[Tengocity]

I was a bit bored whilst driving today so decided that I would try left foot braking. There is a proper driving reason as I was thinking that being able to blip the throttle whilst braking in to tighter corners would be useful sometimes to keep the revs up and the engine/turbos nice and responsive when exiting.

In the past I've always found this very difficult to do, in large part I guess because years of driving manuals means the left foot is used to heavy presses on a clutch compared to the right foot on brake and throttle.

However, with not having had a manual for a couple of years, this seemed to be less of an issue now, and of course the softness/long travel at the top of the brake pedal in my 335d meant that it became even easier!

After just a few miles I became reasonably decent at it- certainly no moments of accidental emergency braking like has happened before. The pedal positions aren't really ideal but otherwise I think I could get very used to doing it. The further I drove the better I got, and perhaps because I was concentrating on it more I also felt that the brakes seemed absolutely perfect in bite and feel... or otherwise the brakes have been set up for drivers with wooden legs!

On the soft brakes issue which some of us have I wondered if it may be related to having adaptive cruise... perhaps the system works better with a longer/soft initial bite calibration? It's not everyone that complains of it, and a lot that do have adaptive cruise I think?

[teaston]

Nooooooooooo!

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by teaston

Nooooooooooo!

What?!

[teaston]

It's just wrong

[....,,,,..,,..]

Originally Posted by teaston

It's just wrong

There was me thinking Jus' was posting about left foot braking again....

[Kal101]

On the face of it wrong

But the more I think about it the more I can see your point

Why shouldn't you use your left foot yo brake

Provided you don't use both pedals at the same time unless trying to do a racing start

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by teaston

It's just wrong

What is? Left foot braking??

I accept it's pointless for most, but I felt very happy with myself today completing a journey only using my left foot to brake!

Not quite as cool as when I eventually got the hang of heel and toeing in my MX5

[Watsey]

Terry, I don't follow your logic. As you say, manual 'box drivers are used to their left foot operating a long and sometimes heavy clutch pedal. Using left foot to press hard & long on the brake pedal does not mean that the problem with brake travel/fee/bite has been cured.

If you're saying that the issues with long & soft pedal have been reduced, perhaps that's due to the extra heat generated by left foot braking, i.e. more frequent and longer duration braking through the corners. Unless the driver has REALLY mastered it there's a big risk associated with having to quickly swap to right foot to restore that instinctive control over braking in the event of an emergency.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Kal001

On the face of it wrong

But the more I think about it the more I can see your point

Why shouldn't you use your left foot yo brake

Provided you don't use both pedals at the same time unless trying to do a racing start

The main reason would be that the pedals aren't ideally placed!

But, we only have it like we do because of the clutch, so in the future when all cars only have a brake and throttle pedal then indeed why not?

Or, if we'd never needed clutches in the first place then it would make complete sense.

Anyway, a bit more practice and then I may experiment with seeing how to use it in a performance driving situation!

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Watsey

Terry, I don't follow your logic. As you say, manual 'box drivers are used to their left foot operating a long and sometimes heavy clutch pedal. Using left foot to press hard & long on the brake pedal does not mean that the problem with brake travel/fee/bite has been cured.

If you're saying that the issues with long & soft pedal have been reduced, perhaps that's due to the extra heat generated by left foot braking, i.e. more frequent and longer duration braking through the corners. Unless the driver has REALLY mastered it there's a big risk associated with having to quickly swap to right foot to restore that instinctive control over braking in the event of an emergency.

Ian, there is no logic, you're taking me far too literally!

Clearly the brakes haven't been cured, but the softness and travel means that the common issue of LFB in standing on them like ones does on a clutch and causing what seems like an emergency braking situation is made much easier to avoid. Hence I was much more confident of practising it in normal driving today, which has then made me generally much better in doing it after just an hour or so.

[dubdemand]

Go-kart style!!!

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Watsey

Unless the driver has REALLY mastered it there's a big risk associated with having to quickly swap to right foot to restore that instinctive control over braking in the event of an emergency.

This is always what put me off learning in the first place, but the lack of sharp bite means that insinctive control is actually quite quick. The first little suprise and I was tempted to swap over, but it went fine and then I was totally ok the rest of the way.

The bit I'd want to work on more is actually just maneuvering/parking etc, and then I'd want to try out a harder braking from high speed... today was just a pootle around.

[Quantox]

I've had auto's since '81 after cracking my left patella and have been LFB for donkey's year's without any issues. Once you're accustomed to it, it's even easy to swap feet during the braking phase without any noticeable variation in braking. It does become second nature.
Even when going for it, it's easy to judge both inputs and minimise any overlap but the more I think about it the more I'm unsure of when or if I may revert to RFB, in an emergency, perhaps.
Certainly, for reverse parking and short hill stop / start situations it's a very useful "feel" to acquire but initially you need to be very aware that the left foot, used to stabbing a clutch pedal, doesn't immediately have the braking finesse / sensitivity that years of RFB has developed in the right foot.

Cheers

Q

[rich100]

Originally Posted by Brigand

There was me thinking Jus' was posting about left foot braking again....

[NISFAN]

I bled my brakes this last weekend, and now have a firmer brake pedal.

.....and have done a few stints of LFB, but the steering column hurts my knee.

[Daftasabrush]

A woman pulled out in front of me at a roundabout a good few years ago and I was in an auto V40 T4, I used both feet to brake as hard as I could but still hit her. The shock that went up my left leg and into my back caused a back injury that still gives me painful spasms. I try to avoid left foot braking since then.