[sab123]

I wonder if getting the knee pads is of any use for autocross? Do they help with staying in place and/or not getting bruises on the sides of the knees? Or are they purely cosmetic?

[clyde]

Originally Posted by sab123

I wonder if getting the knee pads is of any use for autocross? Do they help with staying in place and/or not getting bruises on the sides of the knees? Or are they purely cosmetic?

In my experience, the console side would pop out when my or my codriver's right knee would hit it during the very first left turn when I had a turbo with the plastic faced pieces. After a couple events, we started removing it and tossing it in the trunk before first runs. When we forgot to do it, we would remember at the first left turn.

When I got an SS 1LE, it came with leather faced ones which I replaced with alcantara ones before doing an autocross. They both feel like a tighter fit in the console, but don't know if it's because of the material adding more friction or production differences in tabs or console that hold them in place.

[cdrptrks]

The leather and alcantara options available from GM don't seem to have any padding under the material do they're not really any more comfortable than the plastic ones in my opinion.

You want actual knee pads that attach to your legs like these or foam attached over top of the stock plastic where your knees touch. I have used both on track and they both help me brace myself without pain so I can precisely control application of the throttle, brake pedal, and clutch pedal. Precision on the pedals is important when driving the car hard if you don't want to lose control of it.

I bruised my knee in one session on track driving my buddy's SS 1LE because I forgot that his had no padding. I bought the knee pads linked above for the next time he let me drive it and they were a big improvement.

[kropscamaro16]

they dont help but they dont hurt before i had my custom knee pads the oem 1ss plastic one would pop up i make custom ones if you want a set!

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showt...stom+knee+pads

[sab123]

Originally Posted by cdrptrks

You want actual knee pads that attach to your legs like these or foam attached over top of the stock plastic where your knees touch. I have used both on track and they both help me brace myself without pain so I can precisely control application of the throttle, brake pedal, and clutch pedal. Precision on the pedals is important when driving the car hard if you don't want to lose control of it.

Well, I've never had actual issues in the previous cars. On RX-8 I've managed to crack over time the panel that holds the window buttons with my knee, but the knee is fine :-) The panel kept popping out, so to avoid further cracking I ended up popping it out before the runs. But since the pads are available for Camaro, I've been wondering if they help. Apparently not substantially, probably not worth $300.

Originally Posted by cdrptrks

I bruised my knee in one session on track driving my buddy's SS 1LE because I forgot that his had no padding. I bought the knee pads linked above for the next time he let me drive it and they were a big improvement.

When I used to do the time trials on the track with the gen-4 Camaro, I've been wondering, why does the side of my left knee hurt after the sessions? Eventually I've figured it out: it was right against the window crank handle, and it's the handle that made the bruise. But I've never felt it during the session, being too busy with the other things :-) And after the run, without the g-forces, my knee didn't touch the handle. But that's a continuous half an hour on the track at a time, sometimes with a sizable banking (like Pocono). Never had an issue at autocross.

[joelster]

I love answering questions about my seats at cars and coffee, or at small cruise nights. I run containment Kirkeys. Everyone asks me, "Did you put those in to save weight?", I say "Not just for that, but save my left knee from being black and blue after every race".