RE: V8q rear brake rotors

["James A. Desveaux" <desveaux@ucla.edu>]

Regarding UFO's and their tendency to warp, I was struck by how much sheet
metal shrouding there is around those brakes and rotors, compared to the
standard S4 or 200Q setup.  When I pulled the strut and brake assemblies, I
figured this might be a contributing factor to heat buildup, but maybe not.

As for the braking power of UFO's and the S4, R&T's test of the 1991 200Q
with UFO's indicates stopping power of 252 ft from 80 mph.  Their test of
the '92 S4, which weighs about 200 lbs more than the 200Q and has the
identical rear brakes, shows that the S4 stops from 80mph in 246 ft.  I
suspect that choice of brake pad accounts for the difference in perception here.

THere might be a relatively cheap alternative for '91 200Q, V8Q, and S4/S6
owners who want superior braking power.  THe rotor for the A8 measures about
312mm and has the same bolt pattern and offset as these others.  The Girling
dual-piston caliper is plenty large for all non-track applications.  In
fact, the pad surface area of that caliper is a good bit larger than for the
UFO pad.  So, what about using the A8 rotor, and fabricating an adaptor
bracker to reposition the Girling caliper?  The outer perimeter of the pads
might be a millimeter or two inside the rim of the rotor, but since the
outer center of the pad would be at the rim, this shouldn't matter.  Any
ideas on this?  (Actually, Keith at Anderson Bros. raised this as a
possibility.)  If it worked, we'd have UFO sized rotors for the price of A8
rotors (I have no idea how much they cost) and the adaptors.

- Jim