BRZ/86 stopping distance
 

So I have been looking high and low for this info. I came across one article that says the standard brakes stops the car in 164 feet from 70. I cannot find a stopping distance for a car with Brembo's. My car has them and was just wondering if anyone knows where the stopping distance of a Brembo'd car can be found? Thanks


Don

Probably about the same. Braking distance is normally dependent not on the brake caliper/rotor but a number of other factors, to name a few: tire compound, pad type, car weight, wheel weight, suspension setup, etc.


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~refer to username~

Just find an empty stretch of road and stomp on the brakes. Unless you have some Frankenstein tires, ABS should easily be the limiting factor.

Do not forget temp and humidity and altitude.


With ABS all else being equal the largest factor is the compound of the tire (as said above).


Brake kits are to help with repeated stopping for heat management. Not stopping distance.

I was always under the assumption that larger brakes significantly improved stopping distance.



Don

Assuming with the same tires and count-out abs, wouldn’t the bigger calipers provide more force to the brake pad and therefore more contact and friction with the rotor?


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Common misconception. Larger brakes can absorb more energy before they overheat and fade. More stopping power in the textbook sense of the word.

Power=energy dissipated per unit time

Let's ignore ABS for a moment. Will you stop in a shorter distance with standard brakes that are capable of locking the wheels into a skid OR heavy duty brakes that will also lock the wheels? If both brake configurations are capable of locking the wheels then stopping distances will be determined by other factors. The advantage with HD brakes is being able to stop repeatedly in the same distance without having the brakes fade to uselessness.

Exactly. Drum brakes will stop you just as good as disk brakes.... the first time!

If your brakes can lock up your wheels (without ABS) then adding bigger / better brakes isn't going to decrease stopping distance.

Out of curiosity, why does it matter?

Like others have said, the limiting factor is your tires. If you upgrade brakes but keep the same tires, your stopping distance will be pretty much the same, as the rubber cannot stop the car any quicker than it already did.

Bigger brakes only help in a track setting, or on twisty mountain roads that require a lot of braking. The goal is to allow the brakes to dissipate more heat so they don't fade with repeated use.

Tyres, suspension, alignment are all factors.

Dadillac, I have not found any hard data on stopping distances of the twins with big brakes. However, if you were to take two BRZ’s, one with standard brakes and the other with the Brembo brakes given everything else is equal, (the same make/model/size/compound of tire, time of day, road surface etc.) the Brembo car WILL stop in a shorter distance.
However, that’s not what is important about having better brakes. Everyone seems fixated on stopping and it’s just not about stopping! It’s about slowing down as quickly as possible from a high speed to a lower speed. How many times does anyone have to make a panic, I mean, come to a full and complete stop? Not very often. But I’d say everyone who spends anytime on a major freeway, interstate or 400 series highway will in the course of any given drive will at least once per trip have to rapidly slow down to avoid disaster. In the case of driving across the north end of Toronto it’s many, many times! This is where better brakes really shine. Here’s why…
Standard brakes use a sliding or floating style caliper whereby piston(s) are only on one side. When force is applied it pushes the brake pad against one side of the rotor. Continued force will cause the caliper to pull the opposite pad into contact with the other side of the rotor. It may only take a fraction of a second to accomplish but, that coupled with smaller rotors and less bite equals longer time to slow down. On the plus side, it is an elegant and cost effective way to increase the stopping ability of the average vehicle over the old style drum brakes.
Big Brake Kits, like the Brembo’s use much larger rotors and multiple opposed pistons in fixed calipers. When force is applied it pushes the larger brake pads against both sides of the rotor at the same time. This means big brakes reach their maximum efficiency faster. The forces that opposed piston, fixed caliper brakes produce are far greater than those of a sliding caliper design. The larger the swept area, the greater the force exerted, the quicker the rotating wheel assembly will slow down. And slowing down over a shorter distance should be the goal. Having the ability to stop quicker is a bonus. One I have had to put to the test more times than I wish to recount.