What to Look for When Buying a Performance Braking System

Bigger brakes mean a faster car, that is a fact. When you need less time and distance to slow down, the vehicle maintains better speed and that will bring you around a track faster. It’s also far less expensive to upgrade them than do the same with engine parts.

But they come in handy in normal, day-to-day conditions as well. An upgraded braking system will do a better job of stopping the car, which reduces the possibility of a collision.

Whether people choose to modify them for use on the track or an increase in safety, calipers and rotors are the most frequently modified parts of any car.

When thinking about an efficient braking system, two things come to mind: stopping power and effective optimal heat dissipation.

While the first is obvious for everyone, the second is often overlooked, although it is essential for optimal braking. The heat generated by the friction between the rotor and the pads reaches very high temperatures so, if the system overheats, the parts wear out quicker, become less effective, or fail altogether.

Unless we are talking about a very old car, your vehicle should be fitted with disc brakes in the front and either drum brakes or the same disc system for the rear wheels.

Drum brakes are not as effective because they generate and maintain a lot of heat, which exponentially decreases their longevity compared to the alternative.

If you have the ancient drums on your classic car’s front axle and you have not replaced them with rotors yet, prioritize this and thank us after. It will completely change the way your car behaves.

Modern cars obviously use disc brakes but some feature drums on the rear axle. Those who want to upgrade them will find a range of aftermarket alternatives, but unless the car has a big increase in engine power compared to the stock setup, only upgrading your front brakes should do the trick.

The first and most important thing you should consider is what kind of upgrade you are looking for. If your car has modifications that lead to an increased power output, then you should look for a complete system upgrade. That means bigger and better calipers, rotors, cross-drilled or ceramic discs, racing pads, and reinforced brake hoses.

On the other hand, if you just want to improve the stopping power of your standard vehicle you can just upgrade selected parts of the braking system.

The cheapest upgrade are direct fit rotors, which are the same size as the factory ones but use technologies that help improve heat dissipation. These include grooved, cross-drilled, or dimpled rotors.

There are also carbon-ceramic rotors, but they rarely come in direct fit sizes for vehicles that were not fitted with something similar to standard.

You can get bigger ceramic rotors for your car but that means you also must change the calipers, mounting brackets, and hoses. Fortunately, most premium aftermarket manufacturers offer kits that include all the necessary parts.

Performance calipers are usually made from lightweight aluminum with multiple piston layouts and can be fixed or floating.

The first type is usually found on high-performance vehicles and, as the name suggests, are mounted in a fixed position, and use oppositely placed pistons to apply equal pressure to the pads.

Floating calipers are far more common. They move on a slider that is fixed to the chassis and usually use pistons placed on the inside. They push the inner pad on the rotor and as the caliper body moves, it pulls the outer pad against the rotor.

Brake pads are another critical component. They come in different materials that range from organic to semi-metallic or ceramic. The way they work and the heat they can withstand is vastly different.

The choice of pads depends on the way you intend to use the vehicle, but a very important characteristic is hardness. The softer the pads, the better they suit performance but will wear out very quickly, while harder pads deteriorate under very high temperatures.

So, the extent of the upgrade to your braking system depends on many factors but you can have one even if you are on a tight budget and you don’t plan on adding power to your engine. A pair of standard-size grooved or perforated aftermarket rotors, a set of good pads, new hoses, and fresh fluid should improve braking performance.