Dave's Big Brake Upgrade

[CANTDRIVE55]

Re: Dave\'s Big Brake Upgrade

The ACR wheels will clear. I did Dave's upgrade and it's an A+ upgrade on my ACR.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

Re: Dave\'s Big Brake Upgrade

Quote:
I'm sure Dave or Tom could answer your question much better than I can.

I'll say this... at lower speeds, braking didn't seem to change much. The pedal had a better 'feel' which I would attribute to the steel braided brake lines. But other than that no real huge difference.

What did make a difference was hitting the brakes at higher speeds (60 mph +). The nose of the car did not dip/lunge forward like it did with the stock brakes. It felt more like the entire car squatted down. The weight transfer to the front wheels is definitely less.
Unquote

The pedal will have a different feel because the same master cylinder is filling up more fluid cavities behind the pistons in the calipers now installed. (Certainly the case of your rear brakes!) Your foot has to press differently to apply the pressure that pushes the pistons against the pads and against the rotor. Also, since the proportioning valve allows equal pressure to front and rear brakes until it reaches the cut-off pressure, the rears do a reasonable amount of braking under lighter load conditions, so more/bigger/better rear brakes will feel different even in normal driving.

The squatting is simple physics of moments about the center of gravity. Or think of it in two separate steps: with front brakes only, the car "trips" over the front wheels and the center of gravity will rise (i.e. it wants to pole vault over the contact patch of the front tires.) With rear brakes only, the car is "dragged" by the rear wheels and the center of gravity will fall (i.e. it wants to fall closer to the ground.) Combine the two and it feels pretty good and far more confidence inspiring!

Frankly, the way your car feels now, no matter how you get there (free plug for everyone!) is the way the car should have come from Dodge. It's a big difference.

 

[Dave's Big Brakes]

Re: Dave\'s Big Brake Upgrade

The ACR wheels will clear. I did Dave's upgrade and it's an A+ upgrade on my ACR.

Hey Doc,

Merry Xmas, you haven't sent me any pictures to post on my web site

Dave

 

[02 Graphite GTS]

Re: Dave\'s Big Brake Upgrade

It made me crazy knowing that I put the rotors on backwards so I was out in the garage early this morning working on the car.

After pulling the front wheel, I removed the 2 nuts that hold on the caliper and slid it back. The rotor slid right off. VERY EASY to do.

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I put the correct rotor on and slid the caliper back in place and torqued down the nuts.

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Finished product

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Before

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After

 

[Andrew2KRT10]

Re: Dave\'s Big Brake Upgrade

Looks great, good color choice. I stuck with boring black.

AC

 

[twinturbo3150]

Re: Dave\'s Big Brake Upgrade

looks awesome

 

[Shelby3]

Re: Dave\'s Big Brake Upgrade

It made me crazy knowing that I put the rotors on backwards so I was out in the garage early this morning working on the car.

After pulling the front wheel, I removed the 2 nuts that hold on the caliper and slid it back. The rotor slid right off. VERY EASY to do.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

I put the correct rotor on and slid the caliper back in place and torqued down the nuts.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Finished product

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Before

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After

The new wheels look 25 to 30 thousand percent better than the stock ones.

 

[Fast Freddy]

Re: Dave\'s Big Brake Upgrade

welcome to the club

 

[NK BREKR]

Re: Dave\'s Big Brake Upgrade

Damn Lance! The car looks awesome, can't wait to see it in person. I might have to change my calipers now!

 

[BAKSPEED23]

Hello there, I’m going to try to re-open this thread.. I was wondering if Dave’s Big Brake Kit is still available? (Or similar) Have a 1995 I’m turning into a track car.

Thanks in advance.

Sam

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[redtanrt10]

RIP Dave, 10 years ago? Not sure if someone bought out his designs, hopefully someone else will chime in

 

[bthibodeaux]

Just seeing this as i recently joined forum. Thank you so much for the well written and illustrated "how to" type instructions! It will be a big help when I do the same thing to my 1999 RT 10 in the next month or so (waiting on wheels), but with IPSCO hardware.

 

[scuderia47]

Funny timing on reviving this old thread…I was reading it a few days ago.

I have a pertinent question about routing front stainless steel brake lines. I’m using hardware from Viper Parts USA. The lines don’t come with any intrinsic shape/bend and there’s a 45 degree mounting bracket included. I’m having a hard time getting the front lines positioned in the same manner/route as the stock lines were. Does anyone have advice/pictures on how to run these front SS lines that don’t come with a pre-shaped bend?

Thanks!
Bill

 

[bloose]

I was probably one of the last people to buy the kit from Dave before he passed. Fantastic person. Similar kits are available here if you haven't already located one. Viper Parts Depot - Big Brake Caliper upgrade. I can probably answer any questions you might have about performing this upgrade.

 

[99RT10GTS]

I have some front and rear Gen 3 calipers for sale.

 

[synergyperf]

Funny how some threads keep being revived. As I'm gathering parts for the Gen 3 14" rotors front and rear on my 2001 GTS I get in a discussion on the book of Faces about brake bias on an ABS car being "wrong" and how I'll be overworking the system. Lead me to start searching for more info and experience with big brakes on Gen2 ABS cars. OP says the braking is greatly improved and confidence inspiring.

Can anyone else that's done BBK on an ABS car give me any downsides? Am I making a mistake to do the 14/14 setup vs gen 3 14" fronts with the Gen2 Fronts moved to the rear instead? Car is mostly a garage queen, but when driven it's just a 526 whp street car. It MIGHT someday occasionally see an autocross or short road course HPDE.

I would love feedback from more experienced Viper owners on this subject.