[Wildbillndesert]

I picked up my Elise yesterday at Desert European, and had a big surprise.

I wear a 13EEE shoe, and I was barely able to drive the car home. I have to tilt my right foot so that it will not hit the brake pedal when I step on the gas. Needless to say, this is very uncomfortable and totally unacceptable.

No way will I change shoes every time I drive the car, and even if i did, there is no assurance that any shoes would be narrow enough. I may look into moving the pedals, or even redesigning, and re-manufacturing them.

Any Brits out there have the hot tip for this problem?

The car is everything it is cracked up to be in every other respect. The exhaust has a nice rap to it, similar to old British and Italian sports cars, not too loud to be annoying, just right. The steering is very precise and a little heavy when standing still or parking, but not a problem though. The leather smells good, and the aroma fills up my entire garage.The inside is real nice. I was surprised, nice small steering wheel, nice dash, nice red leather on the door panels. The gear shifter is a little stiff, but I am sure it will loosen up after a little use. My Porker 911 (996)was the same way, and it turned out to be a beautiful shifter.

 

[_JD_]

Wildbill,

Do you have some pictures? Are the wheels in your avatar photoshopped, or did you get different ones? Oh yeah- pics!

Jim

 

[zvezdah1]

WB,
As wide as your feet are you're probably going to have to get some type of narrow soled shoe, like a piloti, these are driving shoes, but they don't really have the boy racer look and are acceptable for casual wear. I only wear 12 normal widths and it's tough with nikes, that's why I went with driving shoes, for me it makes the experience much more enjoyable than worrying about hitting to pedals at once.

In view of your 13EEEEEEEE...... shoes, I think you should rename yourself to WIDEBILL???

Chris

 

[Sownman]

Now feet is my strong suit. I may be too poor, too old, too fat, too tall, and too ugly, but I wear 8 1/2 shoes.

try asking your pedal questions at

http://www.seloc.org/

British Lotus site where bigfoot guys have several years
of experience solving the issues.


Congrats on the car, I hope you can work out your pedal problems.


Steve

 

[Wildbillndesert]

nahh _JD_ These are Kodiak pics photshopped.

I am unsure what wheels I will get SRS Comp or Kodiaks.

Both are lighter than my stockers, and I do not want to mess with the delicate spring/mass settings which Lotus Engineering has carefully modeled on their extremely sophistocated software.

I am told that Lotus does not recommend putting A048 tires on the standard suspension, so I'm not sure about replacing wheels with lighter ones.

 

[Wildbillndesert]

Now feet is my strong suit. I may be too poor, too old, too fat, too tall, and too ug

Thanks for the hot tip Steve. I will look into it.

Until then, I guess only my wife can drive the car LOL.

 

[MattG]

Special shoes are definitely a good idea. I first test drove the Elise with some cross trainers, size 10.5. Barely had clearance to the brake pedal when on the gas, and couldn't use the dead pedal at all. Next test drive, wore Puma Speedcats (casual driving shoe available from Nordstroms), so much better. Plenty of clearance for the right foot, and easily able to use the dead pedal for my left.

 

[maxxfish]

Bill,

I wear 13's as well, and I tried out the Elise last week in my Pumas. They were fine, and Pumas look damn sexy, too! Max.

 

[kbob]

I wear a 13EEE shoe, and I was barely able to drive the car home.

My feet are 13AAA. I couldn't get my left Reebock onto the dead pedal at all, and only had about a millimeter of clearance between the center tunnel and the brake pedal. So I wore these driving shoes during my test drive.

kbob

 

[Vantage]

A good pair of driving shoes will solve your problem judging by how much room you have with your shoe-less feet. You shouldn't have any problem and it's possible to not tip off people that you are wearing driving shoes either.

If you want something to blend into casual work clothes, go for a leather moc. Bloomingdales/Nordstrom-like stores carry brands like ToBoot, Metropolitan, Geox, and Cole Haan that all produce good driving shoes. Probably others too. ~$75-150. Upscale malls may carry Todds, but only if you want to spend a lot.

If you want something really casual, then Puma, Asics, and Piloti recommendations may also work. I suspect it depends on the model, but some could be too wide so be careful. Measure the footwell if you have to.

 

[Wildbillndesert]

The problem is very few driving shoes come in anything but a medium width. All the sexy European ones not only do not come in wide, but aren't even big enough for me (48).

I did find some Minnetonka moccasins that come in 13W. I will try them.

I am surprised the magazines did not make a bigger issue of this. WIDE feet are the problem, and I really can't drive the car right now for more than about 20 minutes at a time without cramping my ankle.

This sucks big time.

Thanks for your inputs.

 

[JLElise]

This small body (5'2") and tiny feet (Boys 5 1/2) can't wait to fit into my Elise. Although I sympathize with all you BIG guys out there that can't get in and out of the Elise easily, and are having a problem with the placement of the pedals...touche'...this car fits like a glove for me

Being short in stature, I've consistently had issues with many vehicles...seat has to be brought forward very far in order for me to properly depress the clutch, thereby having the steering wheel too close to my chest and the stick shift being a little too far back...not a very enjoyable driving experience to say the least.

All in all, to all you "BigFoot" guys...I feel your pain

 

[Bill Swizz]

I know of one person in Europe who altered the pedals due to wide feet.

The centre divider can be taken out, moved easily. Then he had a new pedal box made. This was basically a copy of the existing pedal box but longer so the accelerator pedal was moved well away from the other two pedals. The other two pedals stayed in the same position as now but the actual metal pad was moved on the lever arm which effectively gave more space between the pedals.
This was expensive and I don't think is ideal. A better solution would be driving shoes if you can find them.

 

[Iceman-]

I got n.8 of Nike shox turbo and i've the same problems, i drove well with Puma race car shoes only.

 

[CDubYa]

Wide Cats

I'm a 9EEE and have followed the various shoe threads and footwell size postings. Virtually all of the driving shoes come in medium width only. I bought a pair of Puma SpeedCats (black with yellow trim and stiching for my saffron car) and have stretched them regularly. I use a wooden stretcher resembling a foot which widens as a large screw-end is turned, thus stretching the shoe. I've stretched each shoe several times for about a week at a time and they now fit my wide feet just fine. The real proof comes in about 2-3 months when I pick up my car in Los Gatos and drive it home to Seattle

 

[amcmahon]

I know of one person in Europe who altered the pedals due to wide feet.

The centre divider can be taken out, moved easily. Then he had a new pedal box made. This was basically a copy of the existing pedal box but longer so the accelerator pedal was moved well away from the other two pedals. The other two pedals stayed in the same position as now but the actual metal pad was moved on the lever arm which effectively gave more space between the pedals.
This was expensive and I don't think is ideal. A better solution would be driving shoes if you can find them.

Iwas just thinking "if the center divider could be removed that would solve my problem."

That's good to know. I think I'll fit with my thin shoes though.

 

[jsfarmer]

Big Feet? No problem

Ok, guys - if you can drive ther car barefoot, you just need driving shoes. No they don't have to be traditional driving shoes, just something narrow enough to use the pedals.

Personally i like the Puma Monstro's
They are comfortable, work well, and stylish.

Here are some pics:

Or this one:

And there are other styles available, a more traditional looking driving shoe

Even available as a high top (other colors available too)

Does this go with Saffron?

The reason I think the Monstro is best is due to it's velcro fastener. Easy on and easy off, small for cockpit storage.

Please keep in mind that NONE of these are appropriate for racing and have -NO- fire resistance outside of what the leather (pleather? in some cases) can provide.

Enjoy!

Fate favors the creative...