[s-cars] Cracked Big Brake Brackets - ECS Stage 2

[Theodore Chen]

i think you might be overgeneralizing.  aluminum is widely used in
structural applications, like airplanes.  there are 747s that have been
flying since the 1970s.

while i haven't gone and cut up any brackets for inspection, i think
the ECS brackets may be flawed in their design.  for one thing, they
have bolts threaded into aluminum.  lots of stress risers there from
cutting the threads, compounded by screwing bolts in that may have been
too long.  the BIRA brackets use steel inserts.

also, wilwood has been selling a lot of big brake kits using the
wilwood superlite 4 or 6 piston caliper, and the brackets are made of
aluminum - similar to wilwood's circle track brake kits.

much depends on how well you design and build the bracket.  i don't
think you can conclude from the ECS bracket failures that aluminum
is unsuitable for use in this kind of application.

-teddy

--- Eric Phillips <gcmschemist at gmail.com> wrote:

> Well, Igor, I said almost exactly that in response to this particular
> subject on a different mailing list, and the list owner got so pissed
> off that he nuked me off the list.
> 
> I'm glad that there are people more knowledgable than I who can see
> the logic in my reasoning.  For a little while, I wondered if my
> concerns were off-base, because I do tend to worry about things that
> shouldn't be worrisome.
> 
> While I think that sometimes Audi over-engineers stuff, I would prefer
> over-engineering in the brakes, to under-engineering.  And the brakes
> we got stock with these cars are under-engineered, IMO. Which is why
> we even have these discussions, right?
> 
> The the brakes that came with the cars would have been appropriate for
> a 230HP, 2-ton sedan/avant, then we wouldn't have to go out in search
> of a fix!
> 
> Eric
> 
> On 10/23/06, Igor Kessel <KBATPO at comcast.net> wrote:
> > Eric Phillips wrote:
> > > Guys:
> > >
> > > I think that it's a design flaw - due to *materials choice*.
> >
> > Precisely! The RS2 brackets are beefy pieces of hardware made out of Cd
> > plated steel. I personally would not trust two small pieces of Aluminium
> > to combat the sheer stress of the tremendous moment of inertia exerted
> > by a 2 tonne whale of a car that the UrS is.
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