Who has rear brakes only?

Im building my car with rear only brakes. just curious if anyone has this and how they stop, how heavy is your car etc.........


thanks kevin

 

Do you have suicidal tendencies

 

During a panic stop you'll see the world spinning by..............

 

What kind of car are you building? Street? Race? Rear brakes only on the street doesn't sound like a real great idea.

 

i ran them for about a month.it was a bad idea for the street because it only would slow you down not stop the car,and my car is light<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vMYJ_NW3hw0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vMYJ_NW3hw0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

 

I have rear brakes only on my Fiat Topolino, 4 piston Airheart disc brakes. It stops well on the big end of the track. It weighs 1500 lbs with me in it.

 

Tried that on my T-bucket years ago, while front brake pads were on order. Had to go crusing......but that didn't last long! Rear of the car wanted to come around every time I braked. I went back home and waited for my parts to come in. Don't go with rear only, unless you have a chute!

 

Not good. Don't do it..

 

i figured everyone was going to say its crazy! i never said i was smart! just wondering if it has worked for anyone

 

Do you value your life - even just a teensy weensy bit?

 

What can I say:drove my plastic 27 roadster with just rear-brakes last summer,works as long as You don't need to really make it stop fast.

It's not at all safe if a kid or something shows up suddenly and You have got to make it stop from 30-50 mph,the result of that will probably be a injured or dead kid or You and Your car really messed up...or worse!

I'm doing front-brakes for my car now,because I am sure that I need it,and my car is very light,but that doesn't help if the need of real brakes is mandatory one time out of a hundred!

 

I had a '60 Falcon that only had rear brakes, took a half a block to slow down from like 35 mph. Don't do it.

 

it's crazy
think about others in your path. they may want to live longer

ok....i said it!!

 

It isn't a smart idea these days with most every car under five years old running four wheel disk brakes. In the early 70's when it was done quite often 70% of the regular cars on the road ran drum brakes on all fours so you had a fighting chance if you had big brakes on the back of the rig but now you would probably be buying a new BMW and never get to drive it along with having a totaled car.

I think if you consult your state rcw's you will find a section that states that the laws of the state require brakes on each wheel of the rig.

Even if it is a trailered pro fairground rig the other guys at rod trots with or with out cars will appreciate the ability of your car to stop more then the mouthbreathers will ooh and aah over the no brake front end.

 

Dangerous & dumb. No excuse for no front brakes on a street car.

 

people say your front breaks are 80% of your brakeing power. but i say if you have rear brakes only thats 100% of your brakeing power haha. the more brakes the better its not a good feeling when you cant stop.

 

more then once i have been stuck with a brake failure out on the road and only had the E-brake to drive on, you just have to drive like someones grand mother.

 

it can work ok with a light car, dont use a proportioning valve.

 

I do but its not a street car.

 

Take your everyday driver down the road about 60. Yank up on the emergency brake handle & report back here with your findings...... Pssst, don't do it Bubba, This is a JOKE. You'll find out real soon that having rear brakes only is a great way to have the back of the car come around to the front when you least expect it.

 

if you only have rear brakes,why would you have a proprtioning valve plumbed in ?

 

Dragsters get away with it because of huge sticky rear tires and clean, dry racing surfaces. Street cars just don't have that kind of rear traction.

 

Simple physics.

When you decelerate/stop, vehicle weight is transferred from the rear to the front in proportion to the rate of deceleration.

In other words, the faster you stop, the more load is transferred to the front end ... to the point that rear brakes are virtually useless. (Surely you've seen motorcycles doing "stoppies" ... pulling the rear wheel totally off the ground. Same principle.)

Even if you don't value your own safety, please consider the other folks you share the highway with. It's a bad, bad idea.

 

Sounds pretty dangerous.

 

I'm one of the guys that ran my T-bucket on the streets in the 70's with Halcraft spoked wheels in front without brakes. they were so skinny that I still don't believe they would add much. I drove it 365 days a year and never had a single scary incident. of course I drunk and crazy and still don't remember much.
Those who say the back end will come around have never driven one. one of my favorite things to scare the shit out of passengers was to lock up the rears at speed, with no front brakes to skid the front I had full steering and could slid up to a perfect parking to a curb. Or like a bike tap the brakes to get the back loose enough to set up for a turn. not that I reccomend it but on a light car with very large rear tires it is driveable.
there are very few old cars on the road today that would not rear end a new car with ABS. I also worry when driving a modern car (My wife has one) everytime I have hit the brakes hard, I think some old Buick Station Wagon might run over my ass.
ask a 100 people and you'll get 100 answers.

 

somebody about to crash!

 

DON"T DO IT< DON"T DO IT< DON"T DO IT!!! I had a T with rear brakes only. It wouldn't stop well enough even at low speeds. Once I had to pull a panic stop at about 40 mph. It put me backwards, jumped up on a divider, and I almost crapped my pants. I drove it home and parked it until I could afford front brakes. Did I mention don't do it?

 

Aside from the aforementioned idiocy of running only rear brakes on a street car, doing so will more than likely void your insurance policy and expose you tremendous civil liability when (not if) you crash and hurt/kill someone.

 

Let me elaborate on this: When you hit someone, YOU will be held liable for all damages EVEN IF the other person was completely or partly at fault, BECAUSE you built an unsafe and illegal car. Front brakes are a requirement, NOT a suggestion. What this will mean, in court, is:
You will lose your house.
You will lose your car
You will likely go to jail that day, due to the above
You will possibly go to prison, dependent on how badly people were hurt, OR, how the judge is feeling that day.
You future career is OVER
You will have a judgement against you for outstanding damages, which will preclude you EVER having credit, until that is settled. Bankruptcy won't help here.
Oh, and you will be bankrupt, but the real kind, not the fun, legal kind.

And if the cop isn't friendly, you may be "interviewed" the way Chicago District 25 cops "interview" suspects. Tasing will be the LEAST of your pains. I've actually witnessed such an interview. Surreptitiously. I ain't stupid enough to announce I saw CPD brutalising a suspect. I mean heard about it.

But, hey, it's YOUR car, and YOUR life - no wait, it's ALL of our lives, DON'T even THINK about it anymore.

Cosmo

 

Is it a lightweight drag car? Fine. A heavier car (over 2200 lb or so), or any car driven on the street needs front brakes. Anything else is foolishness.