50/50 is marketing, and decently good for a FR layout. It's especially good for a FF layout, of which there were some that were something like 80/20 or worse.

I was doing some reading a while back, and I can't recall where I found this, but for race machines (where you can do whatever you want with engine/tranny/etc placement), something like a 35/65 front/rear balance was near ideal. The front is lighter and turns in faster, and you get a good balance under braking.

All of this is, of course, completely irrelevant to the topic of holding 500WHP with the rear brakes alone.

-=Russ=-

 

Syonyk has good info there about weight distribution. One of the cars that brakes like no other for distance and stability is the 911. With the engine out back when you hit the brakes the weight transfers forward until all four wheels are almost equally loaded. I think some of them even have bigger rotors in back.

..you better get slowed own by the brakes because you don't want to lift in the middle of the corner, you'll end up following the tail lights into the wall!

A lot of cars will have two piston calipers in back for better feel intead of a single piston sliding caliper. Its not really a big performance gain.

 

On our car (a GX) we just did the swap to put the 4 piston calipers on the front and the single piston ones on the back, but with vented rotors. In road racing, most of us here don't use slotted/drilled rotors, just regular white box rotors with good racing pads, and they work great!

I would say invest in really really good brake pads (try Carbotech actually, they're fantastic), and with the stock brakes you'll be fine.

 

"Be fine" as in stopping the car, or "be fine" as in "holding 500WHP from spinning the tires at the line"?

People seem to be missing the fact that he's not asking about stopping the car, he's asking about preventing a ton (in 1st, probably well north of 1000 ft/lbs at the tires) of torque from spinning the rear wheels on the line.

-=Russ=-

 

Thank you!

I am wrestling with the same problem and Black91n/a stated the answer. Put the 4-piston calipers on the rear, replace the OEM prop valve with an aftermarket in the rear line and have prop valve settings for rear bias at the drag strip and a normal street setting taking bias away from the rears. Everyone is aware of the dangers of too much rear bias but at the drag strip with drag racing tires, having monster front brakes and front bias is just as bad with front skinny drag tires that have a minimal contact patch.

Hopefully, it is a little clearer. So, does anyone know of the details of fitting the 4-pot calipers on the rear?

 

Ordered my T-brake. They are actually cheap for 2004r trans. Under $200. It' sa mechanical brake but all the buick guys swear by them. I doubt the rear brakes are ever going to hold any serious power. Get a bigger stall or a t-brake.