Suspension and braking

Except bigger drums sounds like a waste of time :) Surely theres a Puma or Fiesta set of rear discs that you can get slapped on? But then, the rears do shit all anyway, i'd just leave em alone if i was you.

Reply to
Dan405
Loading thread data ...

FFS, you only need about fifty quid. Get a job !

5 years ago when I was a student, I had plenty of money from my Summer job. Finished Uni with four grand sat in my bank account (unused loan) so bought a car.
Reply to
Nom

You can let any tyre down to increase it's contact patch, but the tyre sidewalls will have to flex more to keep more tread in contact with the road and will get hotter. Eventually if you drop the pressure too much the tyre will get too hot and disintegrate. Three words, Ford, Explorer and Firestone.

A wider tyre tyrewall needs to distort less than a narrower one to acheive a larger contact patch i.e for tyres of equal construction you should be able to safely run the wider tyre at a lower pressure (standard disclaimer applies here don't let your tyres down unless you know what you are doing) . This means that with a wider tyre, you can have a bigger contact patch but only because you can run it at a lower pressure than the equivilant narrower tyre.

If I'm told that what I am saying is wrong, I have the right to defend myself and prove myself correct.

-- James

Reply to
James

I'm going to procure a job. I've lots of other things to pay for before I get around to altering my brakes :).

Reply to
Doki

What James says is correct. The extra grip with wider tyres (assuming you run them at the same pressure) comes from the decreased distortion. This decreased distortion, changes the shape of the contact-patch (shorter and wider, as opposed to longer and thinner) and it's this that helps you out. The actual size of the contact patch, remains the same. Aswell as this, because they're distorted less in normal running, there is more "distortion-slack" available to absorb bumps.

Reply to
Nom

formatting link

Excellent link.

Reply to
Nom

I told you I was right!

Don't forget the softer rubber compound too...

-- James

Reply to
James

formatting link
>

His oil bible is pretty good too, although it doesn't cover ACEA ratings, it just does the APIs

-- James

Reply to
James

Nope, all Mk. 4 Fester products get rear drums.

Reply to
DervMan

i'm with lordy on this one too many statastitions make the bread when the hay's hot or something :)

Reply to
dojj

racing puma ;) but they are purely cosmetic on the ka if they were to be fited anyway :)

Reply to
dojj

Locking the fronts doesn't bother me as long as I can feel when I'm getting there through the pedal. It's locking the rears that would worry me :P. AFAIK the master cylinder and servo are the same on the various versions of the Ka. I might send off for that TIS thing to see if there are different bits and pieces for the two variants before I start fiddling around.

It would be nice to have just for left foot braking :P. I'm not a great fan of winding opposite lock one handed whilst operating the handbrake.

As I said above, AFAIK the master cylinders are the same on the vented and solid disk Ka, but the calipers are different to fit the vented disks, however I don't think there's any major difference in internal volume etc. I don't need big brakes, just vented ones to stop the fade.

I reckon I need to get bookwise :).

Reply to
Doki

go to a parts ealer ask for the part number for the plain disc m/c then ask for the part number for the vented disc m/c if they are different thenyou know, if they ain't then bob's your bucket of fish :)

Reply to
dojj

Okay, okay, with the odd exception.

We've a few rear disc conversions kicking about, and of course because the owners have spend two to four hundred notes, it dramatically improves braking . . . . . :)

Reply to
DervMan

Okay so don't listen to us and lock up one set of wheels long before the others, but by doing this, you're wasting your effort to uprate your brakes!

It's a straightforward swap. But you won't need to bother with larger rear drums, or larger rear brake cylinders.

Reply to
DervMan

So all 4 of your wheels lock at once then? I'd be pretty pissed off if the rears started locking at the same time as the fronts. It would add a whole new element of fun to emergency braking.

Doesn't the vented disk car have bigger back drums though? Surely there's some advantage to having em if Ford bother putting them on.

Reply to
Doki

Indeed. Is that sort of thing on the TIS (ISTR you saying you had it), all the exploded diagrams etc. the parts desk bring up?

Reply to
Doki

When all 4 wheels lock at once you've got your brake bias about right ... for motor racing.

For road use you probably will want the fronts to lock first then the rears, with a small difference in pedal pressure from front to rear locking.

A word of caution on setting up brake biases, if you set your brake bias so that all four wheels lock simulataneously in the wet (or other low grip conditions) you will find the rears lock a lot earlier than the fronts in the dry (i.e. high grip conditions). It's all down to weight transfer...

-- James

Reply to
James

But we're not disagreeing !

I run wider tyres on my car, and they DO give more dry grip. But it's not directly because there's more rubber on the road - because there isn't :)

Reply to
Nom

To be fair, as its a rear disc conversion on a car which no model has rear discs, i would think that two to four hundred notes was a fairly good price?

Reply to
Dan405

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.