can you heal and toe in your viper with street shoes?

[msp282]

I raced a Honda S2000 for 3 years and the pedals are perfect for heal and toe whether in street shoes or track shoes.....

in my 2009 ACR, either the pedals are too close or the fact that I bump my knee into the wheel.....I even moved the tilt part all the way up and I still hit it.

I have not tried in track shoes.... shouldn't a track built car have a better design than a $32k Honda S2000 when it comes to pedal placement?

Even an old 1999 Civic I had was perfect...

anyone else have issues or is it just me?

 

[FrgMstr]

I put a 3/4" extender on the go fast pedal, no problems after that.

 

[plumcrazy]

little tough with size 13 shoes

 

[red heat]

3/4 inch extender to the gas pedal which raises it enough to heel/toe to work. in the ACR you're actually doing a toe/side foot manuever. when stepping on the brake, I rock my foot to the side which blips the throttle just the way I like it. actual "heel" maneuver never worked well for me.

 

[msp282]

little tough with size 13 shoes

gotcha... I have 10.5's but they are a little fat.... it is amazing how horrible I am with flat Van's on when I can hop in my mazda RX8 and do just fine..... Dodge definitely could have taken some more time getting the pedals right... I have owned my car for over 2 years and have yet to have a clean heel and toe downshift...

 

[Steve M]

I can't wear normal shoes when driving mine, so I always have to wear some sort of driving shoe. My running shoes get caught on the backside of the brake pedal, and I don't like that too much...never looked to see if the previous owner spaced the gas pedal over though. Maybe I should look...

 

[SSGNRDZ_28]

I found out quickly that normal shoes weren't great. I wear "Nike Free" shoes while driving the Viper which are smaller and narrower than a "normal" shoe. It is almost like a cross between a driving shoe and a normal shoe.

 

[bluesrt]

i wear a driveing shoe evan on the street

 

[Rally]

I typically wear a casual Puma race shoe or Oakley brand so it works in the car and the restaurant if I intend to drive serious enough to need to heel toe. I also agree with the comment it's more toe/side foot v heel. If I'm in tennis shoes I don't screw around with it as much just to be safe.

 

[FrgMstr]

I wear a size 13 as well, and yep, it is a pain in the ass to drive a Viper with certain shoes on.

I bought a pair of those Vibram toe shoes that work out AWESOME for driving. The feel you get through the sole is incredible and those are only the width of your actual foot. Downsides besides looking stupid, which I really did not care about, is threefold.

1. If you drive for these for a full day or more with lots of clutching, you will get a bruise on your left foot's sole. Not a bad one, not a deal breaker, but worth mentioning.

2. The damn things stink like ass after wearing them for a day, which is not a big deal if you are going back home, but on a multi-day you best be washing those things out!

3. I have worn these while driving the Yas Marina Circuit F1 track in Abu Dhabi and plenty in Texas during the summer. They can get a bit toasty on the asphalt in the blazing sun with 100F+ temps. On the Yas track the temp was into the 110s and it was hard to stand on the tarmac.

I recently bought a pair of Puma driving shoes. Actually I bought 5 pairs before finding one that actually fit my bigass foot. These are ****** looking at best but the only pair out of 5 that actually fit.

 

[Steve M]

I wear a size 13 as well, and yep, it is a pain in the ass to drive a Viper with certain shoes on.

I bought a pair of those Vibram toe shoes that work out AWESOME for driving. The feel you get through the sole is incredible and those are only the width of your actual foot. Downsides besides looking stupid, which I really did not care about, is threefold.

1. If you drive for these for a full day or more with lots of clutching, you will get a bruise on your left foot's sole. Not a bad one, not a deal breaker, but worth mentioning.

2. The damn things stink like ass after wearing them for a day, which is not a big deal if you are going back home, but on a multi-day you best be washing those things out!

3. I have worn these while driving the Yas Marina Circuit F1 track in Abu Dhabi and plenty in Texas during the summer. They can get a bit toasty on the asphalt in the blazing sun with 100F+ temps. On the Yas track the temp was into the 110s and it was hard to stand on the tarmac.

I recently bought a pair of Puma driving shoes. Actually I bought 5 pairs before finding one that actually fit my bigass foot. These are ****** looking at best but the only pair out of 5 that actually fit.

They make minimalist shoes that have the same lack of padding as the 5-fingers, but look more like a normal running shoe if you really care. I went with the New Balance MT10...they work very well for this application, in addition to working out (why I really bought them).

 

[ROYMAN]

This may make me sound like an idiot but I had to share... I had the same problem and during the warmer months of the year I am usually wearing sandals or boat shoes than can easily slip off while driving, so I opted to go barefoot- I felt like I was in much more control driving barefoot, even more so then with driving shoes. However, after a few long and very toasty summer road trips, my feet ended up with pedal indentations due to the constant pressure and heat- they stayed like that until recently.

 

[slysnake]

Dodge definitely could have taken some more time getting the pedals right

This IS the improved pedal placement. You should try a Gen 1/2. lol

 

[ROCKET62]

in my 2009 ACR, either the pedals are too close or the fact that I bump my knee into the wheel.....I even moved the tilt part all the way up and I still hit it.

Do the pedals in the ACR adjust like in the rest of the Gen3/4's as I cant believe you still hit the wheel?

14 wide here - so just about any shoe takes some getting used to. Removed the dead pedal to give me just a bit more room.

 

[Steve M]

Do the pedals in the ACR adjust like in the rest of the Gen3/4's as I cant believe you still hit the wheel?

14 wide here - so just about any shoe takes some getting used to. Removed the dead pedal to give me just a bit more room.

The dead pedal was one of the first things to go on mine...even all the way back, it was still always in the way.

 

[DMan]

3/4 inch extender to the gas pedal which raises it enough to heel/toe to work. in the ACR you're actually doing a toe/side foot manuever. when stepping on the brake, I rock my foot to the side which blips the throttle just the way I like it. actual "heel" maneuver never worked well for me.

I do this version too, side of foot for throttle blip, but only the viper. I have a 12 foot, my fav shoe for driving is a nike vans like casual shoe, smaller profile of shoe and I get good feel of the pedals they the sole.

 

[VIPER GTSR 91]

Street shoes are NOT a good idea in a Viper and the pros even recommend practicing heel toe exercise on the streets to keep in practice which I do all the time too. But at least wear a pair of sneakers if not a driving or pit shoe type. Street shoes just get in the way and are too cumbersome. You need to be able to "feel" the pedals with your feet.

 

[msp282]

By street shoes I meant sneakers / vans / etc.... I don't have wear suit type shoes

 

[MoparMap]

For what it's worth as well, I had heard that the stock pedals are designed for heel-toe at around .5G of braking, meaning you have to be on the binders pretty good to get the brake pedal down level with the gas so you can roll over easier. Sounds like a spacer makes it easier at lighter braking loads, but just wanted to point out that the designers really did have heal-toe in mind, though maybe a more agressive setup than some might be used to or prefer. Everyone is different though.

I would have liked them to make each pedal individually adjustable. Added cost I understand with the need for extra motors, so I just did it myself to some degree. Got the clutch where I wanted it and then disconnected it from the adjuster cable. Moved the brake and gas as a unit where I liked them and hooked the clutch back up. I pretty much can't adjust them anymore (clutch all the way forward, brake and gas all the way back), but you could likely do the same thing with the gas to move it forward independently.

 

[msp282]

that makes sense about the hard braking... I never brake that ******* the street.... the couple times I have done some hard braking my knee hits the steering wheel unless I put the tilt all the way up which is not ideal.....so I need to move the steering wheel then hard brake and I can actually heel and toe decently..... o well..... thanks for everyone's input...

For what it's worth as well, I had heard that the stock pedals are designed for heel-toe at around .5G of braking, meaning you have to be on the binders pretty good to get the brake pedal down level with the gas so you can roll over easier. Sounds like a spacer makes it easier at lighter braking loads, but just wanted to point out that the designers really did have heal-toe in mind, though maybe a more agressive setup than some might be used to or prefer. Everyone is different though.

I would have liked them to make each pedal individually adjustable. Added cost I understand with the need for extra motors, so I just did it myself to some degree. Got the clutch where I wanted it and then disconnected it from the adjuster cable. Moved the brake and gas as a unit where I liked them and hooked the clutch back up. I pretty much can't adjust them anymore (clutch all the way forward, brake and gas all the way back), but you could likely do the same thing with the gas to move it forward independently.

 

[ROCKET62]

Have you adjusted the pedals down? It seems odd that your knee would him the wheel.

 

[Bobpantax]

This is obvious but shoes of any type with laces can be a problem if the lace ends are not equal in length and one loop is bigger. The lace can get caught up in the pedal. The problem can happen even with shoe sizes well below 13.

 

[TRACKDAY]

For me, I always wear driving shoes when I drive the Viper. I found average "sneakers" were too bulky for the Viper foot well and hampered heel / toe shifting.

I also agree with the statement of using heel / toe shifting for daily use because it's a perishable skill and must maintained.