Upgrading from kelsey hayes to???

BillGrissom said
Stainless Steel Brake Co got their start in upgrading K-H calipers w/ stainless pistons that wouldn't corrode and jam. The main market was Mustang, but the Mopar A-body calipers are very similar. I think they are still in business selling better calipers or refurbing them. I recall another company which made calipers to fit your disk spindles, with an aerospace name, and recall seeing them still in business. Haven't been there, just looked at disk brake option long ago for my 1965 Dart, so don't quote me or flame me.

Yes, some people get ticked off here. One thing I try to point out that really upsets some is that brakes don't stop the car, tires do. If the brakes can stop the wheel from turning, that is sufficient and no bigger brakes can do anything more. Of course you don't want to skid the tires, but brake to the point just before they skid (or pump pedal if they skid). If repeated braking from high speed, then larger rotors and pads can dissipate the heat faster to avoid pad fade (melting), but that is only needed for road-racing on twisty turns or for those dumb enough to "ride the brakes" on a long downhill grade.

Once again, this ignores impulse forces and the difference between static and dynamic friction coefficients. Rolling and sliding friction coefficients are different.

You can lock the wheels up with a quick stab of even fairly small brakes. That does not mean that your brakes are adequate, or that you wouldn't stop faster with better or larger brakes. You can slow the car much faster if the wheels stay turning, and that requires MORE brake force than what it does to just lock the wheels with a quick stab.

It's true, all the braking force has to go through the tires. Better tires do result in better stopping as long as the brakes can take advantage of the additional traction. But you can lock the wheels up with a pair of crappy 9" drums. They're still abysmal brakes, and their ability to lock up the wheels does not prove their worth. Just because they can lock the wheels doesn't mean better/larger brakes won't stop the car faster. They do, and the physics of friction coefficients explain why. That's before you even consider heat dissipation.

Sure, there's no reason to run giant calipers and rotors if you're going to run hard compound, skinny tires. The tires are only capable of so much. But the ability of a brake to lock the wheels is not at all a good measure of its capability, there's can be a big distance between locking the wheels up and using up every bit of rolling friction a tire can provide.