Drum
Thermal capacity and stiffness are key parameters. Significant improvement in AMS performance has been achieved
by increasing thickness of the drum barrel. This has the dual benefits of increasing thermal capacity and increasing
drum stiffness. Some competitors (eg VW Lupo) specify deep stiffening rings to achieve the same objectives.
Cooling
Thermal capacity is important because of the short duration of the AMS test cycle, but good cooling can help keep
temperatures under control and also provides significant benefit in terms of pad and disc wear and brake fluid
temperature. Consider the following strategies:-
- Alloy wheels with good airflow can reduce disc temperatures compared to steel wheels with covers.
- Larger cooling holes, aligned with holes in the wheel, for plastic wheel covers.
- Air ducting from the front bumper to the wheel arch.
- Air vent slots in the wheel arch liner.
- Removal of front disc splash shield.
Caliper
High bridge stiffness and controlled seal roll back are important for good AMS performance. Pad area should be
large enough to withstand high clamp loads and maintain power absorption within recommended levels (see RVT
Brake Specification Sheet).
Rear Drum Brake
Rear disc brakes are required on all but the smallest vehicles for best-in-class stopping distance and AMS
performance. However, drum braked B/C class cars can achieve 40m stopping distances cold and hot with optimised
brake design. Auto-adjusters must be tuned to avoid excessive shoe centre clearances, which lead to high fluid
consumption and master cylinder bottoming out, without causing the brakes to bind when the drums cool.
Incremental adjusters must have a thermal cut-out feature to prevent over adjustment. Drum expansion should be
minimised for both ‘one-shot’ and incremental adjusters, to prevent binding in the former and excessive clearance
when hot in the latter.
Tyres
To achieve 40m stopping distance requires a fully developed deceleration of 1g – assuming an ABS efficiency of
95% (a good system) this requires a tyre to road friction level of at least 1.05. Testing has shown differences of 4 to
5m in stopping distance for different make and size of tyre. Comparative tyre testing should be part of the brake signoff
program if B-I-C stopping distance and AMS performance are objectives. Tyres benefit from ‘scrubbing in’ to
develop maximum performance.
ABS
To achieve below 40m stopping distance consistently throughout the AMS test requires near perfect front to rear
brake distribution. Even for a system well balanced at ambient temperatures, differential front-to-rear fade will mean
that balance is not perfect during the later stops. In addition, the driver must achieve peak deceleration right from the
beginning of each stop – this is difficult without ABS.
This means that to meet the 40m objective the vehicle must be fitted with 4 wheel ABS with electronic brake force
distribution (EBD) and no mechanical pressure control valves. This will allow the driver to apply high pedal efforts
and ensure maximum braking (ABS operation) from both axles from the beginning of stop. Both axles must be in
ABS control throughout each stop.
The ABS should achieve above 90% efficiency on both axles.