why do bigger brakes make you stop faster?

[996TT02]

doogz said:

See, this is the point that’s really worthy of investigation here.

At 150mph, with some downforce/ground effect, will a sports car’s brakes be able to overcome the immense rotational inertia of the rotating assembly, by providing enough clamping force, therefore enough torque to lock the wheels at that speed?

I’ve driven that fast before. Can’t say it occurred to me to stamp on the middle pedal as hard as I possibly could to see if the above statement could be true though.

Really ain't that much downforce ordinarily, in fact many cars still experience lift. Much aero simply reduces the lift, and if there is downforce it is not measured in hundreds of kg.

The angular momentum of the rotating masses is nothing compared to the forces required to brake the vehicle.

The actual "clamping force" or braking power is a function of the amount of servo assistance (hence pad pressures) and if you don't have that the differences in diameters of the master and calliper pistons, basic physics, small master piston diameter and large calliper piston = great force at pad.

You can make absolutely tiny brakes stop unfeasibly large and heavy vehicles, the main thing is that you won't be able to do it many times (or from high speeds) so it's not done.

My GF's "old" Fiesta diesel had ludicrous brakes, not because they were large, but because they were seriously over-servoed. It was very difficult to drive that car smoothly, the lightest touch on the brakes had you straining on the seatbelts, each time you had to rapidly "cover" the brakes such as when someone may or may not be exiting from a side road in front of you - it was impossible to avoid a very uncomfortable and totally unintended rapid deceleration. I'd classify them as "extremely powerful" but 1) they were tiddlers, and 2) no, they would not stop the vehicle any faster. Or slower, than larger brakes on the same car otherwise identically set up.

[996TT02]

Kawasicki said:

996TT02 said:

You'd have to upgrade your filters instead.

Should I fit a filter that's bigger than I need, smaller than I need, or the appropriate size for my needs? It's the last one isn't it. It just seems so obvious now that I put pen to paper.

You writing everything down? You luddite, go back to your cart and horse.