Re: Corrado Brakes -- Summary so far

[Riley McDowall <roog@home.com>]

At 12:35 pm -0500 7/2/99, 16V JASON wrote:
>	Okay, but how often are you on the *track*?  Of course, the 11s
>will offer
>additional fade resistance on the track, but answer me one thing... do you
>still think there will be an appreciable gain in performance on the street?

I'm not on the track very often.  Maybe once a year, actually...

Yes, I do think the 11s will give me an appreciable gain in performance on
the street (or more accurately, the highway).  And I'm not just engaging in
Kevin Fry semantics, either :)

>	That's not good.... but you're neglecting the fact that you don't have
>performance pads on your car... I guarantee you I could get 11s to fade
>after one hard stop with 13" rotors... that's the nature of the beast!

Metalmasters may not be uber-performance pads, but the one thing they do
have going for them, other than reduced dusting, is fade resistance.  I
don't doubt that your Ferodos are better, but I think the reason I'm seeing
this fade now is the tires I have on the car.  215/40/16 Yoko A520s give me
a LOT more dry grip than the 205/45 Proxes FZ4 I had before.  Since I can
brake that much harder, I'm putting more heat into the system over a
shorter period of time.... so maybe if I max-out the 10.1s with steel
lines, Castrol/Ford fluid, and Ferodo 3466es, I'll have reduced fade enough
to make me happy.  Or, maybe not.  Owen has a pretty sweet set-up with his
10.1s and yet he gets fade, too.

Now, consider this: the cost of upgrading 10.1s to their top potential is
going to be more than $400US, right? ($150 for brake lines, $125 for
drilled front Brembos, $25 for fluid, $50 for pads, and $50 for
installation of those rear brake lines, which I refuse to do myself).  The
cost of an upgrade to 11" fronts is ~$600US (assuming you're still getting
steel lines, Ferodos, and good fluid on top of the parts needed for the
conversion, and assuming you aren't stupid enough to buy the conversion
from Autotech).  And don't forget that the 10.1s that are already on your
car are worth around $200 to another A1 owner.  Doesn't look like it costs
so much anymore, does it?

>	Okay, I did this last night.  First stop, 93mph-0, full threshold
>braking.
> I accelerated to 104mph, and repeated the same stop, with a minimal

Your tires may be good, but they're not great....

>increase in pedal effort.  When I was going about 20mph on the second run,
>I mashed the pedal-- and instantly locked the fronts.  I'm sorry, but I

And I could cite this as further evidence of that! :)

>	Now, TMB will remember (and I have it on video) after our little <ahem>
>drag race in Cincy, I did *one* hard stop from about 80 to 0, and my pads
>were smoking.... and I had just about *zero* braking left.  I then

Right.  But by your own admission, you had the worst pads known to man.  :)

>make an appreciable difference in overall stopping distance.  The answer,
>so far, in my mind, is "probably not".  Why? Because noone has been able to
>give me proof that the tires are not the limiting factor in braking
>ability.  I understand that increased fade resistance and improved pedal

Are we reading the same thread?  You may not be convinced, but I am...

>Benefits:
>Disadvantages:
[all snipped.  Astonishingly, jason has summarized both sides fairly! :) ]

A lot of maybes there, eh?

Bottom line, for me, is this: the 11" conversion doesn't cost as much, in
the end, as people think (especially if you have 10.1s already); it DOES
offer improved braking (as evidenced by all the reports from people who
have them or have driven them); and dammit, they look GOOD.  There, I said
it. :)



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