aspire front brakes?

[jhli]

Does it matter if you are using a aspire auto or manual brakes?

[Team Lightning]

Auto calipers and rotor are thicker than manual items. Either will work and I have run both kinds on my Festiva. Not much difference as far as I can tell in the braking on my car.

[tripod808]

I remember reading somewhere that the auto brakes have a little more upside to them. I believe advancedynamix has run them. Hopefully someone will chime in and clarify this point I'm trying to make.

[F3BZ]

the auto rotors are 22MM thick and the manuals are 18mm. the manuals are over 1lb. each lighter, saving unsprung and rotational weight. the caliper body for both is the same but the bolt on clamp for the outboard pad is different between auto and manual. it will be stamped 18V or 22V. you have to use that size rotor. if you have 18V caliper assemblies, you can bolt on 22V clamps from an auto aspire or clamps from early 90s tracer/escort. for some reason, i find it harder to find replacement 18mm rotors than the 22mm ones so you might want to stick with automatic calipers. they'll absorb more heat at the expense of a little more weight.

[Safety Guy]

F3BZ wrote: "...it will be stamped 18V or 22V. you have to use that size rotor."

So that's what those numbers mean! I never connected them to the rotor thickness, though I've read them many times.

FYI, when I weighed some PG Plus rotors for comparison years ago the auto rotors added three pounds total per pair, so 1.5 pounds per side heavier than the manual rotors. I think I used my old bat scale though, so the figure may not be too accurate.

Karl

[TominMO]

Why are you weighing bats? Are you finding them residing in the eaves of your church?

[Spike]

He's just trying to remember which ones he corked for his Church baseball days. Shame on Karl.

-Joe

[jhli]

The knuckles will fit both weather its an automatic or manual?

[Bert]

The knuckles will fit both weather its an automatic or manual?

Knuckles are the same but it's a lot easier/cheaper to start with entire system (ie for core charges and likely having usable rotors/calipers to start with) than buying components from scratch. Thickness of rotors between ATX and MTX is a moot point unless you're a serious racer. Aspire and Rio rotors have more surface area and are vented which makes them superior to OEM solid Festy rotors in any case.

[F3BZ]

i never got around to comparing the swept area between the 2 but here is a visual comparison between the festy/aspire disc and festy/aspire drum.

[tripod808]

i never got around to comparing the swept area between the 2 but here is a visual comparison between the festy/aspire disc and festy/aspire drum.

Would you happen to know the weight differences?

[Bert]

i never got around to comparing the swept area between the 2 but here is a visual comparison between the festy/aspire disc and festy/aspire drum.

Thanks F3BZ. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words and your 2000 unspoken words certainly ought to encourage more folks to start scouting around for dead and dying Aspires. Aside from the advantage of 'floating' (apologies to Advancedynamix) and vented rotors I had no idea that there was that much surface area improvement in going from Festy to Aspire brakes.

[Safety Guy]

Tripod asked, "Would you happen to know the weight differences?"

The Aspire rear axle assembly also adds the stabilizer bar inside the beam, plus larger backing plates and components. I'd say the bar adds the most weight, as it's around 3/4" in diameter and goes from one side to the other. I wonder if anyone has weighed both rear axle assemblies? That would be interesting. I'd guess the difference would be around ten pounds or so.

Karl