Silly question about brake positioning

jjmoriset

Registered
I've noticed many models of brands of cars. I'm a car nut. Don't fault me. One thing I have noticed is that many manufacturers pick different caliper positioning on their brake assemblies. For instance ours are to the front of the rotor and towards the top. I've seen some straight to the front and some straight behind the rotor. What I am wondering is does this "positioning" of the caliper make a difference in the ability to stop? Does it provide more or less braking stability to the car? Does it have any bearing on the ability for the entire brake system to do it's job efficiently? Or is it merely the design of the suspension that renders the designer no other place but "there" to put the caliper assembly? You would think depending on it's position it would in effect lift the car (when placed to the rear of the rotor) or dive the car in sharp braking (when placed towards the front of the rotor). Or am I missing a fundemental element of physics? Am I reading to much into a simple physics application?

This is just something for all of us to chew on and maybe someone here with an inkling of engineering under their belt or someone with a better quality education than mine could shed light to the ignorant masses about.

Dang I felt deep for a moment. (back to shallow) I love my purty pearl white Linkin!
 
RE: Silly question about brake positioning

If you apply X pressure to a disc, it's always X pressure regardless where on the disc the pressure is applied.

The minimal differences in heat/cooling might influence position for the calipers but I doubt it very much. Perhaps an engineer decided he'd bleed off more heat if he put them on front instead of the back of the disc but with all the other crap surrounding the calipers and discs I doubt it.

Most likely the position is dictated by available parts and how they'll fit into the rest of the design in that part of the car or even how they'll look on the car. If the manufacturer already has machines set up to crank out thousands of parts if they're mounted one way but they'd have to outsource or retool the machines if they mount them another way.. odds are damn good they'll choose whichever is cheapest without the need to retool a bunch of machines ;)


Chad
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RE: Silly question about brake positioning

It is primarily dictated by packaging, cost, and the potential to use components on a wide array of cars.

As for engineering, if you have an off-road vehicle, you probably want the brake as high as possible to keep it from getting all muddy (not that it matters, it's getting muddy anyway). On formula 1 cars, they have the brake calipers at the bottom of the rotor, to keep the center of gravity as low as possible.
 
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