Optimum brake sizing

[Rog246]

Don't know if this has been asked before but has anyone worked out optimum
disc sizing for our cars ?
Am looking at fitting 330mm front discs as opposed to the 355mm. Whilst bigger mostly is better it's not always the case & its easy to over brake our devices and end up with little or no feel & controlability.
Everyone's thoughts please

Rog246

[Krait]

Rog,

I'm using 330mm front and 315mm rears with AP calipers. I too was concerned about lack of feel etc.....but it stops like a train with good feel. Even Warwick commented how effective they were.

I discussed using 343mm front discs with Race Brakes Sydney and their opinion was that it wasn't worth the effort. 343mm discs are 32mm thick which is more difficult to accommodate that the 28mm width of the 330mm discs, plus the calipers had to have spacers fitted.

Have a chat with Matthew Pearce at Race Brakes. He was very helpful.

Cheers

[Rog246]

Thanks Geoff, I'll do that
Rog

[Aussie Mike]

I went with 343 x 32 fronts and 6 piston calipers mainly because they were cool. It's probably way more brake than you need. I think it's probably more important to put a good rear brake setup on the car. The Cobra has a more rearward weight bias than most cars. Have a look at how big the rear brakes are on a Porsche for example. I went with 330mm rears and 4 piston calipers.

Cheers

[Krait]

Yeah Mike, the 343mm cool factor weighed heavily but am extremely happy with my decision.

Maybe on the next project.........

Cheers

[Merv and Sharon]

I think you are right Mike and I am thinking of upgrading my rear calipers.

[cameron02]

For maximum "feel" use non power assisted drum brakes all round. My first car XW Falcon had this setup. Luckily it had a really big brake pedal which came in handy when I had to use both feet

Driving down Mt Dandenong behind a porshe one night was very scary.

[LoBelly]

Originally Posted by cameron02

For maximum "feel" use non power assisted drum brakes all round. My first car XW Falcon had this setup. Luckily it had a really big brake pedal which came in handy when I had to use both feet

Driving down Mt Dandenong behind a porshe one night was very scary.

Yup - non power assisted brakes on my first charger -gives the thighs and seat retaing bolts a good work out.

Also tends to make your stops rather sudden the first time you get into a car with power brakes

- as for cobras - I have the jag 4 pot calipers with EBC green pads and standard jag on the rear.


they seem to have plenty of bite, haven't felt them fade yet.

its seems like the fronts overpower the rears a little but not enough to make it an issue yet.

LoBelly

[jcraigau]

LoBelly, that's quite the rainbow you got goin' on there...

:-)

[stephen low]

Mike

What's the spec on those green pads?

Are they a softer / harder option compared to say the standard jag pad.

Slo

[LoBelly]

Originally Posted by LoBelly

- as for cobras - I have the jag 4 pot calipers with EBC green pads and standard jag on the rear...

should read:


- as for cobras - I have the jag 4 pot calipers with EBC green pads on the front and standard jag calipers on the rear with EBC Red ...

you can read about the pads here:

http://www.ebcbrakes.com.au/index.php/pads.html

ShelbyFest 2009 was HOT - and I was pleased with the way everything held up. Although - I try to be smooth with not too much late braking.

This combo is also fine for driving round the street.

I have not used any other pads for any length of time tho so I don't really have any basis for comparison.

LoBelly

[Modena]

I have used EBC green and red (although not in a Cobra) - Red are HEAPS better than green IMHO, and wear out your discs correspondingly quickly. Green were fairly average in my opinion when pushed.