Are Big Brakes Worth It?

Miata is popping fuses on the track and overheating Zach: Let’s talk about brakes!

“If it’s not done twice it’s not done right!” That is a wonderful motto 😂🤣

"if it's not done twice it's not done right". My dad always says "there's two ways to do something, the right way and again"

Am i the only one who noticed the “your mom” part when they were talking about weight

"If it's not done twice, it's not done right" World War 1: yes

*talks about overheating brakes* "this is what it all boils down to" haha nice

Donut is actually one of those professionals that really makes solid videos

Love how they put "your mom" to see if you were really reading the description of unsprung weight at 8:01

"Does more expensive mean more better?" Wait, wrong show...

He's doing such a good Jobe on this car hehe

I just want to say, I really appreciate how thorough Zach Jobe is when he works on cars

Imagine if it hits 10 million, youtube would make a custom diamond play button for the cars.

Money pit in 2020: are big brakes worth it? Money pit in 2030: are jet engines worth it?

To add, upgrading each part of the brake system does the following: -Stiffer caliper gives pedal firmness and evenness of pad wear from track use (see pad taper). -Larger caliper allows it to be stiffer for cheaper, and allows larger pads to be run for endurance races. Also helps against boiling fluid but rotor should come first. Downside is larger caliper requires a larger wheel to fit - and larger diameter wheels are slower than smaller wheels. -More rotor mass reduces average temperatures around the track to keep pads cooler and within their operating temp range -Larger rotor diameter gives you more braking torque, useful for ability to threshold brake with sticky tire at high speed -Curved rotor vanes cool better than straight vanes due to their fundamental air pumping design -Harder/treated rotors last longer -More aggressive pad gives you more bite and greater temperature window. Downside is more aggressive pads make more noise and dust, need higher temperatures to work their best, and wear rotors much faster if you don’t have a transfer-layer type pad. -Fluid is pretty easy, but often misunderstood. With the car off, pump the brakes until it's as hard as can be. Then try pushing again and see how squishy it is. If it's really squishy then flush the brakes and try again. You're not going to make a stock car rock hard, so just calibrate yourself to how squishy the system is after a flush and remember that next time you think you boiled fluid. Way too often people think they boiled fluid when they actually just faded or melted a % of their pads. At a track day my brake pedal always feels like trash when I go out for lunch. That's just how the pads get after intense heat cycles - doesn't mean the fluid boiled. As you warm them back up after an intense session, they'll feel better. It's harder to boil fluid than you think. Regardless, just flush with dot 4, RBF600 or SRF if you're a baller and don't worry about it. If you're using a super aggressive track pad and STILL boil racing fluid - you absolutely need a big brake it. For street use, the biggest difference is the pad by far. None of the other parts come close to just swapping on a set of transfer-layer ceramic pads like those from carbotech or g-loc, and bedding them in correctly: by doing repeated stops until you notice significant reduction in braking power. If you stop before that, they are not bedded in properly. For a quiet pad you can use at all temperatures, get a G-loc GS-1 or a Carbotech 1521. These offer better bite than OEM pads and are super easy on rotors. For MUCH better braking performance at the cost of dust and some noise, get a G-loc R8. Not for winter use. Easy on rotors, dust is non-corrosive and torque is easy to modulate. Just doing the fronts is fine. If you track your car do both front and rear in a more aggressive compound like the R12. For front heavy cars step down for the rear. So that's R12 front and R10 rear, etc. DM me if you plan on going to the track and i'll give you better info for your specific needs. Another perfectly viable pad is Ferodo DS2500 for street/very light track use or Ferodo DS1.11 for heavy track work. The key here is research. For track use, the most important part aside from pad is the rotor. When brakes overheat, we’re talking about the pad operating over its intended operating temp range and decreasing its bite, or the fluid boiling. Both issues are solved with a larger rotor. Rotors with double the thermal mass cut temperatures in half for a given braking event. Very important. The larger diameter combined with curved vanes promotes a huge amount of air being pumped through the rotor to cool them back down before the next corner. If you just drive on the street, get a better pad. If your braking power fades throughout a track session or heavy canyon rip, also get a larger rotor. If your pads are wearing way more on the leading edge after track days, get a stiffer caliper with more pistons. Stainless brake lines only really make the pedal slightly stiffer and slightly easier to modulate, but don’t make your brakes work any better. A proper caliper and progressive track pad makes a much, much bigger modulation difference. And the biggest con of all is ‘performance rotors’. If they’re the same thickness and diameter as your current rotors, they are NOT an upgrade. Just because they look fancy doesn’t mean they do anything different. In many cases a 2-piece will be a downgrade because you lose thermal mass, and the weight savings is only a very small difference. Your money is better spent on better tires, pads and larger rotors if it applies to you. Past that, your time is better spent using a pyrometer to determine what your tire pressures and alignment should be to maximize grip. Another note: There’s no need to change brake fluid every year. Follow the manufacture’s recommendation in the manual- which is typically every 3 years. Even then, it’s not really ‘dangerous’ to leave it in longer than that. Your pedal will just get squishier and the fluid will boil/freeze at a closer-to-ambient temperatures, but for a lot of people out there, it’s not a huge problem.

When bleeding the brakes, tie the bleed line to a high point, like the top coil of the springs. This will make bleeding the air way more efficient since the air will always want to make it's way to the summit of the arc faster than the fluid will. Air is lighter than hydraulic fluid.

I love that you guys leave the mistakes and gripes about working on the ground. So relatable lol.

Jobe family motto: "If it's not done twice, it's not done right." The wives in Zachs family must be so satisfied

Short answer: yes Long answer: yeeeeeeees

I feel that motto on a personal level. Rebuilding my motor and I've had to do quite a bit at least twice. Currently waiting for a timing kit to time the engine for the second time. We got the cams right but the crank was off. Luckily no damage when we attempted to start it.

This was great. It’s awesome when someone’s talking and doing the job. Flows perfectly.