Re: then's the breaks....

[Luis Marques <marques@rtis.ray.com>]

Why are so many people judging brakes by single-stop 70-0 measurements?
Most cars sold today can lock the brakes, so they are not the limiting factor in
this braking distance test.  More likely, the limiting factor is the tire
size/compound and/or ABS program.

A pathetically underbraked car can have wonderful single-panic-stop 70-0 numbers
if it has good fat, grippy tires.  Along the same lines, a Porsche 993 twin
turbo will have some very disappointing numbers if fitted with skinny, hard
rubber.  In my book, fade characteristics are a  very important measure of your
brakes.  Panic braking distance is more a measure of your tires and ABS.  If a
single 70-0 stop is all we were concerned about, we would all be driving cars
with 9" solid rotors (or even drum brakes!)

Luis Marques
'87 4kcsq