3 steps to reducing your stopping distances

One of the most crucial upgrades to your car is to improve the way the car comes to a stop, it’s ok having all the go but it is useless without the appropriate whoa to counter it. Upgrading the way a car comes to a stop can give you far more confidence when driving the car hard and gives you far more control over the vehicle. This control allows you to better exploit the performance of the car and travel at higher speeds for more of the time.

There are three steps to improving the way that your car stops; performing all of these upgrades will ensure that you see noticeable improvements in the stopping distance of your car.

Tyres

The tyres that your car uses are the only actual physical connection between your car and the road and are therefore crucial to improving braking performance and efficiency. If your car tyres have little grip it does not matter the braking force that you can apply it cannot be converted onto the road. The grip that the tyre has on the road is measured as the traction co-efficient, low quality or budget tyres offer you a proportionately low traction co-efficient and therefore less grip. Upgrading to a performance tyre that has a better compound and tread pattern will increase the traction co-efficient and therefore increase your grip and the amount of braking force that can be applied.

Brakes

Standard factory fit brakes are not designed to put up with the levels of use that hard driving such as track driving can exert on your car. The biggest problem is that the brakes overheat during prolonged use leading to the dreaded ‘brake fade’ that inevitably inhibits your confidence in the cars braking ability. Upgrading to a big brake kit such as those available from K-Sport Brakes gives you bigger rotors pads and callipers which not only allow you to apply more braking force but also gives a greater contact surface which allows heat to dissipate easily. This improvement gives you more confidence and allows you to better exploit the performance of your other upgrades.

Weight

The weight of a vehicle plays a huge role in all area of a cars performance from acceleration to efficiency and everything in between. Reducing the weight of your car means that there is less mass for the tyres and brakes to bring to a stop bringing the braking distances down drastically. The best way to reduce the weight of your car is to rid yourself of any extraneous items and to replace crucial items with lightweight alternatives. Items such as seats can easily be replaced with lighter items and depending on your level of commitment you can begin stripping items such as sound deadening to achieve a better kerb weight.

These three steps are accepted to be the tried and tested way to improve the way in which your car comes to a halt. Whether you are going the whole hog and want to turn your car into a track focussed racer or simply want to improve the way your car works on the road these are sure to help. Here at Just Performance we are committed to helping you to improve the performance of your car and provide the highest quality upgraded parts. If you are at all unsure on exactly what parts your car needs then fell free to contact us today and our friendly and informed staff will be happy to help.