So why exactly was that large brake test article in the latest issue guys? Could it have anything to do with your former editor (Loh) pissing off a well known brake company a couple issues back? Hmmm. The whole test was ridiculous. The car stopped shorter with stock brakes, but your prefer to use after-market brakes because it provides a an additional "margin of safety", whatever. That article was pure fluff.

On another note, please bring back that old guy that wrote articles on the last page about weird sport compacts like the Tredia, Xr4ti's and Peugeot's.  

Obviously you never really paid attention in physics class, did you?  Shame on you.  Usually stock brakes are made to stop the car withing the shortest amount of distance at lower speeds with the tire setup it has and with a good amount of play for a grippier tire.  Remember with braking there is always a limiting factor in either the friction between the pad and rotor or the tire and ground.  Obviously if your tires weren't the limiting factor in braking then there would be no need for abs.  It would take a big grippy tire with lots of inertia for the brakes to be the limiting factor.  Either that or really crappy brakes. But once you start going faster, you will quickly overheat the stock rotor due to it's smaller surface area, and poor cooling due to design.  This is especially true if you have wider stickier tires.  The better tires will stress the stock system much quicker.  Bigger brakes have an ability to absorb more heat and dissipate it more quickly.  This will not necessarily lead to shorter stopping distances in the short runs, but with multiple high speed stops the stock system might start exhibiting fade where the bigger brake system is within operational limits.  But you might say, "A bigger system will exert more braking torque." True, but if the tires are already breaking traction with the stock system then there isn't much need for more brake torque.  So to wrap it up bigger brakes do exert more torque, but that torque is not necessarily needed, but it is the heat capacity of the larger system that is desired for much less brake fade under higher stress condition's.  

Very well said, crwyatt... And user1548, don't call someone out if you are just talking out of your butt.. All you will do is embarrass yourself like you just did..

Actually, this reminds me of all the "takumis", "canyon masters" and "touge master" kids that show up to the mountains that drive STIs and S2K and think they are fast, yet they are all slower than molasses.. They always happen to call out an experienced regular and then they of course get beat on, owned and annihalated like the little b|itches they are, by a less capable car of course...

Haha I laugh at those that talk out of the butt, and this guy reminded me of the idiot ricers in the mountains.

Oh and BTW, back to the topic: With a better aftermarket brake setup, pedal-feel and predictabilty will be instantly obvious, even if it doesn't actually result in shorter brake distances.

Heres a test for you user1548. Get two identical cars, one with stock brakes and one thats upgraded. Then find a deserted street and see how many times you can do a full 80-0 threshold brake without fade. Then try it on the same car with a Wilwood or Brembo big brake kit. Or just go to a race track and see how many laps you can do with your stock brakes when you are driving 10/10ths.