Originally posted by RR@Dec 28 2005, 11:27 AM
I thought you were comparing the 944 to the 944S. If you want an interesting brake comparison, check the front double-piston RX7 swept/area size to the single piston 944. I think the RX7 has quite the advantage, would anyone disagree?
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You're right that a 2 piston fixed caliper has some advantage over a single piston floating type. Trying to assess that advantage via analysis is pretty tricky. In theory, the same force is available, but we all know that it practice it just doesn't work out that way.

The single piston floating design, whether it be street or track apps, can be less effective due to binding and twist. So for a 944 (and it is no accident that Porsche put different brakes on the Turbo models), it is pretty important to keep things cleaned and pads squared up.

When I used to have roadrace motorcycles in the early 80's, and had a few setups with floating calipers, I would either toss tapered pads or flat sand them square to prevent twist and thus binding.

So, you could take my swept/pad area analysis and apply a correction factor for caliper design, probably 10-15% less for cars with single piston/floating calipers.