is there a purpose behind brake caliper placement?
 

well? i mean, does the placement of the brake have any affect on it's stopping power? is placement for a purpose other than "that's where it fit?" in the really high-end cars i see they seem to always be in the same place, and only begin moving around when you get down the price line (see the Z and Mini).

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Not in particular. Many high end cars will place them in the front because body ducts can direct airflow directly to the caliper for cooling.

I would also think that perhaps weight distribution comes into play a little bit in caliper placement. Between the caliper, pads, and mounting brackets there is around 10-12 pound of weight per wheel on most cars for brake parts. For handling purposes it is generally better to keep weight between the axle centerlines to minimize any sort of pendulum effect where the weight in front of or behind the centerlines tries to push the front end, or swing the back around.

IE: Corvette.

From what I know, the usual reasons are cooling and drying. And yes, many high end cars have ducts for cooling and that is taken into account when locating the calipers.

has more to do with the suspension dynamics...anti-dive and anti-squat when the brakes are applyed....????

I was misinformed.......:orly:


xoxoxoo

From Road & Track's Q&A:

Minimizing upsprung weight can also be significant as far as brake placement. My '67 XKE Jag had inboard disc brakes on the rear so they added zero unsprung weight to the rear wheels ...pretty sophisticated I think.

Many steering systems affect location as well. If the steering tie rods are located in the front of the knuckle, then the calipers will be located toward the rear of the centerline. For those vehicles like the Z and the cooper, where their steering knuckle is at the REAR of the centerline, the calipers had to be relocated to the front. Dynamic force has no affect on their strength or stopping power. Also as was said before, cooling has a major contributing factor.

My Volvo v70R has brembo calipers on the leading edge of all four rotors and I posed a similar question concerning the engineering principle behind this placement.

The most reasonable answer concerned the caliper being less debris prone in that position.

Here's the thread on SwedeSpeed

I guess bottom line is essentially that the caliper location is almost always done for a specific reason, wether it be cooling, center of gravity lowering, debris dispersement or whatever. I don't think stopping prowess is necc effected by the placement, but some of the ancillary factors of braking can be effected by placement.

-bear

Yes all true....

But look at the first 6 pictures of supercars and they are alll in the same place, which was one part of the question...

Ans: Low polar moment of inertia (reducing flywheel/pendulum effect whe cornering, as was said above, but in different words)

In other words, a bit silly spending $£$£$£ building a rear or mid-engined car (for low polar MoI) and then sticking 4 heavy blobs as far away from the middle as possible, engineers would take the mickey and do this :rolleyes:

So the front ones go at the rear of their disc and the rear ones go at the front of their disc... then sort the steering arms and rack out later, which due to driver feet position has to be quite well forward anyway. The disc is also being cooled better in clear air at the front without the caliper in the way,

On motorbikes, caliper positioning on the forks (front back) can have a large effect on braking behaviour and handling (but not on pure braking effect of course)...

All IMHO :)

HarryMan is right. When it comes to high performance and race cars the calipers will always be as close to the midline of the car as possible.

It may seem like a small thing but in reality brakes are fairly heavy components and every little gram makes a difference in a cars turn in ability.