A lot of NSX owners are attracted to big brake kits and end up with a kit that looks great but affects the balance of the brake bias such that the kit does little to aid or even hurts the braking performance of the car. It is hard to convey why a kit properly setup for the NSX is so important to customers looking for big brake kits.
I thought this article was really good, and I'll refer to it in the future (article from Carroll Smith posted by Andrie on the tech list):
FRONT TO REAR BRAKE BIAS
Stability and control under heavy braking is at least as important as ultimate stopping
capability. All cars, from pickups to Formula One, are designed with the majority of the braking torque on the front wheels. There are two reasons for this - first, if we ignore the effects of aerodynamic down force, the total of the forces on each of the vehicle's four tires must remain the same under all conditions. When the vehicle decelerates, mass or load is transferred from the rear tires to the fronts. The amount of load transfer is determined by the height of the vehicle's center of gravity, the length of the wheelbase and the rate of deceleration. Anti-dive geometry does not materially effect the amount of load transferred - only the geometric results of the transfer. Second, when a tire locks under braking, braking capacity is greatly reduced but lateral capacity virtually disappears. Therefore, when the front tires lock before the rears, steering control is lost and the car continues straight ahead - but this "under steer" is a stable condition and steering control can be regained by reducing the pedal pressure. If, however, the rear tires lock first, the result is instantaneous "over steer" - the car wants to spin. This is an unstable condition from which it is more difficult to recover, especially when entering a corner.
Most mid-engine pure racing cars are designed with 55-60% of the total static load and 45-50% of the total braking torque on the rear tires. These cars feature literally tons of rear aerodynamic down force and the footprints of the rear tires are always significantly larger than those of the front. Most passenger cars are front engined; none of them have any appreciable download and almost all of them have the same size front and rear tires. In extreme cases (front wheel drive) they may have 70 % of the total static load on the front tires. They are therefore designed with a preponderance of front brake torque. Most current production cars feature anti-lock brake systems (all cars should). Sophisticated ABS systems ensure that, under heavy braking conditions - even braking with tires on different surfaces - each tire is braking at something very closely approaching its maximum capacity while the ABS system prevents lock up.
http://stoptech.com/whitepapers/brake_systems_and_upgrade_selections_122701.htm
Cheers,
-- Chris
------------------
Revolutionize your NSX with ScienceofSpeed
www.ScienceofSpeed.com | [email protected] | 877-863-4520
I thought this article was really good, and I'll refer to it in the future (article from Carroll Smith posted by Andrie on the tech list):
FRONT TO REAR BRAKE BIAS
Stability and control under heavy braking is at least as important as ultimate stopping
capability. All cars, from pickups to Formula One, are designed with the majority of the braking torque on the front wheels. There are two reasons for this - first, if we ignore the effects of aerodynamic down force, the total of the forces on each of the vehicle's four tires must remain the same under all conditions. When the vehicle decelerates, mass or load is transferred from the rear tires to the fronts. The amount of load transfer is determined by the height of the vehicle's center of gravity, the length of the wheelbase and the rate of deceleration. Anti-dive geometry does not materially effect the amount of load transferred - only the geometric results of the transfer. Second, when a tire locks under braking, braking capacity is greatly reduced but lateral capacity virtually disappears. Therefore, when the front tires lock before the rears, steering control is lost and the car continues straight ahead - but this "under steer" is a stable condition and steering control can be regained by reducing the pedal pressure. If, however, the rear tires lock first, the result is instantaneous "over steer" - the car wants to spin. This is an unstable condition from which it is more difficult to recover, especially when entering a corner.
Most mid-engine pure racing cars are designed with 55-60% of the total static load and 45-50% of the total braking torque on the rear tires. These cars feature literally tons of rear aerodynamic down force and the footprints of the rear tires are always significantly larger than those of the front. Most passenger cars are front engined; none of them have any appreciable download and almost all of them have the same size front and rear tires. In extreme cases (front wheel drive) they may have 70 % of the total static load on the front tires. They are therefore designed with a preponderance of front brake torque. Most current production cars feature anti-lock brake systems (all cars should). Sophisticated ABS systems ensure that, under heavy braking conditions - even braking with tires on different surfaces - each tire is braking at something very closely approaching its maximum capacity while the ABS system prevents lock up.
http://stoptech.com/whitepapers/brake_systems_and_upgrade_selections_122701.htm
Cheers,
-- Chris
------------------
Revolutionize your NSX with ScienceofSpeed
www.ScienceofSpeed.com | [email protected] | 877-863-4520
