Brake Bias knob -- what are the right brake settings for street and track ?

[MannyC]

Guys, I have a brake bias knob inside the cockpit of my RT/10 so I can adjust the front and rear brakes while I drive. Allowed the previous owner to quickly adjust settings while road coursing it.

Right now, I don't know where the settings are since there are no instructions or anything that came with the car. Can one of you racers that know about this tell me the best way to properly tune this thing in? What road tests can I go out and do to make sure I have it set pretty well for street driving, and what and how much do you adjust it when you hit the track?

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

Depends on what calipers you have. Stock front and rear or something else?

 

[luc]

Superbar,

1/Do a reference mark on the knob (paint, piece of tape, etc)and count how many turns the knob move when you turn it all the way conterclockwise.

2/ Now turn it all the way clockwise and count how many turns before it stop.

1 would be how it was adjusted and 2 the adjustement range.
On a wilwood it should be about 10 turns of range.


There is no reason (save in a very bumpy situation) to have a diferent adjustement for track and street since what you want in both situations is to have the front lock just before the rear.

Usually turning the knob CCW will will decrease line
pressure (less brake) to the rear and vice versa.

Luc.
00GTS

 

[MannyC]

Depends on what calipers you have. Stock front and rear or something else?

'
Well I have stock on the back, but I have big racing Brembos on the front. West Coast Viper can't even find me some street pads for the Brembos -- only even more **** pads. And man, they are squealing (no, not sqeaking, but SQEUALING) biatches! Always squeals the last 2 or 3 seconds before I stop. Most embarassing when pulling up to Valet of a nice restaurant where you have a lot of onlookers sitting out at night on the patio watching you pull up and then SQUUUUEEEEEAAAAALLLLL -- everybody cringes!

 

[luc]

Superbar,

something is wrong here, the problem with the Viper stock brake system is the rear calipers, not the front.

By adding big calipers in front,the problem is worst and the rear brake bias valve make it even worst.

Usually a bias valve,even when open completly,still limit line pressure to the rear (compared to no valve).

If you want a balanced system,you are going to have to upgrade you rear calipers big time in order to match the clamping forces of the front ones. then and only then,you may be will need a bias valve.
seems to me that the PO did the brake more for look than for better braking.

Luc
00GTS

 

[MannyC]

SVSi did the brake system as far as I know. John at West Coast Viper mentioned the possibility of sticking a front brake caliper on the rear, to even it up. Either that or sell my front Brembo's and put the Stop Tech Big Brake set all the way around on my car.

What do you think?

 

[Sonny 00 GTS ACR]

I'm no expert, but adding bigger front brakes and then adjusting the bias to the rear is the general goal for improvement over the stock setup. One way to set the bias is to get the car on a lift or up on four jack stands and then adjust the bias so you can still turn the rear wheels with some difficulty as you finally can't turn the fronts any more.

Racing pads aren't generally good for street use because they require you to build up significant heat before they become effective. Read: they won't always work when you need them.

As far rotor squealing goes, my stock ACR does that. It's just part of owning a high performance car with big brakes. Some pads are better than others in terms of the constant problem of brake dust getting on the rims, but most still squeal.

 

[MannyC]

yeah, the brake dust is another head ache. I added some EBC greens to my other car and I rarely need to clean the wheels now. The car with the Brembos -- the polished wheels look charcoal gray after just a day of driving around. Bleh!

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

Superbar, I think your brakes are way off the wrong way. As said, in the OEM system the rear calipers don't apply enough braking torque. A prop valve is installed to further "reduce" rear brake line pressure to reduce brake torque; you actually need more rear brakes. Add to your problem the monster front calipers and if the stock system didn't have enough rear brake, your current system isn't going to either, and the prop valve makes it go in the wrong direction some more. I agree with luc...

 

[MannyC]

What was SVSi thinking when they put this together?