this has probably been debated before, but i cannot find a true answer. is there much difference between a 6 piston caliper vs a 4 piston caliper? other than size of course and number of pistons making evenly pad/rotor wear, but as performance and reliability, does it really matter whether you go with 4 or 6?

 

BMW uses a single piston system on some vehicles.
Every thing depends on the TOTAL Area of all the pistons combined.
2 floating piston calipers act like 4 piston fixed calipers 95% of the time.
As to street or mild racing the number of pistins is inconsequential as to stopping distance.

 

Read up on Stoptech or any of the other good racing brake sites.

That is what I did.

Depends on your driving style and where you drive.

 

i guess what i really want to know is that "if you go with 6 or 4, is there one that is better as far as reliability? with 6 wouldnt that mean you have more chances of breaking? dont know just wondering?

 

If that were true, then Tim you've got A LOT "more chances of breaking".

 

The more pistons you have the more bores and seals you have to replace and clean.

 

would a 4 piston front with a 13" rotor matched with a 13.8" rotor 2 piston rear cause alot of bias transfer on the G?

 

I would think that the greater the surface area the greater braking force potentially applied and the more control possible due to a shorter throw with the same amount of pedal movement.

 

You can use this: http://www.tceperformanceproducts.co...alculator.html
to figure it out. You'll need the piston diameters plus pad radial height and friction coefficients.

My 2004 w/Brembos (using OEM pads) has ~67%/33% F/R brake bias just by using the dimensions described in the FSM.

 

tha hell should i know all these figures. LOL thanks this works

 

Assuming the total area of the caliper is near or the same then total clamping is also.

One single, a twin, four pots, six, eight or more doesn't matter. It's AREA.

Like saying you weight more standing on two feet rather than one.