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Originally Posted by Suberman
Small is beautiful because brakes are unsprung weight, remember that, unsprung weight.
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Bigger doesn't always mean heavier, the AP racing spring kit has bigger discs but cuts a significant amount of weight from each corner.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suberman
It is critical to recognize that brake pads only work well over their designed temperature range. Cold brakes don't work very well at all. You MUST fit brake pads that run neither too cool nor too hot, with the "too cool" aspect of primary importance on the street. Often brakes that look too cool are and don't stop you as well as they need to on that first cold emergency stop of the day.
For track work the best solution is a set of track optimized pads you put in and take out at the track. Using track pads on the street is pretty stupid actually and can kill you.
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Not all track pads are unsafe on the street, saying they will kill you is a huge stretch. Even a hardcore high temp pad will have some bite in the cold.
My "summer" pads (Ferodo DS2500) have more bite at 0* than my stock pads do, the only reason I took them out is they're much noisier in the winter temps and I don't need higher heat capacity so I might as well run down the cheaper stock pads.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suberman
The number of pistons in the caliper is not relevant in the real world. Basically, total caliper piston area has to match the pressure multiplier required by the size of the master cylinder piston. Go too big and the MC won't work effectively. Caliper piston area is mainly a function of pad area. Big pads might be needed for very demanding braking but they will likely be useless on the street. So, start with pads before you decide you need bigger calipers with more pistons or more piston area.
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The only real benefit to going to a 4 piston caliper from ours is that you'll get a fixed (non sliding) caliper which is more rigid and offers better feel at the pedal. You're right that you won't gain a drop of stopping power from an upgrade like that.
One other thing to consider is that there are two types of fade... pad fade and fade from boiling the fluid. Pad fade happens when the pads are too hot to stop you and you lose bite, but the pedal stays firm. If you boil the fluid the pedal goes soft and you have zero braking power. If you're going to upgrade the pads, you NEED to upgrade to a higher temp fluid as well.
Another consideration with a BBK is that they can actually reduce your consumable costs if you track the car a lot. The rotors will last longer, and two piece ones are cheaper to replace the rings. Pads are also generally cheaper than the same pad for the OEM caliper.
For a street driven car that sees the odd autoslalom, the biggest braking upgrade you'll need from a functional standpoint is better pads and fluid.