Never apologise for 'newbie' questions. That's why some of us COME here: to HELP newbies!
Brakes are an odd subject. You need to think about what you need from them.
You must already know that locked brakes do NOT slow you as quickly as brakes that are just ABOUT to lock. For precision, brakes seem to work best when they are absolutely on the BRINK of locking. Many of beleive it's abit more severe than that. Many of us can actually do something nicknamed as 'semi-lock'. That's where the wheels ARE still turning but as a SLOWER rate than they would 'choose' to do, ie., they'd 'like' to rotate at 30mph becasue the kart is DOING 30mph but we hold them at 25mph and continue to maintain that 'differential' of rotation speed right down to 10mph (or whatever!).
To be able to do that, you need VERY subtle 'pedal action' and you need to be able to FEEL the subtle stages through the pedal. If yoiu need TOO much pedal pressure, you can't 'feel' the changes; if you need too LITTLE pedal pressure, then the SLIGHTEST bump on the track will jerk your foot too mcuhb to remain in subtle control.
So, what would be ideal would be a set of brakes that you CAN lock and you CAN feel the 'reactions' of the kart but where that is neither at too MUCH pressure or too little.
A set of brakes set-up like that is described as having 'good modulation'.
You can adjust many of the 'parameters' of your brakes to GIVE you that.
1) Changing the pads MAY help... as will keeping the disk clean, smooth, oil free, grease free petrol free and rust free.
2) Changing the material of the pads (hard, soft, meadium) will help. Hard pads need mopre 'pressure and soft ones need LESS pressure. Soft ones can OVERheat too easily but will be working well form the frist few corners wqheras hard pads MAY take loonger to warm-up.
3) The amount of 'leverage' given by your pedal makes a HUGE difference. The further UP the pedal (and/or, the master cylinder lever, if yours has one) you put the cable/bar, the LESS movement of the pedal is need to LOCK the wheels BUT..... it will need more FOOT-pressure to lock the wheels. The further DOWN you move the cable, then the MORE movement will be needed of the pedal BUT the pressure required will have dropped dramatically.
4) Maintaining the hydraulics, cylinders, rubbers and brake fluid is CRITICAL to getting RELIABILITY from your brakes.
5) Finally, the material of the brake disk makes a difference. In MY experience, cast iron disks give a NICER degree of 'modulation' than do steel disks but there RAE some good steel ones out there....
6) Kart brakes very RARELY overheat unless you are in a VERY long race or your have prvented ANY air getting to them. Air ducts and grooves and holes (etc.) don't make a lot of difference!
The last point to consider..... kart brakes are CR*P and they are DESIGNED to be.
They are NOT intended to give GOOD braking. To do that would need them fitted to the FRONT wheels.... and that's why we BAN them.... to make the racing more FUN by extending the braking distance.... which is where most overtaking occurs. Look at F1.... VERY short braking distances= NO OVERTAKING!!
What you need is good MODULATION and then plenty of PRACTICE at using it!
Ian
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Brakes by 'btomj' (20 Mar 2009 @ 14:28)
