Reply To: 62' Olds F85 Cutlass 5 lug conversion and disc break conversion

[joe_padavano]

“It has all to do with stopping power. If manual brakes are so great then why does the D.O.T. require power brakes, and now antilock brakes.. Again its making old cars better than new.”

You apparently still don’t understand how brakes work. If the pressure at the wheel cylinders is the same, what difference does it make if there is a power booster or not? The wheels certainly don’t know or care how that pressure was generated. The whole point of a power booster is to ensure that Grandma’s feeble legs can provide enough pressure on the pedal. If that’s what you need, have at it. Power boosters do NOT increase “stopping power”. Stopping force only a function of line pressure and piston size at the wheel (yeah, and the coefficient of friction of the brake pads on the rotor or drum). A power booster simply reduces the pressure required at the pedal to generate a given line pressure. There are other ways to do that that don’t require a power booster.

As for federally mandated items, the Feds mandate tire pressure monitoring and a whole slew of other nanny equipment. The actual safety value of that stuff is debatable, but at least it increases the price of new cars. Most of this mandated equipment is Congress appearing to do SOMETHING about a perceived problem, whether it actually makes sense or not. And frankly, I DON”T want an old car that drives like a new one. New cars are insulated transportation bubbles in which I have zero interest.