the clutch and says that she
was taught this technique as the correct way to drive and it helps her
if she needs to stop quickly.

I on the other hand say that if you need to stop quickly it is the
brake pedal she should be worrying about and that her left foot should
be flat on the floor or on the purpose built foot rest, unless she is
in the process of changing gear.

She insists that her foot is not on the clutch and just above it so is
hovering and therefore not causing the clutch any problems.

If anyone could help settle this friendly discussion I would be most
grateful. Especially if I could be proved right :-)

thanks
H Phillips


I wouldn't say it was wrong as long as she doesn't touch the clutch BUT
hovering her foot there will tire the leg and when she comes to use it,
her leg muscle won't be very efficient.

Also, the clutch doesn't help her stop quickly, it stops the engine
stalling if you do an emergency stop. You can stop quite successfully
without pressing the clutch at all.

Furthermore (and this is a very weak point ;-) ) it could be said that
in the milliseconds it takes you to move your foot from accelerator to
brake, the engine provides a tiny amount of engine braking helping stop
- which is removed if you bang down the clutch instantly.



Anyway, don't worry about winning too much, as the lack of sex will soon
'change your mind' if you won.

On Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:32:48 -0700, Heds wrote:

Hi,

I wonder if you could help settle an argument between my wife and I (at
least this one is related to cars!).

She drives with her left foot covering the clutch and says that she was
taught this technique as the correct way to drive and it helps her if
she needs to stop quickly.

I on the other hand say that if you need to stop quickly it is the brake
pedal she should be worrying about and that her left foot should be flat
on the floor or on the purpose built foot rest, unless she is in the
process of changing gear.

She insists that her foot is not on the clutch and just above it so is
hovering and therefore not causing the clutch any problems.

If anyone could help settle this friendly discussion I would be most
grateful. Especially if I could be proved right :-)

thanks
H Phillips

If her foot genuinely doesn't touch the pedal, then I can't see that it
would harm the car. (And is probably way OT for u.r.c.m.!)

However, my brother was taught to drive like this; I ended up replacing
the clutch in his first car before it was 6 months old. He soon learnt an
(expensive) lesson.

WRT the safety aspect, I would find it so uncomfortable to drive like
that for any significant amount of time that I feel that any very
marginal advantage to safety would be negated by the distraction the pain
in my ankle would cause.

In truth, like so many things in life, there's not really a definitive
answer; if she feels safer driving like that, and she is aware that
resting her foot *on* the pedal will kill the clutch, why worry?

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

On Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:51:22 +0100, Chris Whelan
wrote:

On Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:32:48 -0700, Heds wrote:

Hi,

I wonder if you could help settle an argument between my wife and I (at
least this one is related to cars!).

She drives with her left foot covering the clutch and says that she was
taught this technique as the correct way to drive and it helps her if
she needs to stop quickly.

I on the other hand say that if you need to stop quickly it is the brake
pedal she should be worrying about and that her left foot should be flat
on the floor or on the purpose built foot rest, unless she is in the
process of changing gear.

She insists that her foot is not on the clutch and just above it so is
hovering and therefore not causing the clutch any problems.

If anyone could help settle this friendly discussion I would be most
grateful. Especially if I could be proved right :-)

thanks
H Phillips

If her foot genuinely doesn't touch the pedal, then I can't see that it
would harm the car. (And is probably way OT for u.r.c.m.!)

However, my brother was taught to drive like this; I ended up replacing
the clutch in his first car before it was 6 months old. He soon learnt an
(expensive) lesson.

WRT the safety aspect, I would find it so uncomfortable to drive like
that for any significant amount of time that I feel that any very
marginal advantage to safety would be negated by the distraction the pain
in my ankle would cause.

In truth, like so many things in life, there's not really a definitive
answer; if she feels safer driving like that, and she is aware that
resting her foot *on* the pedal will kill the clutch, why worry?

Chris



Although pre-engaged release bearings are fairly common, so it does depend
on the car, it won't make any difference to a 205 GTi, I'd be impressed if
you got 6 months out of a Morris Minor:-)

Thanks everyone, some good replies there.

The matter was brought up recently as she has just swapped over to a
hire auto after yet another idiot drove into the back of her. We seem
to have the worlds first fully working car cloaking device as it is
hardly ever out of the repair shop.

We are still on our first clutch so I assume that she isn't killing it
so will leave it as it is. As stated she is comfortable this way so
why change.

thanks again.

H Phillips

"Heds" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I wonder if you could help settle an argument between my wife and I
(at least this one is related to cars!).

She drives with her left foot covering the clutch and says that she
was taught this technique as the correct way to drive and it helps her
if she needs to stop quickly.

I on the other hand say that if you need to stop quickly it is the
brake pedal she should be worrying about and that her left foot should
be flat on the floor or on the purpose built foot rest, unless she is
in the process of changing gear.

She insists that her foot is not on the clutch and just above it so is
hovering and therefore not causing the clutch any problems.

If anyone could help settle this friendly discussion I would be most
grateful. Especially if I could be proved right :-)

If she really isn't touching it, then she should be fine. I'd imagine it's
an uncomfortable way to drive though.

However, when I was learning to drive, I occasionally made the mistake of
leaving my foot on the clutch pedal, thinking I was putting absolutely no
pressure on it. I was proved wrong when the instructor stuck his foot under
his clutch pedal and nudged it back up.

In article , Andy
Cap says...

If anyone could help settle this friendly discussion I would be most
grateful. Especially if I could be proved right :-)

thanks
H Phillips

And my vote goes to...
-
-
-
-
-
Mrs Philips


So you can't drive either.



--
Conor

I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't
looking good either. - Scott Adams