Many questions about brake calipers
10-21-2005, 12:14 PM
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Many questions about brake calipers
I have some questions about the brakes on the S.
1. I was reading a SCC article and the article mentioned that the S2000 has 4-piston floating calipers. How is that possible? I thought one can only have piston(s) on one side of a floating caliper. With that, does it mean the S2000 has four pistons on the same side of the caliper? If the S has 2 pistons on each side, then wouldn't that just be a fixed caliper? Or is the article wrong?
Article: SCC Article Link (http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/ro...0403scc_s2000/)
2. How much of an improvement do aftermarket calipers provide? (i.e. Spoon, Stoptech, Wilwood, and Brembo) Is it noticeable in terms of stopping distance/power? Or are they more for the "bling" factor? I would guess that these fixed calipers would provide slightly firmer brake feel?
3. Do drilled/slotted discs really help dissipate heat faster? I'm asking since a lot of the mid-priced sports cars (excluding high end ones like 911 Turbos) out there actually don't have drilled/slotted discs (E46 M3, Evolutions, S2000, NSX, Z350 Track). It sometimes shocks me that even a 60K M3 doesn't have that!?!
4. This is more of a techical question I suppose: How does having more pistons improve braking power? Ultimately, isn't the stopping power of brakes determined by the brake pad compound (i.e. higher coefficient of friction), surface area (both the brake pad for increased friction and the brake disc for increased leverage), and how hard the pads "cling" onto the discs (bascially force? or how hard you stomp on the brakes). How does the number of pistons come into place?
I recently drove a 350Z Track and didn't seem to find a noticeable edge of having the large Brembo calipers when compared to stock S2000 brakes. Well .. of course this is a little comparing apples to oranges, since the Z weighs more, different car, etc ... but I was still expecting the Z to have better brakes ...
The s2000 brakes didn't "look" that great ... caliper's small and looks a little weak, maybe it's just that looks can be deceiving
1. I was reading a SCC article and the article mentioned that the S2000 has 4-piston floating calipers. How is that possible? I thought one can only have piston(s) on one side of a floating caliper. With that, does it mean the S2000 has four pistons on the same side of the caliper? If the S has 2 pistons on each side, then wouldn't that just be a fixed caliper? Or is the article wrong?
Article: SCC Article Link (http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/ro...0403scc_s2000/)
2. How much of an improvement do aftermarket calipers provide? (i.e. Spoon, Stoptech, Wilwood, and Brembo) Is it noticeable in terms of stopping distance/power? Or are they more for the "bling" factor? I would guess that these fixed calipers would provide slightly firmer brake feel?
3. Do drilled/slotted discs really help dissipate heat faster? I'm asking since a lot of the mid-priced sports cars (excluding high end ones like 911 Turbos) out there actually don't have drilled/slotted discs (E46 M3, Evolutions, S2000, NSX, Z350 Track). It sometimes shocks me that even a 60K M3 doesn't have that!?!
4. This is more of a techical question I suppose: How does having more pistons improve braking power? Ultimately, isn't the stopping power of brakes determined by the brake pad compound (i.e. higher coefficient of friction), surface area (both the brake pad for increased friction and the brake disc for increased leverage), and how hard the pads "cling" onto the discs (bascially force? or how hard you stomp on the brakes). How does the number of pistons come into place?
I recently drove a 350Z Track and didn't seem to find a noticeable edge of having the large Brembo calipers when compared to stock S2000 brakes. Well .. of course this is a little comparing apples to oranges, since the Z weighs more, different car, etc ... but I was still expecting the Z to have better brakes ...
The s2000 brakes didn't "look" that great ... caliper's small and looks a little weak, maybe it's just that looks can be deceiving
10-21-2005, 03:49 PM
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I am by no means an expert, so I could be completely wrong about some of these things:
1. I had asked awhile ago about the pistons on the calipers for the S--someone told me they were 2 piston I believe. The rest I am unsure about.
2. From threads I've read, there are several people on this site that like aftermarket brake kits--do a search I'm sure you'll find a few things on people's opinions. I've read that unless you are going to track the S hardcore, then the brakes on the car are really good--trouble comes when you push them to the limits throwing the car around on the track after some laps.
3. I've heard mixed opinions about slotted and drilled rotors--but yes they do dissipate heat faster, however when you do those things to the rotors, you run the risk of at high temperatures of cracking the rotors, so some people don't get these. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is a problem with drilled ones?
4. I'm honestly not sure about this one--all I know is the more pistons the more clamping you have on the rotor because you are increasing your number of 'clamps' and therefore surface area. However, correct me if I'm wrong again, the size of the piston can vary? Therefore single piston brakes could be larger? I'm not sure about this, but I thought I heard this somewhere.
Again, I'm no expert, so if someone else chimes in, i'd like to hear their opinions.
1. I had asked awhile ago about the pistons on the calipers for the S--someone told me they were 2 piston I believe. The rest I am unsure about.
2. From threads I've read, there are several people on this site that like aftermarket brake kits--do a search I'm sure you'll find a few things on people's opinions. I've read that unless you are going to track the S hardcore, then the brakes on the car are really good--trouble comes when you push them to the limits throwing the car around on the track after some laps.
3. I've heard mixed opinions about slotted and drilled rotors--but yes they do dissipate heat faster, however when you do those things to the rotors, you run the risk of at high temperatures of cracking the rotors, so some people don't get these. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is a problem with drilled ones?
4. I'm honestly not sure about this one--all I know is the more pistons the more clamping you have on the rotor because you are increasing your number of 'clamps' and therefore surface area. However, correct me if I'm wrong again, the size of the piston can vary? Therefore single piston brakes could be larger? I'm not sure about this, but I thought I heard this somewhere.
Again, I'm no expert, so if someone else chimes in, i'd like to hear their opinions.
10-21-2005, 04:31 PM
#3
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The S2000 brakes have one piston.
The S2000 brake work just fine. Neither calipers nor rotors need to be changed out even with heavy track use. However, for track use the fluid and pads need to be changed to something that works at higher temperatures.
Drilled and/or slotted rotors are bling. In years gone by, race cars used them because of limitations in the brake pad materials. So people decided that "real" performance brakes have slots or holes. These days the pad material no longer requires drilled or slotted rotors, but they persist because of the image. (And yes, Porsche puts some things on their cars because of image, just like everyone else does....)
The main reason why one might want multiple pistons in the brakes would be to more evenly distribute the force over a large brake pad. But the drive towards "4-pot" brakes and "6-pot" aftermarket brakes is mostly to serve a misguided "more must be better" mentality.
The S2000 brake work just fine. Neither calipers nor rotors need to be changed out even with heavy track use. However, for track use the fluid and pads need to be changed to something that works at higher temperatures.
Drilled and/or slotted rotors are bling. In years gone by, race cars used them because of limitations in the brake pad materials. So people decided that "real" performance brakes have slots or holes. These days the pad material no longer requires drilled or slotted rotors, but they persist because of the image. (And yes, Porsche puts some things on their cars because of image, just like everyone else does....)
The main reason why one might want multiple pistons in the brakes would be to more evenly distribute the force over a large brake pad. But the drive towards "4-pot" brakes and "6-pot" aftermarket brakes is mostly to serve a misguided "more must be better" mentality.
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