Do you know your stopping distances

obi_waynne

Administrator
Staff member
Moderator
Points
1,157
Location
Deal, Kent UK
Car
A3 1.4 TFSI 150 COD
How well do you know your car and i'ts stopping distances? Are your cars brakes any good?

What is your stopping distance from 70mph? If you don't know you should really try and find out;)

Have you ever stopped (he he) to think about how important your brakes are?
 
stopping distance ive no idea

but are your brakes any good - for them being the V6 setup nope thats why they will be getting changed very shortly

brakes are very important but id say tyres are most important. poor tyres will increase your stopping distances or cause the wheels to lock up triggering the ABS
 
No idea on stopping distances but my brakes are fantastic. At 310mm my rear brakes are bigger than a-lot of peoples front brakes. Teamed with Goodyear F1 Asymmetric's - it stops pretty damn sharp.

I have a G-meter on the iPhone (uses data from the accelerometers). Always keep meaning to see how much G I could pull under braking.
 
woop my fronts are bigger than your rear only by 2 mm tho.
what are your fronts 350mm?

345mm

W8 has 312mm fronts... which is why I had to change them for 2 piece racing discs as it weighs in at a whopping 1980kg. R36 ~only~ weighs 1650 and has much bigger discs :)
 
most road cars made today have similar stopping power built into thier brakes, so the only real reason for getting rear ended is the numpty behind you following too closely. even the massive brakes kits that stop the car in less than half the DVLA stopping distance shouldnt cause an accident. if you notice a car slowing, brake, and if you are a good driver the space you have left should be ample.

what i find amusing is the new advice that many of my younger friends are being given, that you should use only the brakes to slow for a new speed limit, for years now i simply go off the power a few dozen yards before the change, maybe downshift - it saves the brakes, and gives better fuel economy, as many more inexperienced drivers slow too much and have to use the gas to get back to the limit.

apparantly this is to let the person behind you know that you will be slowing down via the rear lights, IMO an individual should not be put in charge of a vehicle if they cannot judge changes in speed and distance by perception of the remaining space alone.

more directly on topic - no idea, usually about four seconds away from impact with the car in front, by the way anyone know why a 10 year old citroen would fishtail wildly under heavy braking?
 
Personally I'd rather use brakes to lose speed rather than a forced downchange.

OK, it wears the pads but they're much cheaper than clutches.

The other option is trailing the throttle but this can really wind up following drivers if you start adjusting your speed 500 miles before a speed limit change simply to avoid braking.
 
most road cars made today have similar stopping power built into thier brakes,

what i find amusing is the new advice that many of my younger friends are being given, that you should use only the brakes to slow for a new speed limit,

kez_11.gif
brakes vary hugely between make and models of cars. i certainly notice a big difference between mine and the wifes golf and parents old ashtray. the only thing they have similer is they will easily stop well before the highway codes stopping differences.

i use engine braking to slow down along with the brakes, as Hdi said it puts more strain on the transmission using the engine braking as well as you need to use as low a gear as possible. i know id rather pay £100 for a good set of front pads than the close to grand for new clutch and flywheel for my box
 
It all fits in with the system of car control as advocated by all police forces in the UK.

Much as it might seem very basic, there is a lot to be gained from separating inputs to the car's major controls.

Brakes are brakes, clutches and gearboxes aren't.
 
Strange then that alot of automatic (and automated manual) gearboxes automatically engine brake if they sense you braking alot on a hill.

The R36 does this if left in Auto mode (DSG) and so does our Freelander (CVT Auto)
 
I'know the Calibra is pretty much "stop on a dime" with the 328mm disks on the front (another courtenay upgrade lol) which is interesting when you look at the car from the side because the disks completely fill the alloy space behind lol. I'll have to try and find out.
 
With the citroen's fishtailing - are citroen still using torsion (sp?) bar suspension on the rears ala saxo's? I know this could cause mental oversteer in the right circumstances.

I know the stopping distance of my car, but I couldn't tell you it in feet or seconds.
 
In dry/fair weather you must give yourself at least a two second gap between you and another car.
In wet you double it and in snow/ice five seconds or more but if it was me and I really didn't have to I would not risk driving in snow/ice.
 
OK, then try anchoring up at 70mph with full brake pedal force. Now get out and look back at the point where you buried the brake pedal.

It's quite disturbing, even with the very best of performance cars, to see how far you travelled whilst braking before coming to a halt.
 
that's ~ legal speed limit, about 1 street light pole.

close i tried it tonight 65 indicated so around 60mph real let off the brakes at 10mph as didnt want to come to a full stop with new brakes. bt phone pole i recon are around 25mtr apart slammed the brakes on at one pole and was off the brakes approx 5 mtrs from the next.
did manage to knock off the carputer in the process
happy with that but no real thinking time involved
 

Similar threads


Please watch this on my YouTube channel & Subscribe.


Back
Top