Brake Test 60mph to 0mph **Video**
 

So we have had a very busy last couple of weeks. We have been shooting some videos and doing product testing. We attended a Time Trial event on the 14th of October with both our FRS cars, and then on the 20th we did a drifting event, and on the 21st the last autocross for our region.

Being more track/performance oriented we enjoy stopping just as much as adding HP and TQ. So we took some time at the last autocross event to do a braking test. This was an easy way for us to see the results of modifying the silver FRS to the extent we have at this time.

We laid out some cones 25ft apart, with a pointer for the beginning of the brake zone. We did multiple runs and averaged the stopping distance.

Tools used:
SCCA Cones
100' Tape Measure
Nice large asphalt parking lot

So here are the car changes from factory:

Red FRS Brake Mods:
Front HP+ Brake Pads
Stock Rear Pads

Silver FRS Brake Mods
Front HP+ Brake Pads
Front DBA T3 Rotors
Stock Rear Pads
Stainless Stop Tech Lines Front and Rear
Dunlop Star Spec 225/45/17 Tires
Fortune Auto Coilovers

Pic of the upgraded brakes:
http://ft86speedfactory.com/images/ft86sfbrake2-1.jpg

Video:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BARzYdLX5dA"]Scion FRS / Subaru BRZ - FT86 SpeedFactory Brake Test - 60-0mph - YouTube[/ame]

Results
Stock FRS 60-0 = 118ft ( source - mototrend.com )
Red FRS 60-0 = 101ft
Silver FRS 60-0 = 82ft

What we wanted to show here is how proper upgrades like brake pads, good tires, and suspension items when used correctly will help increase the performance of your car. Imagine the change with an even more aggressive set of pads.

The "What Ifs"
Now I know there are a hundred different scenarios about set-ups, tires, surface, and etc. This is just a simple test and it's cool to see the results. If we had more FRS/BRZ cars and unlimited time we would have done some different combos but this is what we had at the time. ;)

what stopped you from using the same tires between "red" and "silver"

The lack of having a jack, jack stands, and an additional 30-45 minutes.

Also a really cool way to do a brake test would be to use a dataloger that plugs into your car's port for brake pressure and GT speed

This way you don't need pylons or tape or marker or anything, simply accelerate to a desired speed, hold steady for a few seconds then hammer down on the brake

Something like an AIM SOLO DL will provide you with nice graphs that will show not only total distance it took to come to a complete stop, but WHERE during that distance was the car decelerating the most.

The above is actually more important to most track and autocross users (unless your autocross organizers enjoy using the stop-box cone aggressively) because the need to come to a complete stop is not necessary

So while a car with OEM pads takes longer to come to a complete stop as opposed to an upgraded car, what I would really like to know is what is the difference in deceleration from 100 to 80kph, for instance.


Food for thought.

here is a graph from a buddy of mine driving my car at an autocross, overlapped are our best laps.

he highlighated speed vs distance and BRAKE pressure, you can see that even though our final times were nearly identical, the way we got there was radically different.

I tended to jab the brake hard and then let off prior to a turn, while he was using trail braking with light pressure.

So "I" would "FEEL" like the car has shitty brakes, because i'm working them too hard, my co-dirver on the other hand might feel like everything is perfectly fine because he barely uses them!

but a tool like this would be so valuable for individual component testing, everyone always talks about "initial bite", well now you can quantify that info for relatively cheap money... (a modest initial investment of ~800 :D)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8194/8...1c156d82_o.jpg

A datalogger is definitely on the investment list! Hopefully we will have a wealth of information and testing for you guys in the future.

For now, we are keeping it simple:thumbsup:

would really like to see this test with only brake upgrades. the tires are a big X-factor here

The Red car had only upgraded front pads and stock tires.

The other brake upgrades like the rotors/lines/fluid are more for track use situations. The biggest variable in the silver car is the tires which leads to the next largest decrease in distance. I would venture to say that most people upgrading brakes would also upgrade tires. Especially since those that do so typically use the car for autocross and etc.

I would love to see 0-60-0 times for the same cars.

This would allow us to see how the lighter weight rotors also affects acceleration (should drop these times dramatically)

Since my stock pads/tires lock up (full abs) the decreased stopping distance should be because of the lighter weight and the better tires, not the better pads. I'm not that surpized by the difference in the "stock" test and the red car. This is explainable by different surfaces.

Please do 0-60-0 if you get a chance.

Thanks for posting. I really appreciate the data

The 118ft stopping distance tested by MT shouldn't be used as a direct reference here. The test was done at a separate location on a different day.

I doubt the HP+ can improve stopping distance by almost 20% when tires are the limiting factor.