Sweet Spot
 

I have a question. I have a 2009 CY 7AT. I have had the car since September and overall I love my Z and I am %110 satisfied with my choice vehicle and everything. But I have a question about the gas peddle. I have owned quite a few cars in my 26 years on this earth. This car being the first with a floor mounted gas peddle though. Anywho most days my Z is a blast to drive and some days more of a hassle. I have a certain pair of shoes i wear more because i have too because if I dont wear these shoes when i drive the car doesn't feel as responsive. When I take off the car is slow and the transmission shifts kinda jerky like. When I have on my driving shoes as I like to call them and my foot and is on the peddle a certain way it is all good i take off the transmisson shifts smooth and feels peppy. I give it gas and it responds no matter how fast or slow I am going. And if I dont have the driving shoes on then it is the exact opposite. Does anyone else have this problem and if so has anyone found a solution. And before anyone post about my car being an automatic or anything smart or rude like that I am seriously looking for an answer to a problem that is making it difficult to enjoy my Z everytime I drive it.

I have an 7AT, and I don't know about a certain kind of sneaker being more responsive than the other, but i do feel a delay in the time i press the pedal to when the car takes off. Now if im wearing boots (which I think I have only once or twice in the Z) I noticed no delayed reaction, I think because the larger sole of the boot fully covering the pedal and depressing it rather than the tip of my sneaker usually depressing the pedal.

*Pedal

I haven't experienced this problem per se, but certainly I've found it easier to drive with proper shoes. Like if I'm wearing shoes with a thick sole, pedal feel is reduced. I haven't that reduced feel translate into a less responsive throttle like you have, but I could see how that might happen. My guess is that the reduced pedal feel is causing you to depress the accelerator either less, or slower, or both. That in turn causes the perception of reduced engine responsiveness. Now, I'm speculating, obviously. There's no way to know for sure without actually having some instrumented readings on your throttle positions when you're wearing different shoes.

I wasn't saying the sneaker makes the car more responsive. When I wear those sneakers my foots peddle placement makes the car more responsive.

Spelling has never been my strong point. But that makes sense thanks

Damn, if you can't drive AT smoothly.... :icon17: ;)

If you want to take care of that delay and make the car much responsive and alive feeling......UPREV!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I kind of get what your saying. If I'm wearing thin and light sneakers like my Kobe's I can feel the pedal better. The pedal doesn't change, the lighter thinner the sneaker the better overall feel and control you have over the pedal. This goes for a Manual also, just a better feel of the pedal. It's logic, heavier thicker the shoe, more pressure needed. Lighter and thinner the shoe, less pressure needed and more responsive on pedal. Think about racecar drivers, they have super thin and light shoes.

Almost all of the cars that I've owned have had a top pivot gas pedal. I found the bottom pivot pedal of the Z a bit of a problem at first. With a bottom pivot pedal you may need to reposition your foot a bit (compared to a top pivot pedal) to allow smoother operation of the pedal. Try putting the bottom of your heel on the floor at the pedal pivot point and position the ball of your foot on the center line of the pedal (the ball of your foot should now be centered somewhere on the upper half of the pedal) and operate the pedal with with a rocking motion pivoting on your heel. Only after I made this minor change did I realize that I had been operating the pedal by sort of laying my foot on the floor and placing my toe at the very bottom of the pedal (this allowed me to easily swing my foot between the brake and the gas without lifting my foot from the floor which is kind of nice in heavy traffic), which works fine on a top pivot pedal but sucks for a bottom pivot pedal and makes it difficult to smoothly modulate the pedal.

Just a thought.

Hmm.... I thought the thread was NSFW when I saw the title.

Carry on.

Bah, I just push the pedal to the floor with VDC off. I get the expected results every time!

In all seriousness I have zero issues with mine. Maybe you just need to adjust to your thicker shoes?

I've had a '12 370Z base/sport 7AT for about 10 days now, and I think I know exactly what you are talking about, because that's the way I was going to describe what I am experiencing so far, so you are not alone. I only wear either Skechers or sandals so I experience the symptom all the time. I was wondering if there were some kind of problem with the tranny but I think that maybe that's just the way it is with that trans' design. I'm thinking that maybe it has something to do with the variable valve timing/fuel squeezing goals. It might have even happened when I test drove another Z before I bought the car, but I'm just not sure. Anyway, I think I'll mention it to the dealer and ask him to let me drive a different one just to be sure it is a common condition.

Were you wearing this when you say you cannot feel the gas pedal:

Back to the topic, the thickness and the softness of the out-sole play a big role on the pedal-feel.

If you try a pair of racing shoes, thin and soft out-sole, you can feel then pedal very good thus you know how much you are pressing on it.

Then try a pair of running shoes, you'll lose at least 60% of the feel compare to the racing shoes, you can still feel some because the out-sole of the running shoes is soft.

Imagine wearing a pair of thick industrial gloves and a pair of latex gloves.

But the more you drive the faster you get used to it.

Just a matter of getting used to it. :tiphat:

Is it harder or easier to heel-toe in the 370Z because of the gas-pedal design?

I too wear certain shoes for driving. Piloti for me.

Guard Dad has it absolutely right. The unusual bottom pivot on the accelerator does pose problems unless you reposition your foot just like he says, so the ball of the foot is at or near the top. That way, take off is much, much smoother, no jumpy delays.

I have an '07 Infiniti G that poses exactly the same problem. Bought my son a 370Z; lucky for him he learned to drive, a stick no less, on my G.

The 350z gas pedal is not floor-mount, BMW is floor-mount and so does the 370z.

I use the forefoot to do heel-toe(left part on brake and right part on gas) on all those three cars, I found the condition is the distance between the gas&brake pedal, and the level or the two.

Again, it's a matter of taking time to get used to it.

Only experience here is in a 'vette. I did not try to heel-toe the 370Z I test-drove. Wonder how they compare.

here is similar to how I heel-toe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sduMmQL1OVs

I lift my heel/pivot more than this guy, though. That is how I "begin" the maneuver, by fully taking my heel off the mat. That is the technique we were taught at Spring Mountain, so I stuck with it.

Looks like the gas-pedal on the vette is top-mount.

What I've heard, if you do use your toe on brake and heel on gas, then the floor mount gas pedal is better suitable.

I tried both myself when I first learn the concept and I chose using my forefoot to heel-toe eventually, that was when I was driving the BMW which is a floor mount gas pedal, I found it's easier than using my heel.

BTW, do you use your heel on the gas pedal when heel-toe??

Sorry, I quick-edited on you.

1/2 my shoe stays on the brake, the heel comes up off the floorboard, I angle the foot at about 40-45*, and roll my ankle, blipping the accelerator with the "pad" on my Piloti driving shoe. This is how I was taught at Spring Mountain, and the shoes look like they were designed with it in mind.

We were taught we get a maximum of 3 blips before needing to re-position as the foot tends to slide off the brake. Side-pressure against the brake can help alleviate this.

I am sure there are many different ways to accomplish the same thing, but this is how I was taught.

Text book style: Toe on Brake and Heel on Gas :tup:

I believe both ways can handle both types of pedal.

I don't know all, but 99% of the race car driver are using the method that you learn.

I had the benefit of being CLUELESS about driving on a track until I went to Spring Mountain. No crappy habits to un-learn.

:iagree:
I was going to say the same thing

:wtf2: How did you know lol

Thanks Gaurd Dad tried out your method this morning on a short trip to the grocery store. And to make sure it actually worked i used a thicker sole shoe and it worked like a charm. :tiphat: I tip my hat to you sir

How much would an uprev tune cost? I have a few more parts I want to add, but when it is all finished, I want to get it tuned so they all work together properly.

i do the side of foot blip on these 'organ' pedals as i call it. im use to this type since i had a MINI in the past. but in my Z i dont really need to since it can blip for me.

but even in my G with traditional pedals i use the side of foot to blip since im not going that fast on street in traffic anyways and just needs 4k or so of blip under normal braking. it's clumsy to swing your heel around under light braking.

OP: You said This car being the first with a floor mounted gas peddle though.

Have you had hand controls prior to this? My Brother in law is in a wheel chair and drove his AT 300ZX for years this way.

If this is the case, you just might need practice, while gaining sensitivity.

mt tam- i think he's talking about the pivot point... :confused:

Thank you.

Pivot point on the floor, thus the pedal is floor mounted.

I found it harder to "heel" the gas pedal when the pedal is floor mounted cos the heel has to press near the pivot point which is stiffer.

That's why I use the right part of my forefoot to blip the gas.

Again, both way do the same as long as the downshift is done smoothly.

But regarding the concern from OP, I believe the thickness and material of the shoes play a big role of how we can 'feel' the pedal. :driving:

yah, i know exactly wat you mean because ive already experienced this since 9yrs ago when i bought my 2003 cooper-s. it had the floor pivot type 'organ' pedal.

shoe thickness changes does make it difficult to hit the sweet spot on the clutch at times, but he's driving AUTOMATIC. :icon17:

as i was reading through this, i thought you were driving stick. i have this problem at times. when i leave my house to pick up a pack of smokes, i would rock my sandals. with the sandals on, its a lot harder for me to balance the gas and clutch and would sometimes jerk around when shifting. Then again, this is with a manual transmission. I dont see why you would have issues with a 7AT.

Shoes will make a huge difference. In my kart, I usually wear my Piloti kart shoes. One day I was just going out for a couple laps to test something out so kept my Vans on. It was pretty much impossible to drive. Went from a thin, stiff sole to a thick, cushy one and literally coudn't keep it on the track becasue my acceleration points and braking points were all thrown off.

With a pedal as stiff (which makes it sensitive) as on a Z, you get the same issues.

I am having the problem because it is a floor mounted pedal. And most cars come with a top mounted pedal. I have only owned and drove cars that have been top mounted pedals. And that includes manual and Automatic. As Gaurd Dad posted earlier and it actually helped a lot was that they operate differently and it was the placement of my heel as well as the ball of my foot. Thanks for your interest though

So then a thin stiff soled shoe would give me a better feel of the pedal and better operation of the pedal?

it's not just the stiffness, you will want to look at thinness and rounded heel.

the rounded heel brings big improvement if you dont have such shoes yet.


i personally run piloti's on my Z, sketchers type casual shoes and dress-slippers that have rounded heels in my G during the week.

i can still manage to drive in snow shoes/boots though while it is a tad clumsy. :)

I had no problem with the 370's gas pedal when I first drove it, it was the clutch sensation (or lack of) that surprised me.

I went from a floor mounted to a top mounted then back to a floor mounted.

I don't find myself have problem using them because of the difference of the pivot point, but yes, it does take a bit of time to adjust my heel-toe.

In your case with AT, it will be more simple to adjust.

What makes the difference on your 'feel' on the gas pddal are mostly: The type of your shoes And the stiffness of the pedal.



Simply: Yes

CAD$0.02

Very agree. Removed helper spring and dramatically improved.