maybe a stupid question, but why upgrade the brakes?
I understand the need to stop and with a G machine you have more performance. Thus needing better brakes. That I understand.
Is it Putting bigger brakes thus larger area for the pads to grab. or using bigger brakes for the ability for use of 4/6 piston calipers, thus more clamping force for better stopping performance.
Then there is the heat generated by the usage of the brakes on track. I do realize the larger brake rotors dissipate heat better.
I am looking at the rational for the upgrade.
Thanks
Tim
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1971 Buick Sportwagon
1985 Ford Crown Victoria 2 dr.
My midsize car is bigger than your fullsize luxury import
Not a stupid question ----- and you answered many yourself.
Pad (swept) area
Clamping force (piston size - # of pistons etc)
Larger ROTOR --- 1) Think of this as LEVERAGE -- the farther away the caliper is from the hub - the more clamping leverage. 2) THICKER / Larger diameter Rotor displaces more heat
Thicker rotor has less flex
Better CALIPERS have less flex and more clamping power
PAD thickness and composition and pad choices
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I drove around stockish brakes on my car for many years...and did pretty well with them while I was developing the rest of the car. I got to the point though where the brakes were really holding my finishes back. For all of the reasons posted above, I finally upgraded the brakes to the best I could get and couldn't be happier.
I will say this though, if you are going to upgrade the brakes on your car...do them right. Plan the complete system out and make sure you use components that will not only work with each other but also work much better than what's already on the car. It might cost a bit more up front but will certainly be more satisfying than doing them again later...right....
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Lance
1985 Monte Carlo SS Street Car
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It's all about the energy. Energy, as you might recall from your high school physics class, can be neither created, nor destroyed. Consequently, it must be transferred.
In a nutshell, when braking, your car is a giant furnace.
To stop your car, you must take the forward momentum of a 3,000-4,000 pound car and turn it into heat. Lots of heat.
Bigger pads and bigger rotors enable more forward momentum to be transferred into heat more quickly. But this heat has to go somewhere so more energy can be transferred, so bigger rotors also allow more heat to be transferred into the air more quickly.
__________________ You ever wonder what medieval cook looked at the guts of a pig and thought, "I bet if you washed out that poop tube, you could stuff it with meat and eat it."
A lot depends on what you are going to do with the car. Pro-Touring cars are based on road racing cars .To where you can out brake your competition the better advantage to you. And with the high horsepower you have the whoa to go with the go. And with all the fools on the road these days ( have driven commercial vehicles So I see it a lot) you can stop quicker in an emergency. cars like could go with the brakes from a police car.