on a 2400 pound car.. i am running 12.19 inch rotors ( they are mounted to a hat ) on all 4 corners.. and brembo calipers from a 2000 porsche boxster.on my 1984 alfa romeo spider.. too much brake, or its ok, just get the right ads for road, and fast road use?
I'm not an expert- so take this with a grain of salt. Like power, you can never have "too much" brake. I'd wager that by way overdoing it, you are buying a lot of pedal feel, as with a properly matched master cylinder you will have a nice wide zone of pedal effort/feel.
Or was this just a humblebrag? Hahaha. My 62 midget will have 10" brakes, and I really just wanted the 9" for weight purposes.
i removed the booster.but welded up the pedal, and re drilled for propper ratio for non power brakes
In reply to Alfaromeoguy :
The bigger brakes help with higher velocity and longer braking periods per laps.
Don't forget you are adding unsprung weight and rotating mass so there is a declining return for bigger.
Under hard use, it's all about heat management. That's more a function of speed than vehicle weight - the heat generated is directly proportional to the mass of the car but proportional to the square of the speed.
For street use, you're more likely to notice heavy rotors and poorly chosen hydraulics. You'll definitely want street pads with those rotors because you'll never get them hot on the street :)
frenchyd said:In reply to Alfaromeoguy :
The bigger brakes help with higher velocity and longer braking periods per laps.
Don't forget you are adding unsprung weight and rotating mass so there is a declining return for bigger.
the weight is about the same in the front.. after i removed the oem rotors and heavy oem iron calipers.. the rear's live alxe out the back.. wont notice that
Is this for a track car or a street car? My 1.6L Spec Miata has 9.25" rotors and single piston calipers and they're up to the job on the track with the right pads and fluid.
Ultimately any brakes that are capable of locking up the tires will "work" until they overheat. More power and more weight = more heat. So a solution to that problem is a bigger brake package. But on the street that extra unsprung weight can make a huge difference for ride quality, acceleration and handling, especially in a small car. Bigger brakes also can require bigger wheels, which add even more unsprung weight. So IMO yes, you can have too much brake.
frenchyd said:In reply to Alfaromeoguy :
The bigger brakes help with higher velocity and longer braking periods per laps.
Don't forget you are adding unsprung weight and rotating mass so there is a declining return for bigger.
the weight is about the same in the front.. after i removed the oem rotors and heavy oem iron calipers.. the rear's live axl out the back.. wont notice that front hats are aluiumn that save a lot of weight
In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :
street and mountain driving here in ncal
In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :
let me go find my notes on the brake change
the front vented disk and aluiumn hat -2.3 pounds.. front disk are lighter than oem...each.. brembo ( porsche boxster calipers ) brembos are .7 pounds lighter on front caliper.. each.. the rear disk custom made hats so i could retain parking brake 1.4 pounds heaver each the rear calipers are .8 pounds lighter than oem calipers..each.. so rear brake weight went up,, but because it is a soild/ live rear axle.. i dont think it will matter too much back there
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