6MT and the right pair of shoes
 

When I first got my G37S, I was pretty much clunking everywhere. My GF was a bobblehead due to this and said I need to man up and learn how to drive the car properly.

I usually wear athletic type shoes. Some adidas bounce, nike shox, air force ones, and some other random assorted shoes.

After I got the hang of the car a bit more, I found my self clunking a lot more in certain pairs of shoes. It didn't dawn on me that shoes with thicker soles were either muting more feeling from the clutch (not that it really gives us any to begin with) or giving me slightly more travel that it was causing me to inadvertently mess up.

I've since found that shoes like nike tennis classics, or any thinner-soled tennis shoe...adidas has a bunch, and soccer type shoes like the Air Gatos work really well for me. These weren't my preferred type of shoes before but I find myself going for them just because of the way it changes my control of the clutch. I hate wearing any type of dress shoe in the car.

Anyway, just my random observation. I was shoe agnostic when I drove an automatic, but now my behavior with the 6MT in wanting smooth shifts + clutch longevity has definitely affected my shoe choices.

Maybe it's just me... :wtf2:

I like bare-foot but it's hard to heel-toe. Picked up a pair of Pilotis that are awesome. The worst for me are a pair of leather soled dress shoes...like driving with concrete bricks on my feet.

I tried the car with a pair of Geox, can't say at had any problem clutching. I do think it would be a problem with a pair of running shoes cause of the fact the pedals are so close to each other. Whereas I don't have any problems driving my 6Spd manual Audi A3 with fat sports shoes.

My Favs:

http://www.home-gym-bodybuilding.com...-all-stars.jpg

For normal-to-mildly spirited driving, I'm pretty much a shoe agnostic. I've been driving a manual since I got my license, and I've spent significant time driving in traffic in a pair of thick work boots, skate shoes, etc... all that provide literally zero feel. Took a little time to get used to, but I've no issue now running the car in just about anything.

For something crazy, I've got a couple pairs of Piloti's around here somewhere. I'll break them out whenever I've got the time to put the Z through it's paces.

puma makes some pretty good shoes for driving, even outside of their racing shoes.

i wear shoes with rounded heel when driving MT cars. even for work i wear leather slippers with the heels rounded since my dd is MT. for business meetings i take another pair of leather shoes.

for motoring my Z and G, i wear piloti's. i have several pairs but not all pairs fit well... so there's some trial and error to be done.

Really popular on the drift scene:
http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strol...ocs%20suck.JPG

matches your brake calpers, jeff! :D

I have a pair of Puma Drift Cats that are very nice for when I know all I'm doing is going out for a drive or hitting up the track. Otherwise it doesn't matter.

I have had trouble with dress shoes as well. I have big feet and they tend to be too big when managing the pedals. I agree with Zaggeron, Chucks are the best.

Ouch! No foolin'. Barefoot means SRM. Dress Shoes are tougher to heel toe in but I rarely wear them. OP's Nike solution works for me.

Yes but do they come in bright colors?

im a tad shorter than my fiancee, so i bought some shoes with large soles so that when she wears heels, im not being towered over, and they were a bitch to drive in. I just got used to them and there is no issue anymore. these were boots btw.

as far as smooth driving its all practice and shoe type should make absolutly no difference of how smooth you drive.
With enough practice you will drive smooth with any type of shoe or without a shoe. Adjustments with different shoes should not take more than going through couple of gears.

As far as fast driving such as using heel-n-toe, shoes have everything to do with it... but not for smooth driving.

same here, my fav shoes. they're even good for running, very good feedback. gonna pick myself up another pair later on just in case these wear out.

I always have that happen..and then find the shoe has been changed/discontinued by the time I try and buy a new pair...:shakes head:

:iagree:

I have them in tan suede but dirtied them up thinking it was a good idea to work on the car with them. :icon17:

Should order another pair tonight...

Bare foot with my auto trannie

I agree my favorite also.

Oddly, my pair of rubber-soled and long broken in cowboy boots work fairly well and have always been comfortable, I usually only wear those to work. I can even hell-toe in them when I need to hill start. When I'm just out and about or on my way to a meet or whatever, a pair of color-matched Piloti Prototipos used to be my fun shoes, which don't fit quite as well as my new Piloti AVUS'es.

Chucks for driving, Chucks for dancing, Chucks for work, Chucks for hanging out, Chucks for walking, Chucks for dates, Chucks for life.

:iagree:

Boat Shoes (specifically Sperrys)! I love driving with them on. The sole is so thin I can feel everything in the clutch and makes it much easier to drive smoothly.

Chucks for zero arch support. ;)


Jokes aside, it's not your shoes making you clunk. Practice makes perfect. That said I'm gonna check out those Pumas.

:tup:

I love Sperry's for driving in. The closest thing to dress shoes that I would wear on a canyon run.

I find that if I don't cut my toe nails for 6 months, I can make smoother shifts. My nails grip the inside soles of my shoes so my feet don't move about as much. This makes for better shifting. Is there a "It worked for me" thread where I can post this?

lol. Actually though most people don't need arch support in their shoes ... especially roomy shoes like Chucks that let your foot spread out.

See Myth # 5 in this link

http://www.transcendbodywork.com/Cor...20patients.pdf

Rainbow sandals FTW! (They're all I wear now, living at the beach.) Any time I need to wear shoes now, I feel so disconnected from the pedals.

:iagree: I have a wide variety of colors, as well as leather .......... but they have to be high tops!

My wife has a pair of the low cut ones!

I don't leave home without 'em:

http://www.ottawamagazine.com/wp-con...-fathers-1.jpg

They give a great feel to the clutch and enable me to be smooth. Although sometimes I feel a heavier shoe makes clutch action a bit easier (more force behind to kick it) when you're trying to shift very quickly.

http://www.besportier.com/archives/rainbow-sandals.jpg

Yeah. I wear my Rainbows (the ones pictured are NOT mine, just a reference picture haha) ~360 days out of the year. Either that, or I go barefoot. :tup:

I generally like to wear shoes with thin soles since I feel the pedals better.

I always amuse myself when I push the throttle with just my big toe down

rockport boots with thin soles are your friend

Chucks are definitely my favorite to begin with. I noticed too, like most, that dress shoes suck to drive in. However, most of the time I wear boots to drive my car because of the military job.

haha...I drive with my rainbows on sometimes, but they're definitely not as easy to drive with IMO

Adidas Samba's are all you will ever need, nuff said.

I don't know how you guys drive our tractor clutch with sandals.