Rear Brakes - How Much Work Do They Do ?

[*Badger*]

After changing my front brakes to Brembo HC and EBC Green's and getting a great improvement in braking performance I am tempted to upgrade the rear to at least EBC Green Stuff Pads.

The Q is how much load do the rear brakes take ? Can I swap the solid discs out without swapping the bearings/abs ring ?

 

[bmh.01]

Not a lot. I did mine but that was more a case of being anal and wanting them to match up.

 

[Davey C]

According to a dealer i was at, it is almost nothing.
He said the only time you'll use them is when the handbrake is on.

Not sure how accurate that is but on that basis he said standard rear pads will last for ages.

 

[DrR]

MarkCups laster 93k i think.

 

[Davey C]

MarkCups laster 93k i think.

Impressive.
Though the rears on mine were replaced at 30000. :S

 

[clionoob]

70%=front brakes and 30%=rear iirc

 

[Dan R]

I was told nearer 90% to the front but that may have been bull sh*t. If thats not true then i can tell you that they do hardly anything!!!

 

[Charlieboy]

My brake set up seems to work fine:

Front, brembo max discs with mintex 1144 fast road/race pads

Rear, K tec crossdrilled with EBC heavy duty kevlar (back only do 20% of the the work at the most)

Stainless steel braided hoses all round.

I would really recommend the set up too

 

[bmh.01]

I seem to remember reading somewhere its an 80/20 brake split.

 

[john.med]

70%=front brakes and 30%=rear iirc

I was thinking the same.

 

[mattjk]

I seem to remember reading somewhere its an 80/20 brake split.

Correct, have a star :star:

 

[Teleturbie]

I always thought the front/rear brake balance was variable? In the wet there must be less braking on the back then in the dry..

Don't know how the system knows how to adjust the balance depending on roadconditions though..

 

[Linsen]

After 15 minutes of track time on a relatively slow and twisty track with quite a bit of braking, you could warm your hands on my front brakes from one foot away. Rear brakes you could touch without hurting yourself. so, I'd say they do precious little. (that was after the cool-down lap, of course).

 

[tedgeuk]

on cups they are pretty much none existant the needle barely moved when i applyed the brakes on my MOT

 

[Cue]

i only got 20k out of my rear pads, disks still have at least another 5k on them.... on track i can get them very hot - i can't take the wheels off the front they are so hot but the rears are just too hot to touch the disks rather than the wheel.

using this very very very loose guide i'd say it was around a 70/30 split.

 

[BSC 182]

I've just parted with £170 this morning for a set of rear discs , gonna put green stuff pads wid them on the back but i dont Know whether to put brembo HC plain discs on the front or brembo max grooved dics .
I will again use green stuff for the front but my question is has anybody had any experience of the brembo max grooved discs and do you think they are really needed ?

 

[ForceIndia]

Rear brakes do f**k all! Fred advised me not to bother uprating them, and he would of stood to make cash out of me if I'd uprated.

 

[siintheditch]

that lot sounds expensive!

 

[siintheditch]

My brake set up seems to work fine:

Front, brembo max discs with mintex 1144 fast road/race pads

Rear, K tec crossdrilled with EBC heavy duty kevlar (back only do 20% of the the work at the most)

Stainless steel braided hoses all round.

I would really recommend the set up too

that lot sounds expensive

 

[DrR]

I've got brembo max HC on the front of mine, seem to work alright. Grooves make the pedal vibrate abit though.

 

[*Badger*]

£170 for rear discs . Mine still have plenty on them, stock are 10mm thick, and mine are at over 9mm so no worry yet, was just going to upgrade the pads to EBC Greens (£28 for rear set). Braided hoses is also an option at only £50 for all four but a mate of mine deemed these pointless as its unlikely the 172 will see track time....

 

[LeeJSA]

Trust me rears do virtually next to nothing - I did a full set of front pads at Bedford the other week and the rears probably didnt even move 1mm! LOL

 

[MarkCup]

These are the rear brake pads that were in my 172 Cup when it left the factory.

After 96,000 miles they were almost still usable...

...and a new set for comparison...

They do 10% of f*** all.

 

[Gweebs]

Bit of uneven wear there Mark!!!

(I realise you would have spotted it, hoping it might inspire you to give the problem/solution)....

 

[MarkCup]

I think one of the calipers might have been sticking.

Not bothered doing anything about it though as they do nothing anyway.