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Brake caliper on the bottom | |||||||||||||||||
Car designers might be able to achieve benefits by locating disc brake calipers below the axle, which would lower the center of gravity and make all of the bolts viewable when working on them and place them more directly in moving-cooling air. I've changed quite a few brake-pads in my day, and I've noticed that there seems to be no clear pattern in the placement of brake calipers on both front and rear axles. They're sometimes ahead of the wheel, sometimes behind;usually at three-o'clock or nine. It seems to me that there's enough weight here to effect the handling of the car in a positive way if they were put very low and maybe toward the center of gravity of the car. Also, if both sides are designed to be at six-o'clock, you stand a better chance of making the assemblies identical, instead of driver-side and passenger-side--an occurrence I dislike. On the front, they could work with tie-rods that are located either ahead of the wheel or behind. If you kept them low, but moved them to the five-or-seven o'clock positions, you could also bring more weight towards the center of the car to decrease the polar moment of inertia, again possibly having a positive effect on handling. As a designer myself, I know that many things affect every design, so I have to believe that designers have thought of this and have a clear reason to avoid it, but I can't think of that reason. Maybe someone can guess that reason, or point out a car that's done this.
hrench, Nov 18 2008
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Just a guess...but 6 o'clock stands more chance of being totally submerged in snow/water etc which may affect the operation of the brakes.
I always assumed that they put them high to reduce the likelyhood of them getting damaged going over rocks, potholes etc. The flexible brakeline is especially liable to get damaged if it hangs down low, though I would think you could probably design the line where it isn't exposed low even with a low mounted caliper.
I just went out and peeked under my car. The caliper is well inside the wheel on my car (Ford Escort) so I don't think there is any way it would get damaged on the bottom. However, I also saw that the upper and lower ball joints are at the six and twelve o'clock positions. There is no room at all for the caliper to be mounted at six o'clock in my car. In fact, the three and nine positions are clearly the only possible location. Of course, other cars might be different.
If its too easy for the common man to fix, then the car manufacturers and their counterparts wouldn't be so counterproductive... Imagine if they built a product with universal parts engineered to flow together smoothly that were bolt on or easy access. Where are the car companies now from the past that followed that trend? American Motors Corporation would be an example. The old Willys JEEPS and Hummers were also product similar to these ideas.Absolutely I am in support of your idea.:)
Above the caliper it's less likely to be damaged while driving. Thus less likely to fail.