Front Brake Selection Help! 1970 Trans AM

[Ron Sutton]

Ah okay. How do you know when it's too much and what kind of numbers you should be aiming for front to back?
The answer to figuring out most things in cars in a combination of formulas & experience. You can find & buy the formulas out there. But, I think formulas are dangerous without experience. For someone with experience, formulas just help us be accurate & measure what we're doing.

The first thing to know ... is almost every part of the system plays a key role to braking force: piston area, brake pad CoF, pedal ratio, M/C size, rotor size. You've probably heard it a hundred times in many "car" areas ... it's the "total package or combination" that matters. Brake systems are the same. I'd be happy to help you work out a system for your car. If you want to learn how to do systems yourself, I'd suggest you buy a brake book get the formula & start testing.

Also, how do you factor in other ideas like caliper strength?
I'm sure there are engineering formulas, but again, you still need to know what numbers you're looking for. Here, experience is everything. You can reach out to guys with knowledge & experience in the area you need, or simply tap into the experts at brake companies.

Because, all that clamping force on a D52 is not good for it compared to a big 6 piston caliper in an hour long road race or something.
If you're referring to the Wilwood D52, it's stronger than you think it is. It is a beefy caliper with massive aluminum crossover bridges held together by four 3/8" bolts, where most of the 6-piston calipers are held together with four 5/16" bolts. The stiffness of the 3/8" bolts in the D52 caliper is 51.7% stiffer than the 5/16" bolts in most other Wilwood calipers.

I'm not saying the D52 is a better road race caliper. It is just better than you may think it is. A a well designed two or four piston caliper will typically flex less for a given clamping force than a six piston caliper ... due to length.

But if we were building a serious road race car in the 3000-3400# range with wide slicks, some aero & maximum mechanical grip, we would wouldn't want to run any of these calipers. We'd be deciding between Brembo, AP & Alcon monoblock racing calipers.

How do you really factor in all the information to make an actual brake system choice on an application like this, which alot of us have?

I use formulas & experience. But I have to ask a lot of questions to get clarity of the application, purpose & goals. Again, I'd be happy to help you work out a system for your car.