Big brakes won’t stop your car any shorter — Proper Care & Feeding of Cars with Jason Cammisa

A big-brake upgrade won’t stop your car any sooner. Stopping distance is determined by the grip your tires have, not how powerful your brakes are. So unless you’re overheating (fading) your brakes to the point where they can no longer lock your wheels, a big-brake upgrade won’t actually accomplish anything.

Bigger brakes have more thermal capacity, meaning they can stop more times before they overheat — but upgrading just the front brakes can increase front bias, overutilizing those brakes relative to the rears and therefore reducing any benefit you might have gotten in the first place.

If you want to upgrade your brakes, you’re better off upgrading the brake pads — at both ends — and fluid. Then, add cooling ducts. And if that’s not enough, make sure you upgrade the whole system — front, rear, and master cylinder.

But you’re too cheap to do that, aren’t ya. Yeah, we thought so.

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“Proper Care & Feeding of Cars” is a techsplainer series hosted by automotive journalist Jason Cammisa. Using equal measures of science, humor, and just plain common sense, it aims to help enthusiasts become the best car experts they can be. Covering everything from car-care to advanced driving techniques, new episodes of PC&F will debut regularly on ISSIMI’s YouTube and Instagram channels, as well as the @JasonCammisa Insta.

#ProperCareAndFeeding #PCF

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When he said "they cost a fortune and you're a cheap fuck", I felt that.
I never felt more understood.

[DEBOSSGARAGE]

Missed you buddy. Only you can insult me 12 times in a 3 minute video and I completely agree with everything you said

[zacharyparis]

Can’t talk, busy installing giant brakes on my Tercel.

[saifabdalkader]

I have a feeling that he wasn’t wearing pants

[timmietz]

This video was instantly disliked by Brembo and Stoptech.

[rapzeh]

Thanks, Jason, you changed my mind. I will go with plan B and paint my drumbrakes red.

[dougrobinson]

When I upgraded the wheels on my MINI, the stock brakes looked ridiculous, so I upgraded fronts and rears. Funny thing is, the Wilwood rotors and calipers were lighter than stock due to aluminum rotor hats and aluminum calipers, combine that with the much lighter wheels and tires, and it was win-win.

[spikefishproductions]

What you meant to say was:
Big brakes wont necessarily make your car stop shorter.
1) It may depending on whether a specific stop exceeds the thermal capacity of the braking system given the frictional capacity of the road/tire interface and the Momentum (mass-velocity) of the vehicle ( plus the rotation mv of the wheel/tire/brake ).
2) Modern cars can dynamically compensate for brake bias. As always, it depends.
3) Fixed caliper brakes tend to have better brake feel and modulation. This can effect distance a bit, and helps when limits are approached. ABS tuning also affects stopping distance and feel, and a BBK has to be compatible with the ABS to work optimally.
3) OK, maybe its just better to say it won’t make you stop shorter since there are so many dependencies.
Oh, and you can’t make butter with a toothpick.

[thekiller]

I just paint my breaks and use stickers for extra crispy rice points.

[Isaiah-ftnx]

Regardless of what you have to say, I upgraded a Jeep with 37” tires to bigger front rotors and moved my calipers out further. It made a big difference. Increased my braking leverage.

[ozzybc.]

Jason cammisa, Chris Harris, Matt Farah, Tiff needell podcast. Could you imagine?

[matthewbrown]

What usually works for me explaining this is "Can your current brakes lock up the wheels? Then bigger brakes aren't going to help you stop any shorter."

[MBergyman]

I have just stumbled on Jason C's "the grumpy old man" video series. Enjoying them.

[raptor]

I have a set of cross drilled and vented rotors with some aggressive pads and I love them.

[votebluenomatterwho]

Brake fluid first, pads second, and ducting will do wonders for pad life and preventing brake fade, been there done that, ducting made an enormous difference.

[VarioFelce]

Helpful and funny, you're too good Sandler ❤️

[LatestHour]

They definitely add more weight, one thing most people who buy the Z51 package on a Corvette don't think about. Lets be honest, most people want big brakes for the way they look.

[nickrr]

Jason posting videos regularly? Finally! something in my life I can look forward to that won't disappoint!

[madbikeboysins]

Jason, thank christ you're regularly posting again, but this time it's with new and improved sweary pants upgrade. Awesome. As for the brakes - totally spot on.

[tubsgmail]

I’m not religious or anything, but thank god for Jason Cammisa.