Time Atac Pedals

I've found that time atacs are harder to clip into (I sometimes struggle to get my shoe in exactly the right place) and also harder to clip out of (when a split second unclip is needed when riding offroad for example) compared to SPDs. Apparently some shoes require some tread to be cut away in order to work properly with atacs, and I'm wondering if that's the issue with my shimano shoes. When I used spds all I had to do was put my foot roughly in the right place on the pedal and they clipped in. Equally, they required hardly any force/sideways movement to unclip. Having to make several attempts to clip in when moving off from junctions is getting annoying. Assuming this is a problem with tread getting in the way, can anyone advise on how much tread to remove and what parts of the tread? CHeers

I doubt it is. I've used the Atacs for ages with several shoes for CX duty - they are just harder to get in and out of than SPDs, though they handle mud etc better.