Braking Performance...

[Brockfan05]

G'day guys. Went to a "private test" area recently to give the stock VE SS brakes a thorough workout. Multiple complete stops from in excess of the old ton resulted in...................bright blue rotors and very surprisingly - no softening of the pedal feel or brake fade. I was reasonably impressed Holden. My only nitpick ( and for a track day it is a large nitpick ) is that the car took forever to actually stop. I was modulating the pedal ( as per my driver training ) so that the ABS was just being tickled so I knew it was at it's maximum braking force. Bit of a worry coming into turn one at Winton after pulling 160 - 170 kph at the end of the main straight. So my question is, will all the usual mods - slotted rotors, pad upgrades, braided hoses actually pull the car up faster? Or will it need to have larger rotors etc fitted?

[BOMI]

I wont make you suck eggs but for those that dont know.

Bigger means more brake rotor surface area which = More area the pad to grab and more area to dissipate heat.

Better pads will give you a higher temp performance and reduced pad fade.

But any improvment in standard brake size will give you an improvement in stopping distance and in reducing brake fade IMHO.

I run slotted Rotors and Bandix ultimates, have used Forodo TS 2000 and there is an improvemnet in the VY braking side of things.



Troy :)

[Brockfan05]

Bomi, are your brakes still standard size? If they are, did you improve your stopping distances with your upgrades?

[scat2k3]

Hopefully the brake guru's can step in here, but I can't see how a brake upgrade will reduce stopping distance over stock brakes. What upgraded brakes will do, is allow you to stop more often with less fade.

Cheers,

Scott

[BOMI]

Bomi, are your brakes still standard size? If they are, did you improve your stopping distances with your upgrades?


Yep they sure are mate and yeah I feel like they have given me a bit more stop but more than anything they have given me the ability to hit the stop button harder and harder over and over with limited brake fade.

Troy :)

[PSI38L]

The limiting factor of any brake system is tyre grip to the road. You can have the best brakes, but have shit tyres and no grip to the road and they are useless.

Doing the normal pad, rotor, and lines upgrade will defiantly give you a braking gain. The trouble you get into with production brakes is there ability to dissipate the heat generated on the track due to there size/quality. A good thing to remember is with more pad friction, you create more temp so you need to make sure you get a good fluid as well. We have found in production car racing there are only a hand full of pad/disc combinations that work.

You should be able to come up with a suitable pad/disc/fluid combo that will handle the road and the track. you might just have to limit the amount of laps you do to get the best out of them.

will you be running semi slicks? have you found many options for aftermarket rotors for the VE?

[dattoman]

Hopefully the brake guru's can step in here, but I can't see how a brake upgrade will reduce stopping distance over stock brakes. What upgraded brakes will do, is allow you to stop more often with less fade.

Cheers,

Scott


Imagine stopping a spinning pushbike wheel 20" diamter spinning at 60kmh
Now imagine stopping a spinning pushbike wheel 26" diameter at 60kmh

Which do you thing will stop faster with the least effort ?

[Brockfan05]

will you be running semi slicks? have you found many options for aftermarket rotors for the VE?

Yeah, Bridgestones or Toyo's, depending on price and availability where I am - by year's end (Dec fun day at Winton).
I have found next to nothing in the aftermarket to suit my needs, and I am still waiting on DBA to produce their 4000 and 5000 spec rotors. PWR are the only ones so far to make a slightly larger kit for the front of the VE - 335 x 28 rotors, 4 pot callipers etc but they are horrendously priced (5 grand plus - fitted). Because I am looking at making the best I can out of the stock system, I am aware that heat dissipation will be an issue - hence my choice of DBA rotors. I am also eyeballing those foglights at the front of my car that I never use - looks like a factory cooling duct to me...... :D

[Brockfan05]

Imagine stopping a spinning pushbike wheel 20" diamter spinning at 60kmh
Now imagine stopping a spinning pushbike wheel 26" diameter at 60kmh

Which do you thing will stop faster with the least effort ?

Is this a trick question? :D

[BOMI]

Can I phone a friend...actualy I wanna aske the audience Eddy :)


Troy :)

[FatBoy]

Imagine stopping a spinning pushbike wheel 20" diamter spinning at 60kmh
Now imagine stopping a spinning pushbike wheel 26" diameter at 60kmh

Which do you thing will stop faster with the least effort ?

Ok, i've used all my lifelines Eddie and i'm still not sure - can we get a hint ?? :)

Cheers,
Paul...

[scat2k3]

Imagine stopping a spinning pushbike wheel 20" diamter spinning at 60kmh
Now imagine stopping a spinning pushbike wheel 26" diameter at 60kmh

Which do you thing will stop faster with the least effort ?

If stock brakes can activate ABS, then stopping faster won't happen. As for stopping with the least effort, for sure bigger brakes are going to do that and let you stop more often without fade.

There is the advantage with bigger brakes. Once off, they aren't going to pull you up any sooner but they will from very high speeds or repeatedly.

Cheers,

Scott

[dattoman]

Larger brakes
More torque

Larger the diameter easier to stop at a given speed

Sobigger brakes will
1. stop you faster first time
2. stop better for longer (extra cooling and usually disc mass)
3. Save your front end...... but remember the guy behind might not have as good brakes

ABS is something I dislike personally

Buy good tyres too

[FatBoy]

Thanks Neil, i had an idea that was what you were getting at...

It's great to see you having an input into the forum mate, if i was a WA dude i'd be at your shop annoying you already... :)

Cheers,
Paul...