Cockpit adjustable brakes....

[tvrolet]

OK, lets say you have the choice of a cockpit adjustable balance bar [tilton stylee], or an adjustable proportioning line pressure valve/lever, or both - what would you go for?

I know they serve slightly different purposes, with the balance bar giving a constate back-front change of ratio, and the pressure valve simply limiting pressure on the read brake lines....but as I've not (so far) had the opportunity to drive and experiment with both together, I'd be interested in folks comments re the relative merits. Or do I just bung them both on?

WB

[dannylt]

Certainly no loss putting both on if that's an option! What do serious race cars use? My SR3 had a balance bar which worked very well. No experience with a proportioning valve, but sounds like a bit of a bodge.

[shpub]

I run a proportioning valve (lever type, Wilwwod) and it has been pretty good. Once set up never change it. Dediced it was cheaper than £600 for a blance bar setup for the servo.

Also very important to get the right M/Cyl size. Made more of a difference than the brake balance I have to say.

FYI Some/many motorsport classes prohibit cockpit adjusters.

[GreenV8S]

You don't necessarily need an adjustable balance bar. It lets you set the static balance, but there are other ways you can achieve this. The adjustable bar is also a good way to fine-tune the front/rear balance to tweak the handling under braking, although I think you'd have to take your car setup very seriously before it was worth fiddling at this level. Normally you would just want a very mild front bias and leave it at that.

The brake bias valve changes the front/rear brake balance to compensate for weight transfer as you brake harder and harder. The 'right' bias curve will vary from car to car depending what line pressure you are running and how much weight transfer you have. You most definitely do want to have one of these, otherwise the brakes will not be balanced properly under all conditions. For example you may find that it understeers heavily when you are trail braking but is tail happy braking hard in a straight line. If you have an aftermarket valve it would need to be adjustable so you can set it to suit your car. You *can* also use it to fine tune the balance, but an adjustable balance bar would probably be a better solution for this.