We have been busy recently in conjunction with Smarts4youracing, promoting and supporting one of the fortwo 451 (2007 on fortwo) race cars, one of the many innovative products successfully tested in the arena of racing is the uprated brake kits.
The standard Smart in all their variants uses 280mm diameter disc and the disc is 8/9mm thick, even the Brabus models (inc roadster) use the same brakes. The standard caliper is a single piston and uses the sliding movement of the brake pads to apply equal pressure on either side of the brake disc. The caliper has also been designed to suit the size, the weight and the bore of the master cylinder in small cars. That is why 4 pot calipers were selected as optimum for the Smart cars existing master cylinder and braking system.
The front disc brake conversion features:
- Brake disc diameters to suit different wheel specifications and need from a massive 300mm to 285mm both offering a larger surface area for the pads to bite on (15 inch wheel to 17 inch wheels)
- Brake discs are double wall thickness (almost 25mm) and vented to dissipate the extra heat generated by additional braking forces on the bigger disc
- The discs are grooved and vented to expel hot gases and dust when braking and cool the disc surface area
- 2 Piece disc bell housing to allow maximum heat dissipation
- Powerful 4 Piston design (2 piston each side) ensure powerful bite on the disc
- Caliper and alloy bell colour that suits your vehicle
- Brake pads from fast road to extreme track use
- Braided hoses to reduce lost braking pressure (the standard hoses are rubber and can swell under hard braking reducing the braking pressure at the caliper)
In addition to the race specification brakes at the front of the car, they have designed a rear disc conversion. The standard cars all feature a simple rear brake drum and shoe and that is adequate for city car use, with the engine over the rear wheels there is not really enough braking power at the rear causing the back to feel very loose under hard braking.
Smarts4youracing 280mm 4pot rear disc conversion kit will fit all Smart models at this time (2012). This kit has been designed to fit perfectly inside the standard 15″ Smart Car wheels or larger without the need for spacers or washers, the kit features a very neat mechanical operated built in handbrake pad.
The rear disc brake conversion features:
- The rotors are drilled and grooved to aid brake cooling and gas build up between the pad and the caliper also helps with continuous pad deglazing.
- The brackets are machined from a single piece of aluminium to a perfect size to allow easy fitting of the calipers
- Braided hoses to minimise any brake pressure loss
- 2 x 4pot Radial Calipers with bespoke handbrake fittings
- 2 x 280mm drilled and grooved discs (single thickness 8/9mm)
- 1 x fitting kit
- 1 x EBC Standard Road Pads (Upgradeable but recommended for road use)
- 2 x Braided Hoses (Optional)
We have fitted these kits to Smart fortwo 450 (1999-2007) Brabus with 16” wheel to great effect, The Brabus and standard roadster really feels stable under hard braking with these powerful brakes, recently the we fitted a couple of set of the 285mm diameter kits with the 4 pot callipers for an instant brake upgrade to roadsters, these smaller units are designed to fit under the smaller 15” wheels. The power, bite and progressive stopping power of these brakes are incredible and it takes some time to re calibrate your brain to the power available to avoid locking the wheels up, however when you have had time to adjust the sheer stopping power means you might be double checking your rear view mirror before stopping hard ☺ In a word Awesome!