Originally posted by Rara:
...Its still a bit more complex an issue than your statements let on.
Understood, and I would answer that most things are more complex than a) there's room or time to discuss here and b) I am capable of understanding or explaining. (I'm just an enthusiast, not an engineer.) Basically, I feel that I have answered his question accurately with the facts relevant to his particular situation. For further detail I referred him to two articles that have been very helpful to me in my own understanding of the situation.
Now, for the sake of discussion, I would say that you and I are saying mostly the same thing, except that I am accepting a certain baseline assumption (that we can outbrake our street tires, which I believe) for the sake of simplifying the argument. Now, if I mounted R-compound tires and ran on dry, young concrete, would my baseline still be satisfied? I don't know. Would changing rear drums to discs shorten my stopping distance in this case? Probably not. Would brake modifications that allow me to generate more torque at the front wheels for a given pedal effort shorten my stopping distance? To the point that I can generate enough torque to lock up the front, yes, but no further. As quoted in the second article, above, once the tires start sliding, more force is just more force.
Analogy: Aerodynamic flow is a lot more complex than Bernoulli's equation, but the equation still works. Likewise, braking may be a lot more complex than I let on, but it doesn't change the fact that your interface with the road surface, whatever it is, is the limiting factor in braking performance. What good is generated torque once the tires' ability to absorb it is saturated?
