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Ok, I'll hold off on mods, I owe my dad money any ways.

When I bought the car each tire was a different one. But now I have the Yokohama S drives (205/55R16), doubt those are OEMS but the rims are. I just did a tire rotation so the ones on the back now barely touch Lincoln's hair (3mm) and the ones I have in the front go past it almost touch his hair line (4mm). I got these tires back in May of last year.

I just looked it up right now, the OEM tires are Yokohama Advan A680s, size 205/50R16, which cost $126 per tire on www.tirerack.com. The tires you're using are actually a little cheaper at $95, though it's rated as an "ultra high performance summer tire" (as opposed to the OEM tires being "high performance summer tires"). The Tire Rack's online surveys have owners ranking the S.Drives much higher than the A680s. Was there a particular reason why you went with a taller tire, whether it was you or your dad who picked the tires?

I picked the tires myself, my dad doesn't get to make any more decisions regarding my car (long and messed up story). When I went to the tire shop they only had the 55s available and I really couldn't afford to wait for 50s because all four tires looked like they were going to burst, one had a big old crack along the side. I'm assuming the 50s are better since the car will be lower?

The ride height has little to do with it, and you wouldn't really notice it. It's the gearing that comes into play, since your car's gearing is mated to a specific tire height, and going up or down can throw it off, unless you know what you're doing. For example, in Evos, most quarter-mile runs end with us being right at the top of fourth gear, which tops out at 106-107 mph, given the car's factory gearing. However, as owners mod their cars further and are moving faster toward the end of the quarter, they will probably have the speed to trap higher than fourth gear normally goes, so it would necessitate a shift into fifth gear to exploit the extra mph for your trap speed, but shifting into fifth at that point would cause a moment of deceleration (since you're shifting again and letting off of the gas), which sucks since the shift occurs so close to the end of the run. Going with taller tires can allow owners a compromise, riding out fourth and exploiting some extra mph without needing to shift to fifth while keeping all of your velocity. Sounds like a good idea, right?

Not always. First of all, your speedometer will be off... not drastically, but it's still something to consider. In your particular scenario, when your speedometer reads 60 mph, you're actually going 62.0 mph since your speedometer would be reading 3.4% too slow (calculated at http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html). But more importantly, with a taller (and probably heavier) tire makes your engine do more work to keep the wheels spinning, which may be noticed when accelerating from a standstill or from much slower speeds. It's not a huge deal for cars with a lot of torque, but your car makes most of its twisting force very high in the rev range, so you might feel the sluggishness more than, say, a Mustang GT owner would with taller tires. Also, taller tires have the potential of flexing its sidewalls more (assuming we're talking about the same tires), which can be noticed during hard cornering.

Mind = Blown

Where can I learn stuff like this? I go to Wikipedia, howstuffworks, and newcelica.org

Wikipedia is alright for learning specs, but not much beyond that, especially since random people can add stuff to an entry (though people who actually do know their stuff will usually correct it, as I have done in the past with various entries). Howstuffworks is good for learning the basics of how some things work, but very rarely does it get into things as deeply as you'd hope. For example, it tells you the basics of how LSDs work and the concept behind it, but it doesn't include more recently applications involving the evolution of such technology. Try autozine, I used to go there: http://www.autozine.org/technical_school/tech_index.html (their stuff is not 100% up-to-date, but it's good enough to have an understanding the technology used these days). A lot of the other stuff just comes from listening to people talk from experience. You can't really learn that from one website from one read.

THANKS A LOT! You're the man!

This is probably a really stupid question but I rather ask it than make a stupid mistake with my car.

Is heel and toeing really the preferred method at higher RPMs? I can understand why it's useful in city driving at lower RPMs, keeps you in the appropriate gear, saves a lot of time and when done right it's very smooth.

However, there's turn at a canyon I frequent where I'm having some issues. There's a high speed corner where I can exit at the top of third gear (literally near the redline) followed right after by a sharp left. I know from taking the high speed corner slowly that my best speed on the sharp left has me around the top of second. There's enough of a straightaway in between the two turns for me to brake and heel and toe, thus keep a smooth fast line.

My problem is the brief moment when I hit neutral while heel and toeing. The tachometer no longer shows me my RPMs. Because I still feel like I'm going fast (not too fast for the turn) I'm unsure where the RPMs will be at if I go into 2nd although I want to be above 4k at the very least. My fear is I'll bypass the rev limiter in the downshift. So what I've done is continue braking in 3rd until I'm really low and go into 2nd. This is too slow and messes up my line as well as putting me under the range I'm going for.

How can I tell where I'll be approximately when I do the downshift? I'm having trouble finding the right spot to land into 2nd. Also in this current situation, if I decided to just heel and toe into 2nd without hesitation, the blip would require me to push the throttle heavily for a brief second. Is the within the acceptable range of blipping the throttle? Sorry if things aren't clear, I'm having a lot of trouble trying to explain this in a concise manner.

How can you tell? Experiment. Get to where you should be in 2nd and shift up, see where you end up in 3rd. Then if you want to do it without looking at the tach, memorize what that RPM sounds like so you can do it by ear.

Alternatively, if you can find out what the gear ratios are for your tranny, you can math it out.

I don't really get the complication in this scenario. You're only in neutral for a split second. Your tach does show you your rpms as they fall, since you disengaged from third gear. What rpm you should blip to is something that you should figure out within a try or two, though it's nothing that we can give you advice about since we don't drive your car or know its stock gearing.

Even if you don't blip into the right rpm, when you downshift, the engine's rpms will go to where they should be, though it won't be smooth since you're not blipping it into the perfect spot, but it will be an indication of where it should be.

There is no actual "acceptable range of blipping the throttle," within reason. You can blip the throttle to redline if going to a much lower gear from a much higher one, though of course you'll have to ask yourself if it's worth dropping down to that gear if you're in it for only a short time, or if it's too short to give you the acceleration and speed that you need in that situation. To elaborate on this, I'll give an example with my car since I'm familiar with it.

The way my car is geared, second will top out right at 60 mph, maybe 61 or 62, by redline (7000 rpm). Hypothetically speaking, let's say that the proper entry speed into that corner is a little above 55 mph (approximately 6500 rpm in second gear, or 4500 in third). Second gear wouldn't be too bad of a choice since it's at an rpm where most of the hp is made, but I personally wouldn't choose it since I'd be too close to redline (or bouncing off of it) if I were to try to accelerate through the corner (and also out of it). I'm no expert, but I would rather be in third gear since at that rpm, it's still in the sweet spot (as peak torque hits at 3500 rpm), and I won't need to worry about wasting time shifting, plus I can continue to accelerate through the corner while being able to stomp on the gas at the exit. In second, I'd have to shift right at the exit.

So first of all, figure out your car's powerband and where you'd be at in both gears and if it would make sense to be in one gear rather than the other. You can blip a throttle to as high as you want (assuming you're not going straight to redline). Is third gear too high to use in that corner?

Not too much more to add than what has already been said. For those who use it, heel and toe is the preferred method of downshifting at any rpm for any speed. Keep in mind the only reason you do the "heel toe" part of a downshift is because its typicaly the fastest/easiest way to downshift smoothly.

As for how to tell where youll be roughly when you downshift, experience. Its jut something you pick up on the more you do it, so keep trying, keep experimenting, and youll soon figure it out.

Dude, if you ever attend a Socal meet I would love to try to run against you. I know I'll get my ass handed to me, but in all my topics asking for help your replies definitely imply you're a racer that pushes himself and his car to the limit. I'd love to see driving like that in person. I know if I upshift at the redline I'll land around 6000 RPMs in the next higher gear (which is where lift kicks in). I'm assuming from what you're telling me that downshifting at 6k will put me at the redline. I'll try downshifting at 4000 rpm on my way to work tomorrow morning and go from there.

The complication arises because I'm new to this type of driving, lack experience and understanding, so it's hard for me to explain myself.

As far as my powerband is concerned.. Lift is from 6000-7800 RPM.
At 4k is when torque starts to kick but you really feel it around 5k.

When I drive through canyons I try to stay in lift the entire time (this canyon is really short so I'm not too worried about it). I can take the curve in 3rd but since it's less than 90 degrees I'd have to slow down to lower RPM.. 2nd gear is so much faster on this corner. Also I forgot to mention that this is is going up hill, so every bit of torque matters to me especially since I still have the same tires as last time. Taking this corner in second sets me up better for the next part of the course.

You and me should meet up again some time soon, with more 1 on 1 driving and some q and a, not just some demonstration.

Ha Ha, sounds like Takumi teaching Iketani how to drive. I'm down though as long as it's not near a midterm, just let me know when you're in town. I don't know how many questions I'd have at that moment since they come at different times.

If that's the case, then it seems like you just need to practice your heel-toe to do it more quickly. There's really no complication, go through the first corner in third, then in the straight, accelerate until before the corner, brush off some speed, drop into second, and drive.

I find it a little strange to recieve driving advice like this from.

I've always found the best way to learn is more seat time and just building up experience. It's like learning to walk and then to run.

Right on Demon. Apart from being told how to do something/ having a simple theory explained, and maybe seeing it once, after that I just went out to practice it and never looked back.

Like heel and toe for example, my mate Luka showed me what heel and toeing was, once, (he couldnt even do it properly), but I just took what he showed me, tried it for myself, felt how the car was reacting, whether it was smooth or jerky... listened to the engine....

I think some people need to spend less time on forums discussing stuff like this, and more time actually driving their cars and using their brains.... Its not rocket science...its just driving

Just my 2 cents

Thats becase you dont like to think But you're right, experience easily one of the biggest factors, but theres nothing wrong with having proper knowledge to help guide your experience so you learn even faster and in the end (hopefully) better.

Heck, I've heard people talking about heel and toe this, and heel and toe that.

I always assumed it was this big special thing that I never knew how to do.

Turns out I've been doing a variation of it for a long time now. It was only after I spoke with DJmisio that I discovered this and the learned how to do the ACTUAL heel and toe - even then, it wasn't any 1 on 1 thing. It was mentioned during conversation and I tried it, and it worked better than what I've always been doing.

So yeah, some guidance is nice. But only some.

LOL, hilarious that I've unknowingly been doing heel and toe. Haha..

This post has been edited by WRX DEMON Type R on Sep 8 2009, 08:29 PM

heel-toe isnt really all that hard as everyone says. the best way to learn honestly is to watch a video of it being done...i recommend tsuchiya, then get into your car with the car off, and get the footing down for doing it. over and over, then turn on the car put it in nuetral and repeat, then put the car into gear, find a nice OPEN place and try it. nothing but practice will make you better at it. goodluck.

i do it for fun coming to a stop heel-toe through each gear, and before turns..the more you practice, the easier it becomes. its also easier with cars that have closer pedals. IE pedal setups with the gas bloser to the brake. the ae86 naturally has this so its easier.

I don't know about your first suggestion, but this is definitely a good way to try it, and I do it too from time time or when im just not engine braking normally.

The remedial process of it, no, but using applying it for what it's used for, very hard. Threshold braking itself is quite difficult, but adding in an element where part of your foot is doing something completely different makes the process entirely complicated. People who drive competitively w/out abs know this all too well.

As you're coming in hot to a corner, you have to:
-Concentrate as you spot the point at which you begin threshold braking.
-Carefully depress the pedal, while paying close attention to how the car is acting at the given point and then decide how much more to press while your car is dying to lock up.
-No tarmac is the same, even on a single track, and throughout the day, the track itself changes with ground temperature and collection of rubber from the days participants. On your morning runs, if you think you have everything down, you really dont, because the afternoon will bring a totally different atmosphere. This causes even more concentration diversion from your next task.
-While modulating your threshold, you now have to relocate part of your foot, press down with a totally different force to blip the throttle.The forces must be separate so you do not destroy your braking line. Using unnecessary force from the blipping on the brake and you can either upset the balance of your car, or lock your brakes.
-Transfer from braking gradually into working the throttle after apex.

All of this takes place in a matter of seconds and there is nothing easy about it. If you've ever tried to cut time on a track or at an autocross, you'd know. It's a completely different process than using it while putt-putting around the streets.

Well most of us here don't go autoxing and only use heel-toe for smoother downshifts during day to day driving.

Also, I think xsleepdrifterx was referring to the step-by-step process of heel-toe, not applying it to track runs/autox.

Hence the first half of my initial sentence.

And thus explains the beauty of seeing someone using heel-toe properly.