Re: Inboard brakes (was: V8 quattro tyres)

[steveb@newkla.kla.com (Steven Buchholz)]

> Eliot Lim sez:
> > you're not missing much i assure you.  the extra unsprung weight
> > was nasty.. it made the car feel 1000 pounds heavier and the
> > ride was certainly more thumpy, meaning that you had to reduce 
> > the tire pressures a little to make things bearable, to the
> > detriment of steering feel and handling sharpness.
> 
> I'm missing something: I thought that inboard brakes were used to reduce
> unsprung rate; with the rotors mounted on the chasis, and not the suspension,
> they are then sprung weight.
> 
> -frank

The V8q and the 200q20v had internal caliper brakes, not inboard brakes.
You are absolutely correct about the unsprung weight advantage of inboard 
brakes.  The cars with the internal caliper brakes have a spider that 
attaches the outer edge of the brake rotor to the hub, as well as a larger 
rotor (both leading to a weight increase at the front wheels.  If the cars 
actually had inboard brakes some of the other issues with swept area may 
have been resolved by making the disk bigger without having to resort to 
an unusual rotor/caliper configuration.

The other compromise IMHO with the internal caliper brakes was that it made 
it look like your fancy cool neato alloy wheels were only cheap hubcaps 
covering an even cheaper stamped steel wheel.

Steve Buchholz
s_buchho@kla.com