MichaelB

On the last forum, someone talked about proper heel-and-toe techniques. Now I am really confused! The post mentioned that on a heel-and-toe downshift, the car is put in neutral? I think they also mentioned that the clutch was put in, taken out (with car in neutral), put in, and taken out again (with car in gear) during a heel-and-toe downshift?<p><br>I have always had the car in gear, put in the clutch, downshifted, hit the throttle to match revs with the right side of my heel, let the clutch out.<p>Am I going about this all wrong? Help!<p>Mike

Cameron

Double clutching is the process of going through neutral and having the lever gated in a neutral position during a shift with the clutch out (partially or fully). Double clutching is (most legitimately) used when synchros in the transmission fail and double clutching is the only way to get in or out of a given gear cleanly.<p>Heel-toeing is a method shifting that uses some amount of pressure on both the brake and accelerator during the shift in order to raise engine speed to a speed appropriate for the target gear, and is more often used in everyday driving than double clutching.<p>At least that was always my impression...<p>Cameron<br>

Ash

You described heel & toe properly...double clutching on the other hand is shifting out of a gear, letting out the clutch (while in neutral), revving the engine to match revs to the lower gear you're going to, and then putting it in gear....if done properly, this results in very smooth shifts AND it saves your synchros! If you do it this way, you'll notice that it's much easier to slip the shifter into the lower gear, because the synchro doesn't have to do any work for you.....<p>There is a really good website that describes all of this in EXCRUTIATING detail...he even describes what is happening in terms of the mechanicals....<p>Check it out at: http://home.earthlink.net/~rponiarski/shifting.htm<p>Happy shifting...<br>-Ash 98.5 1.8TQMS

Drew S.

I will probably screw up this explanation, but here goes!<p>Your goal, of course, is to have a smooth downshift without unsettling the car. Your current method works because your transmission has synchos that handle some of the work for you. When you have your clutch pedal pressed to the floor, and you are changing gears, part of the transmission is still spinning with the engine, and part of it is spinning with the wheels. When you blip the throttle to try to match revs, the transmission is not completely free, because it's not in neutral.<p>If you had a car without synchos, you would have to double-clutch to pull off this maneuver. Some people prefer double-clutching because it reduces wear and tear on the synchros.<p>What is double-clutching? Just as it sounds, it's using the clutch twice to make the downshift. First you press the clutch and pull the tranny out of gear into neutral. Next, release the clutch pedal and then blip the throttle to match revs. Finally, press the clutch pedal again, shift into the lower gear, and release the clutch pedal. This sequence of events allowed you to blip the throttle while the tranny was in neutral, and this somehow reduces the wear on the synchros.<p>And, of course, do all of this in the correct order and in the same amount of time that it takes you to shift as you do now! Good luck!<p>I can explain this a little, but I quickly get lost and probably can't answer questions well. Hopefully someone will shed more light on this and correct any mistakes I made.<p>By the way, I've tried to do it and given up on it.<p>Drew S.<br>

Ray Calvo

For minimal wear on the synchros, double clutching along with heel-&-toe is best. To me, is asking for a lot out of my boxdy in about a second. I heel-&-toe, but don't doouble clutch.<p>ON A4, have to adjust my heel-&-toe procedure to be instep on brake while I blip throttle with my toe. Porsche needs standard method of toe on brake, heel blip gas.

Rich B

Here is a comment from a guy who used to road rally/ road race back in the '60s when these techniques were needed. Double clutching is needed when your synchros are weak or when you don't want them to get that way. Heal and toe is used during down shifting in a race environment thusly. That is; You are coming into a curve, you need to down shift with double clutch but also need to brake. One part of the foot does the braking while the other does the throttle "Blip". Which end of you foot does which job depends on relative height of the pedals when the brake is down hard and/or depende on personnal preference.<p> These days the double clutching is generally not needed as the synchros are a lot better than they were then. Heal and toeing is only needed on the track.