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Old 10-16-2006, 05:45 PM   #10
MNBoxster
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Posts: 3,308
Quote:
Originally Posted by pecivil
of course hp has nothing to do with how a car stops....

but it has a LOT to do with how fast the car is going when it tries to stop, 'eh?

so as a cars TOP speed increases, the braking capacity needs to increase to be able to stop in a reasonable distance, correct?

so if my boxster, or twin turbo 911, or whatever stops from 60mph, yes the same brakes will work just dandy

However if my boxster is stopping from 150mph, BUT my 911 twin turbo is stopping from 185mph, then we need better brakes on the turbo, if it is to slow down in the same distance as the boxster. The key is stopping in the same (or lesser) distance.

Stopping DISTANCE is the key here, Jim. I could easily stop my twin turbo with my stock boxster brakes, cept it may take a bit longer to do it.

so, what we end up with is:

a higher hp car needs bigger brakes

exactly what I said in the beginning, and exactly what car makers tend to do with their sports cars.

Hi,

Again, HP has nothing to do (relatively speaking) with the top speed of a car, it has to do with how fast you attain that top speed. Most cars are aerodynamically limited, not power limited, to how fast they can go. You're never gonna hit 150 MPH in a Boxster unless the Top is Up anyway.

Your arguement about the Boxster at 150 MPH vs the TT at 185 MPH is illogical, you're comparing apples to oranges.

For a street driven Boxster, how often (if ever) do you go 150MPH or even 100MPH? And, assuming there are times which you do, how often are you gonna need to panic Brake at that speed? And who says that the Brake upgrade will be sufficient?

The differences in Stopping Distance are really negligible, less than 10% between the two Brake setups. Given the cost and such, I just don't believe it's worth it. I think most doing the upgrade are going for the Bling of it all and justifying it with arguements like yours.

The value to the Brake upgrade is on the Track where the smaller Brakes will fade more readily. On the Street, where you don't have a constant application of the Brakes without a cooling period in-between, they don't offer that much advantage...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99
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