Ever notice that the brake pads on the front and rear wheels of your car look different? Usually, the size of the front brake pads is bigger, why? The size of the brake pads is matched with the brake calipers, the bigger the brake pads, the bigger the brake calipers are needed, the same two wheels, why the front wheels have to distribute more braking torque than the rear wheels?
This is because when the vehicle brakes, due to inertia, the weight of the vehicle is transferred forward, and the front wheels are subjected to a greater load and can therefore provide greater friction. Allocating a greater braking torque to the front wheels effectively utilizes this additional load, thus enhancing braking performance.
At the same time, the load on the rear wheels decreases due to the forward shift of weight under braking, which can lead to a decrease in tire grip at the rear wheels. If too much braking torque is distributed to the rear wheels at this time, brake locking can easily occur at the rear wheels.
Brake locking: A phenomenon in which a wheel stops rotating completely due to the locking of the wheel by the brake during emergency braking or hard braking. Vehicles with brake lock-up are prone to skidding and tailgating, which is very dangerous. Although all vehicles nowadays are equipped with ABS, which can reduce the risk of wheel locking, frequent triggering of ABS can also seriously affect driving safety.
In addition, the front wheels are subjected to greater braking torque; at the same time, the heat generated by its braking system will also rise. Larger brake pads and brake discs, which also help to increase the area of heat dissipation, are needed to avoid thermal degradation of braking performance caused by overheating.
It means that as the temperature rises, the coefficient of friction between the brake disc pads will gradually decrease, and when it reaches a certain temperature, the coefficient of friction will fall off a cliff, resulting in a significant decline in braking performance. Therefore, the stability of the coefficient of friction is also a key factor affecting the performance of brake disc pads.
In short, the difference between the design of front wheel brake pads and rear wheel brake pads is entirely for the consideration of improving braking performance and driving safety, while trying to explore the braking "potential" of the front wheels, to avoid the rear wheels from being hugged to death due to excessive braking torque. It should be noted that, for the modification enthusiasts, in the modification of brake calipers, they also can not be bent on seeking large, so as not to affect the vehicle braking stability.
