Small Brakes on Novas (front end, competition use)

[MK999]

pad area must have some bearing on the calculations.

Not really, Force = Pressure/Area, so you either have a high amount of force digging into the disc, or a large area digging in less so but either way it's the same pressure, which is defined by the master and slave cylinder and the force applied to it (brake pedal length is a major factor)

Piston area is massively relevant though Stu, as thats your slave cylinder and the master to slave ratio is where all the force magnification comes from.

[mowgli]

so surface area & thus surface pressure of the pad has no bearing on braking??? cobblers.....

i know i'm probably about to start another row here, but pad area is massively important to braking.

[joshy]

"but pad area is massively important to braking"

Correct, But it dosent increase braking force.

It can help a brake assembly maintain a cooler working temp because of the extra area in contact with the disc, And It can sometimes increase feel and predictablity due to the force being exerted being much more stable in use.

But all things being equal, A large pad offers no braking force benifits over a small pad. over 330mm disc's and their required large calipers and pad are a waste of energy on any car IMO, be that road or competition

[Stuart]

As per my braking article, you could have a pad the size of a pin head and a pad the size of an A4 sheet of paper... Both will apply the same stopping force BUT the A4 size one will last thousands of times longer than the pin head one.

Piston area is to be considered with the rest of the system, rather than simply fitting the biggest/smallest possible and then hoping it all works (that was my point)

[MK999]

If you want working proof of the small pad thing have a look at most 4 pots, wilwood AP etc some of the pads are half the size of most OEM one's, and smaller than OEM rears even.

As per my braking article, you could have a pad the size of a pin head and a pad the size of an A4 sheet of paper... Both will apply the same stopping force BUT the A4 size one will last thousands of times longer than the pin head one.

Piston area is to be considered with the rest of the system, rather than simply fitting the biggest/smallest possible and then hoping it all works (that was my point)

Good point badly made But fair enough.

[novarally]

Just acquired these 240mm x 6mm (1.7kg) discs with alloy bells which I may be able to utilise;

[stt]

did you manage to get brackets made up to mount the r6 calipers?