Dont recall ever seeing this on the forums. I just picked up my JCW convertible yesterday and it looks better in person than I ever imaged it would be. This is my first manual ever and my first car owned ever(owned 2 trucks before this), but I have a problem. The left side of my shoe seems to catch on the left foot rest well enough that it requires me to jerk my foot to dislodge it, which usually results in me stalling the car out. Has anyone experienced this? It doesnt appear to over extend or anything, but I may have to look into some driving shoes if this is the case.

 

Judging by what you wrote I think it's your clutch foot placement. Try to keep it lower, both on the dead pedal and on the clutch. You shouldn't be "smothering" the clutch with your foot.

Once you get used to clutch operation this will not be a problem. Early on when learning manual, wearing well-fitting, low profile (not-clunky) thin heeled sneakers/shoes definitely helps. Once you're more comfortable driving manual you can pretty much drive with anything on, from barefoot to construction boots.

If you're looking for driving shoes I recommend PUMA and Piloti (I Like the G16s). Very comfortable and they really make you feel confident with clutch operation/shifting.

 

Hmm, ill try the toe thing since thats likely. If that doesnt work, ill check into the driving shoes. Thanks!

 

Yeah, ditch the shoes!!!! And tell the shoe salesperson you have to test drive them first.

 

Yep, it was a foot placement issue. I moved my foot position up and pushed more with the toes and resolved the issue. I am enjoying the manual so much more.

 

Chucks or Vans, totally!
I started to place the top of foot on clutch and the heel on dead pedal, kinda like a Clutch Stop (http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/html_pr...stop/index.htm) after getting used to it shifts were much faster and smoother.

 

Well I wasn't satisfied with the dead pedal interference being my fault for foot placement. I found the pedal over to the right too far and so this was my first mod. I got about 1 inch more room and unless you measure the pedal you can't tell by looking:



Under the nice looking dead pedal is just a block of styrofoam. Unfortunately one large piece extends under the deadpedal and the other pedals. I just pulled at the line where the dead pedal starts and broke the strofoam free. Then with it out I cut off about 3/4 inch of the left side with the hacksaw. Here is the result with the cut shown of right side (block is upside down with break in upper left.






I didn't need to cut the top part that shows as I was able to push the whole carpet over to the left enough after replacing the narrow styrofoam.


Here is the original block before I narrowed it down: