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If you've ever considered upgrading your brakes to larger ones and did some research online, you've probably discovered that, contrary to your intuition, larger brakes won't shorten your stopping distance. On the other hand, we all know that upgrading to wider tires can improve both cornering and braking. The underlying question we're answering today is why surface area matters for tires, but not for brakes.

If this is the first time you've heard this, you might be surprised to learn that upgrading from stock brakes and calipers to larger brakes and calipers won't shorten your stopping distance. This is surprising because intuition tells us that if we increase the surface area of both the brake and the caliper, we increase the amount of friction, which should improve braking and stop the car faster.

But physics disagrees with the intuition and physics says this: F = μN
Yes, it is a formula, but fear not, it is the simplest formula there is. And it tells us that F, which is friction force, is equal to the coefficient of friction that different people pronounce differently, it's a Greek letter times the normal force.

So let's explain this a little. Frictional force is of course the amount of friction. The higher the friction force, the more friction we have to overcome and the more difficult it will be to move a given object. The coefficient of friction is a constant and depends on the nature of the material and the surface roughness. For example, sandpaper has a much higher coefficient of friction than glass. Basically, the coefficient of friction tells us what friction a given material is like. Our normal force is the force that acts on the object and pushes it down. In the case of a stationary object, that force will be the weight of the object pressing it against the surface.
As you can see, there is no area in the formula. Physics doesn't care whether the object is on its side or on its face. Even if the difference in area is extreme, the friction force is the same because the weight of the object is the same and the material is the same no matter how we place the object.

Although we increase the number of hills opposite each other as we increase the area, we also distribute the same force over a larger area, which means the hills are less interlocked and less touching. This is why stabbing yourself with a needle is much more painful than doing the same with, say, a bottle. You can apply the exact same force in both scenarios, but in the case of the needle, all the force is concentrated on an extremely small surface area, leading to a much higher pressure. With the bottle, the force is distributed over a larger area, leading to reduced pressure. The same thing happens with our shelf. The friction remains the same because we compensate for the increased number of peaks with a reduced pressure on the peaks, because we distribute the same force over a larger surface area.

Okay, but why do all luxury sports cars have gigantic brakes that are clearly so much bigger than the brakes on most other cars? The answer is heat, or more accurately, preventing the brakes from overheating.
If you take a closer look at the brakes, you will see that almost everything has to do with heat management. For example, car brakes are concealed within the wheels and body of the car, meaning they receive much less airflow than motorcycle brakes, which sit directly in the airflow. That's why car brakes are ventilated and motorcycle brakes are not. Ventilation attempts to flush out as much heat as possible from the braking system. Why is heat such a problem with braking? Because it leads to brake fade. When brakes overheat, a thin layer of gas forms on the surface and this leads to reduced friction and braking performance, known as brake fade.

So this formula applies to brakes, but not to tires. Many tests have been done over the years and have proven that wider and larger tires improve braking and cornering performance. The answer is surprisingly obvious. The brakes are solid and stiff. The bands are elastic. After all, they are made of rubber. Brakes are not designed to deform or change shape under normal use. Tires constantly deform and change shape. The loads placed on the brake pads and rotors are simple: the brake pad moves in only one direction. The loads placed on tires are very complex and constantly changing

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#d4a #bigbrakes #tires

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