gt289
Active Member
"Starfury" said:Stopping power is a function of pressure applied, and the coefficient of friction. Increase either one of those things and you'll increase stopping power.
Now it's a correct statement. Swept area, contrary to popular opinion, does not have a bearing
on stopping power. (period, end of sentence)
Brake pad geometry (height, width, surface area) does not influence the gain in a brake system.
(gain relates brake system force input to brake system force output)
Bigger pads do not stop any better than smaller pads.
Don't believe it? As Randall Shafer (StopTech) likes to say "pad material coefficient of friction
is independent of the size of the pad itself. Installing larger pads may increase the life of the
friction material, but there will be no difference in brake system gain." (page 91, "High Performance
Brake Systems" by James Walker Jr.)
The reason why drum brake systems stop so well is not a function of their large swept area
(when compared to most disc setups), it's mainly because most drum systems are self-
energizing, so you actually get mechanical assist that is not present in a manual disc setup.
The drum system's downfall is in hard, back-to-back repetitive stop situations, where thermal
issues become a really big problem, really fast.
Before I worked in the brake industry, I used to think swept area was king, myself. I got
schooled pretty quickly, much to my chagrin (and embarrassment).