The "Braking" Point :P

Recently I seem to be receiving quite a lot of questions regarding brakes and through the series of questions, a rather acceptable explanation surfaced. So I'm here today to share what I'd come up with in the past few days.

In a simple explanation and disregarding all hydraulic circuits. A brake system consists of 3 parts, the caliper, the rotor and the brake pads.

[u]Brake Pads:[/u]
Let's start with the simplest component - the brake pads is a body of friction material glued together with a strong adhesive. Its (brake pads) main function is to provide friction when it comes in contact with the brake rotors.

[u]Brake Calipers:[/u]
The caliper is a clamp which forces the brake pads together to transfer kinetic energy to heat energy through friction, and the pots referred to in the braking system are the pistons found in the calipers. The more "pots" (pistons) you have, the more evenly distributed the brake force will be (improving brake pad wear).

[u]Brake Rotors:[/u]
The brake rotors are essentially round metal (or other material) plates attached to the cars knuckle to provide a friction surface and a simple mechanism for braking loads to take place. The brake rotors are also known as discs (due to their shape). Since the rotor's function is to stop the car by means of energy dispersion, it can be reasoned that, the larger the discs the better.

"Why?", you ask. The larger the disc, the more heat capacitance the rotors can take and the more surface area exposed to air cooling it can provide. Although, modern day, albeit exotic materials are slowly being introduced to make the rotors more facilitating to heat and its effects (warping and cracking).

Another function of the rotor, as I've mentioned above, is to provide a simple mechanism for braking loads to take place. This simple machine acts on the Law of Moment, whereby, M=Fd (M-Moment, F-Force, d-distance). To put this machine into perspective, let's assume all forces acting upon the system are specific points. The mounting point of the rotor will act as the fulcrum, the diameter from the mounting point until the brake pad engagement area will act as the length, and the brake pad engagement area will be the point where the force acts upon this mechanism. With respect to the equation for the Law of Moment, it is seen that the diameter of the rotor (d) is inversely proportional to the amount of force (F) is needed to achieve the same moment. In laymen's terms, the larger the rotor, the less force will be needed to achieve the same amount of braking.

From the explanation above, the larger the disc, the more powerful this effect will be.

Silver Banana brakes serviced.

The Silver Banana had seen better days since the track attack at Sepang. So recently, I'd decided to pamper it a 'lil by running around to complete a few outstanding tasks.

The morning started off with body work to adjust both the passenger side doors due to some careless driving by the previous owner. This was done very quickly by Ah Boon, my panel-working specialist :P

After that, I decided to resolve the brakes issue by fully servicing the entire brake system. So I made a few calls to a few BCM fellows to arrange the work to be done, and some friends of mine to get a hold of some steel braided brake hoses for my Silver Banana as reward for the good work she's done at Sepang! I made calls all over Pg and found two places to keep stock for Perdana and decided to get those from my long time exhaust fabricator, Soon Yee exhaust located at Paya Terubong (near the Permata sports complex). I got a set of Improve stainless steel braided brake hoses for RM200+

I immediately rushed over to meet with BCM Hush Puppy as I was running late. As I was approaching the Penang Bridge, who else to call but BCM Hush Puppy to tell me he'll be running a little late as he's still in Kulim resolving another car's issues. So I called up BCM 003 to meet up for a "parts run" to get the service kit and brake fluid.


We then met up with BCM Hush Puppy at his workshop to service my brakes. We worked through the entire evening and completed everything close to 1a.m. due to a great deal of distractions like chatting and doing stupid stuff just for kicks.

Here are a few pictures of the new SS braided brake hoses installed and the old set of hoses lying on the discs. Notice the difference in diameter, which will affect the pressure applied to the caliper's pistons, and how SHINY it looks!


These are the old set of original brake hoses and Bendix brake pads after a round of Sepang Open Track Day :) The hoses are swollen and the pads have been worn shiny. At closer inspection, the pads' resin (the stuff that holds the abrasive material together) was heated so much that its dissipated! Kesian, those were super nice pads.



BCM Hush Puppy decided to service the entire brake system instead so he had gone and thoroughly cleaned the master pump of all gunk and grime, then reinstalled all the bushes and valves, and refilled the entire bled system with Bosch Dot 4 brake and clutch fluid. Nice :)

Look at how clean it is from the top.

As I had not updated these items, I've also replace the stock slinky springs with these fatty Apex units for a more controlled ride at highway speeds. These springs are just the best units to try out for road use. It's stiffer rate is excellent for dents and potholes (you won't feel a thing) but a little too softly sprung for bumps. Here are a couple of pictures of the Apex springs... Pardon the dirt!

Here's a little bonus material for everyone to ponder upon. Some call it 4-throttle (for the obvious reasaons) and some call it ITBs (Independant Throttle Bodies)... And this set isn't for any ol' Toyota, it's for the Honda's screamer of an NA... These beaut units are for the B16A!!!

- B16A ITB pictures courtesy of BCM 003