Brakes - conventional master vs balance bar setup?

[dontlifttoshift]

First, apologies if this is in the wrong section or it has been covered but i couldn't find it in a search. I have a wilwood balance bar pedal assembly left over from another project. It's five pounds lighter than my current setup but that's not enough reason for me to put it in the car. Is there an advantage/disadvantage to this setup on a car that is primarily street driven and sees a bunch of autocross. Also worth noting is that this car runs discs and drums in the rear with no change planned in the near future, it actually stops quite good.

I read some stuff on StopTech's site but they really didn't make a convincing argument for either option so I figured I would ask here.

Donny

[nullshine]

As far as I know, a regular in-line tandem master and a balance bar setup will accomplish much the same thing, ASSuming that you've got your braking system scaled somewhat properly (ie you're not really over/under braked on either end of the car).

What the balance bar setup has, that the in-line tandem setup doesn't, is an extra level of tuning. Using the balance bar, you can tune how much force you're applying to either the front or rear circuit, allowing you to overcome a front or rear bias problem. With a tandem in-line master, I believe the only tuning aid commonly available is a rear-circuit proportioning valve, which does have limits to how much it can tune out.

I'm thinking the balance bar is probably better for tuning bias, since I would think it would provide a more linear force adjustment, whereas the proportioning valve has a knee point where it starts acting. Just a thought.

That's the way I understand it, maybe someone can elaborate more if necessary.

[dontlifttoshift]

that is what I am getting out of the information I am reading. It seems you are actually better off with a prop valve on the street because the rear brakes will have more pressure during light braking vs. using the balance bar. The balance bar shines in a race type situation where you are on the brakes or not, not in between.

No one wants to say if one setup is better than the other?

How about your personal preference?

[nullshine]

It seems you are actually better off with a prop valve on the street because the rear brakes will have more pressure during light braking vs. using the balance bar.

No one wants to say if one setup is better than the other?

How about your personal preference?

I think I see what you mean about the possible advantages of a prop valve on the street.

"Better" is (in many cases) pretty relative to the application.

Since you asked about personal preferences, mine is for the inline tandem master with a prop valve. My car is a low-buck almost pure street vehicle, and will be fairly well biased just based on rotor and caliper selection; so right away there are 3 strikes against the balance bar setup for my application.
1: $$$
2: Availability of parts while traveling.
3: No justifiable advantage for my application.

For you, I think you'll need to decide on whether your car is more race, or more street.
Depending on budgetary concerns, if there's another aspect of your car that could really benefit from the $$$ you could get selling that balance bar setup, you could get more bang for your bucks by applying that cash and time to an area that needs it more (since you say the car stops pretty well anyhow).

I'd certainly be interested in listening to people who have run balance bar setups on the street, or can give another perspective.

[dontlifttoshift]

1. The money isn't an issue I already have both setups.
2. Parts availability is a wash, I got wilwood masters either way.
3. That's the way I am seeing it right now. Neither one packages better than the other and I am not seeing a huge advantage in braking performance, unless someone comes along and tells us we're both idiots I will run the standard setup.

Thanks