Big, my '50, 3604 has the stock Huck brakes that have been completely rebuilt. With firm pressure they will lock up the brakes. I’ve never had to make a stop from 75mph since she tops out at about 50. The hard stops that I have had to make are straight with no pulling and I think locking up the brakes is simply a matter of feel. Once the tires have broke traction the heat immediately begins to build from fiction and you are literally rolling around on little balls of hot rubber that are scrubbing off. Very few people even professional drivers have the ability to keep from locking up the tires in a panic stop. We all bow to the tendency to press harder to stop faster in an emergency. That’s the whole purpose of the ABS. How many times have you stepped down to hard on you ABS and felt the throbbing in the pedal, that would have been a slide had you been in a vehicle with standard brakes.
The guys are right on when they are talking tires. This is where the vast majority of you stopping ability comes from. The modern construction of tires, i.e., radial plies, aspect ratio, tread design, compounds, the pressure that your running and the weight of the vehicle all inter into the grip that you have on the road. The best examples of these improvements come from the racing world. Dragsters in excess of 300mph, and g’ loadings on circuit cars in the corners that can darn near rip you head off.
Bottom line in my opinion is, if your not sticking to the road I would look to the factors that apply “where the rubber meets the road” and not to the mechanics of the brakes.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
