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Originally Posted by jac mac  Bob has it right in my mind- in the instance Speed 220 mph has quoted the bearing failure could be as a result of extra heat soak in the wheel bearings from the sheilding effect of the caliper being in front or a deflection issue in the caliper mount, or a combo of several small differences. At the end of the day you have to have top/bottom ball joints or struts along with the steering arm and what space is left can be devoted to the caliper & mounting bracket. The thing must be rigid & many passenger car setups come up woefully short in this dept especially when fitted with large rotors wheels calipers etc, so choose carefully in your donor parts.
Jac Mac |
Jac: Brake heat soak into the wheel bearings is always a problem, unless of course the brakes are mounted inboard, i.e., Jag setup. We did a lot of playing with reducing heat transfer to the caliper on TransAm, Indy, CanAm and endurance cars such as those run at Daytona and Indy. Boiling fluid is one problem, but the one that really causes problems is the plasma condition being created by excessive heat at the pad/rotor interface.
Drilling and rotor venting helps reduce these problems as does certain materials. Further, rotor-to-hub mounting is a big factor as is ducting and routing cooling air over and through the caliper. We even tried water spray, which really worked well, but tech and rules put a stop to that practice.
Check out those weird hubcaps on the Ferrari F1 cars. We also used this with John Greenwood's Vette. Same goes for Porsches of that era. BBS supplied those pieces. Airflow down the side of the car and behind the wheel to create a depression--low pressure--is critical. Pumping air in doesn't work well unless a way out is provided, preferably into a depression.
Ah, then there are carbon/carbon brakes. Problem "solved." LOL