| Hi Guys Well i saw this post and I saw all sorts of answers and I just like to comment a few things. First of all pulling brakes off a Porsche, Ferrari or Bugatti will not make them them the best brakes for our 300ZX There is a couple simple concepts to making a brake system. 1. Weight of Caliper, Bracket, rotor, and hat. The lighter the better because design of the suspension. Just think about if you extend your arm out and put a 50 lb weight vs a 25lb weight what are you going to be more easily be able to manage? The lighter one 2. Friction Materials, this a touchy one because the materials are dependent on your use, and budget. To be specific if you are on track where you can maintain your pads at certain temp you can use race pads. Race pads will work best at higher temps and provide better braking power however you may not be able to maintain them at proper oppertating temp on the street. 2a. The Rotor material is usually either iron (different discussion on just the the type of iron), and carbon fiber. Carbon fiber is simply lighter and as carbon heats up sticks more vs iron that as it heats up it slips more. I am not rich enuff to run carbon fiber rotors and really for me have a minimal rate of return vs a properly setup brake system. 2b. Calipers themselves can be billet, forged, casted aluminum or cast iron the stronger and stiffer the better. 2c. In some rare cases of racing you will start seeing water cooled calipers which helps in reducing brake fluid temps by quite a bit and maintaing rigidity in the caliper. As metal heats up it gets more bendable. 2d. Bracing and design of the caliper itself, this is highly overlooked and understated but the stiffer the caliper the better bracing it has the more stable your braking will be. 2e Caliper Piston size, here is where most of the secret in making the best possible brake system is. As most new systems come with 4 or 6 pistons brake systems they have to be matched to the fluid capacity of the system along with the piston area of the orginal calipers. I will quote Wilwood "The piston volume must match the master cylinder bore size and pedal leverage to realize peak performance from the system." 2f. Cooling how well the rotor itself cools itself by using fins or larger surface area will make a diff, the rotor is a big heat sink that transfer energy from the friction of materials, if the rotor is too hot you will start see fade and exceed your brake pads heat range. The larger the brake rotor itself the more thermal heat transfer you have, the larger the surface area, the more cooling fins you have the bottom line the better the cooler your rotor is. 3a. Rotor diameter itself does play a a factor in how much torque is provide to braking you have but its not the only issue but one that is commonly associated with a better braking but it is not just the size of the rotor itself. Another quote from Wilwood "Rotor diameter will also impact the system's effectiveness. Different piston sizes provide the car builder with options to maximize the overall balance and brake system performance.
" 3b Something that is hugely overlooked is brake pads sweep area, the more sweep area the more braking power you have, I have seen so many crappy self made brake systems that simply do not use the right caliper with the right rotor. To be specific calipers have a certain size arc they are shaped and should accurately matched. If you see a 14" rotor with only 1/2" of it worn how will can effective is it work. Just think of it how well does a 125mm wide tire works versus a 345mm, assuming you have full contact patch use? IE don't put a caliper that is only meant for 12" rotors on a home grown 15" rotor you simply will not an affective systems just a pretty looking one. 3c Brake Bias, this is commonly over understate as well, while most of your braking power comes from up front you still want your rears to properly support the enter system. On road corses or situation you may want to adjust your brake bias you will see almost every race car have a brake bias adjuster. 3d Tires this is the last stop between you and the road the better your tires the better you stop, braking a balance of all elements. Bottom line is the more tire you have the better you stop. 4. And finally the weight of the car will place a big factor itself for example a 3000lb car is easier to stop than say 6000lb car. This will affect everything about the brake system itself. So having said that I want to comment that is there is alot of science and balance that comes into making the best brake system and to me the best one is the most tested one. And to me I feel Stoptech spends alot of time testing there brake systems on our cars, on the track and on the street. And will provide you some support incase you are going to a track event. Having said that I still drool a little bit at Brembos GTR calipers and rotors.
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