Thread: Larger rear brakes???

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I am building a 32 Ford street rod and currently have the 9" small bearing Ford rear end set up with 10"X2" drum brakes and 10 1/2" disc up front. Would it be worth the expense of adding a large 11" to 11 1/2" disc brake setup on the rear since I will be running large 235/75/15 rear tires?

my car has 4 wheel disks and I really notice the improved stopping power. I don't think they are nessacary but saftery is always nice

I vote no, your fronts do the majority of the stopping if everything is set up properly.
My 2 cents.
Ken

I say no too. I have the small brakes on the rear of my 27 with 40 Ford brakes up front and it stopped on the proverbial dime. My Sons T has Wilwood discs up front and small Fords in the rear (8 inch rear) and it stops better than mine even.

You can actually over brake a car to where it is touchy when stopping.

Don

If you ever want to see where this is real obvious look at one of the super bikes, the fronts verses the rears on diameter and caliper size.
Ken

I only did mine cause I was swapping the rear anyway when I bought the car. I got a great deal on a complete s/u from a 92 firebird. works well with the factory mc and prop valve. If I already had a good rear in the car I wouldn't change just for the disks.

well if you have a 3 wide inch tire on the front and 10 to 15 wide on the back of the car i would think you want abit more braking in the back with bigger tire and rim you are stopping more spining mass and would have to do with weight of car bigger disc may run cooler add more clamping surface but may not need to spend the added money

Originally Posted by Ken Thurm

If you ever want to see where this is real obvious look at one of the super bikes, the fronts verses the rears on diameter and caliper size.
Ken

Correct, The CHP trains their motor officers that 90% of the braking is on the "front wheel/tire" of their motorcycles. Much more than the 70/30 bias that I have always heard discussed.

Originally Posted by pat mccarthy

well if you have a 3 wide inch tire on the front and 10 to 15 wide on the back of the car i would think you want abit more braking in the back with bigger tire and rim you are stopping more spining mass and would have to do with weight of car bigger disc may run cooler add more clamping surface but may not need to spend the added money

Pat, I understand and agree with your point.

But, on my roadster I have found that I have plenty of bias adjustment just using the Wilwood brake bias valve. It's on a 32 High Boy, steel body, 350/350 Chevy, and an 8" Ford rear end.

I think cars with "very narrow" front tires can over power the front tires traction and might need to move the bias to the rear as necessary. We found this necessary on our aircooled VW drag car because of the light weight on the front end.

Originally Posted by John Palmer

Pat, I understand and agree with your point.

But, on my roadster I have found that I have plenty of bias adjustment just using the Wilwood brake bias valve. It's on a 32 High Boy, steel body, 350/350 Chevy, and an 8" Ford rear end.

I think cars with "very narrow" front tires can over power the front tires traction and might need to move the bias to the rear as necessary. We found this necessary on our aircooled VW drag car because of the light weight on the front end.

yep i see both side of this .i like a wide front tire .long ago a had a bad ride with small front tires .on cars under 3000 you can get way with more front bias ( i think ???may be wrong) with smaller tires. but with tub out cars and heavy cars with no gear (engine braking ) i think the back brake see abit more work out. on my GTO i use a big ford drum brake with disc up front that were Gm and would stop very good .now i have the wilwoods disc up front to get some weight off the car and still stops fine but thinking of going with the rear wilwood street dics in the back some day more for looks and the parking brakes

Yes. I can see that I really don't have enough brake or tire on the front with the small 14" rim and 195/70/14 tires. I was thinking that I might sort of cheat the system by hanging a little more brake on the rear, but agree with Ken that the majority of braking is going to be done by the front brakes. I just keep looking at my son's Nissan with the 13" front disc and 12" rears and wonder how I can drive in heavy traffic with these guys shutting down on a dime in front of me! But the guys such as Don driving these things daily should know if what I have now will be ok to run. It just makes a guy a little bit nervous and aprehensive. That "big and little" tire and wheel combo look makes it difficult to engineer a good brake system doesn't it!

Also don't forget about solid axle vs indepentant front and anti dive angles for braking weight transfer

no matter what the vehicle it is a total package deal to get the optimun stopping force

need more rear brake? get a parachute!!!!!

Run whatca got--
Got the same setup on my roadster and it'll throw ya thru the windsheild if ya really get on the binders.
Bias set @ 60/40

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

Also don't forget about solid axle vs indepentant front and anti dive angles for braking weight transfer

no matter what the vehicle it is a total package deal to get the optimun stopping force

need more rear brake? get a parachute!!!!!

can you use the parrachute on the street ? hey how do you like the cold blast were getting damn cold weather

Yep Pat, did use the chute on our block one day--actually had Corey and 2 neighbor kids setting between the wheel tubs, did a first/second gear wheelie, pulled the shoe and hard on the brakes slid to stop at the end of the road

Found manual on that pin boring machine, will be sending it over

Was able to upload pic of the Monza into my gallery and avator