Brake upgrades are very common in the car community, the reason being, big breaks have more surface area and a much higher heat capacity hence they allow for better cooling. Many car enthusiasts prefer big breaks as they provide a better and quality braking system, they are lighter and aesthetically pleasing. When it comes to big brakes, many people find it hard to know if they fit inside their current wheels, in this article I will share things to look for when you are measuring your next set of wheels to make sure that they’ll be able to work with your big brakes.
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For car enthusiasts who drive on tracks, big brakes could be the secret sauce to going and stopping fast. After all, stopping fast is a big part of going fast around a track, and larger brakes, with their increased mass and piston area, can slow down your car and hold up to repetitive hard use. So the measurements you need to make to make sure your big brakes can fit in your wheels include;
Wheel’s Offset
Offset is often overlooked but it is an important thing to look at. Simply put, anything with a higher offset or anything that pulls the face of the wheel in towards the car more is typically where we see an issue starting to arise. Typically wheels with a lower offset will have either a deeper concave or more of a spoke clearance that will help clear the bigger calipers.
Overall Design of the Wheel
Some wheels like the ESR SR08 have a little extra room behind the spokes that can easily accommodate a larger brake caliper.
But if you look at Cosmis Racing XT-206R, this wheel doesn’t offer quite as much room behind the spokes and may pose more of an issue.
Wheels that have a curve or a more convex to its spoke design will generally have no issue clearing most brake systems, so consider that too. Another issue many people face is that the actual barrel of the wheel comes into contact with their brakes as well. Now usually this is gonna be when swapping to either a larger diameter brakes set-up or downsizing the overall diameter of the wheel causing that barrel to become closer to the top of the brake caliper.
Knowing if it will fit
Make sure you are measuring the brake clearance, there’s nothing like having the exact dimensions of your wheels and brake systems to know if everything fits. Here are some of the measurements that you need to make;
- Start with the hub as your main point of reference.
- Distance from the center of the hub to the bottom caliper
- Distance from the center of the hub to the top of the caliper
- Distance from the face to the hub
- Distance from the hub to the face of the caliper
Measure anything that sticks out and could make any contact with the brake caliper. Measure as many times as you can. Don’t just measure once and assume you got it right. Check to be sure and then check once more. The last thing you want to happen is to go order a custom set of wheels only to have them not fit.
Big brakes are an upgrade from normal brakes, however, you need to understand your wheel’s design to see if there is enough room to fit big brakes. If not, you can use spacers, yet it may not completely solve your problem. Also, make sure the barrel of the wheel doesn’t interfere with your brake calipers. Also, make sure to make all the required measurements. Measuring for big brakes can be intimidating, however, most of it comes down to precise and careful measuring.
