Left foot braking on the street = good

"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures)
11/11/2019 at 11:20 • Filed to: None

aka time to start an argument in the comments

DISCUSSION (9)

JustAnotherG6 > Dusty Ventures
11/11/2019 at 11:48

I switch between left and right foot braking. Mostly, b/c my lower back and hips hate me.

thejustache > Dusty Ventures
11/11/2019 at 11:53

The youtube comments on that one were pretty fun. I’ll come out and say it - since I learned LFB about 5 years or so I do use it a lot on the street. Not really driving to work or anything, but if I’m taking a fun drive on the twisty back roads around here or there is bad weather I’ll probably break it out.

I don’t think anything else has revolutionized the way I drive quite as much as when the idea of weight transfer started to click. Not that I’m in any way claiming to have mastered driving, but it had real world impacts. On curvy roads at speeds that before would leave tires starting to squeal, I can keep things feeling settled and the tires quiet. The quicker reaction time for braking has helped a few times with deer. If I want to step the back out in snow around a tight corner I can initiate it. It just feels safer and more in control .

The negative comment that I saw with perhaps the most truth to it was ‘if you’re left foot braking on the street you’re going too fast’. I suppose that might be true (although some roads here are twisty enough where you can LFB around turns and raise your average speed yet still be under the legal limit). T hat seems more like a complaint about speeding on the street than about LFB in general though ...

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > Dusty Ventures
11/11/2019 at 11:53

Things That Irritate Me: The pedal position in our 2019 Hyundai Kona is *PERFECT* for heel-toe with feet my size, but it is not available with a manual transmission in North America (no manual with AWD in any market) :P

/yes i realize that has nothing to do with LFB, but this just reminded me

(it does seem that LFB (or heel-toe) can be used to fool the shift logic in the Hyundai 7-speed DCT into down- shi fting in situations that it would normally try to upshift...)

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Dusty Ventures
11/11/2019 at 11:59

Advanced driving techniques always have their applications on the street. I’ve gone as far as utilizing a full on pendulum turn to make a 90 degree turn onto a road going up a big ass hill in the middle of a blizzard. Drivers ed instructor (and former autocrosser) who was egging me on from the passenger seat was quite impressed I actually managed to get up that hill.

Resting your left foot on the brake like some people do is just a way to needlessly wear your brakes and confuse the people following you.

Mercedes Streeter > Dusty Ventures
11/11/2019 at 12:13

I’ll just leave the caveat of “...if you’re already an educated driver.”

I would never trust my senior citizen mother to driv e with two feet. She already has to think about basic things like remembering to stop at a red light (I’m not kidding) and she already confuses the accelerator for the brake. Guarantee with two feet driving she’ll have to sit and process which foot does what, which will absolutely mean she’ll run even more lights.

I can drive with two feet, but like most enthusiasts on Oppo and Jalopnik I’m already better than the average American driver, so of course we’re going to be biased.

Shift24 > Dusty Ventures
11/11/2019 at 12:20

Like I said on the front page. I only always do it for my truck.

Mainly cause the gas pedal at normal height is 2-3" deeper than the brake. And with it being a rust belt vehicle, I have a brake line go out on me. So I’d rather k now that milli-second early that I don’t have brakes or need to pump.

The others I play with when I'm not in heavy traffic but not always. More so in my manual.

smobgirl > Dusty Ventures
11/11/2019 at 12:21

No problem with it as long as the driver removes their foot from the brake pedal when not using it.

Urambo Tauro > Dusty Ventures
11/11/2019 at 12:28

I think it’s important to distinguish that LFB is being presented here as an advanced driving technique, and that the advice is being directed towards attentive people who actually care about their driving and are interested in improving. It is not necessarily saying “hey everybody should do this”. There are already too many people who habitually perform a sloppy version of LFB without reaping any of the aforementioned benefits, and they make traffic worse for themselves and for the rest of us.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Dusty Ventures
11/11/2019 at 13:32

I’ve certainly used it to get my fwd car to rotate on slick roads, it works pretty well. Also an offroad hack if you have open diff’s a little “little” brake can help put power down if you have a wheel in the air.