Four-piston brakes and six-piston brakes, which is good how to choose?
Driving a car is associated with not just driving skills; in fact, a lot more needs your attention. Among several things, looking deeply into choosing the right brake piston is also essential.
When driving your car faster, you will need something that will also stop it more quickly, which means more stopping power is required. It is imperative to have efficient brake caliper pistons so that your brake system works well.
Therefore, when looking forward to creating a braking system combination having a detailed consideration of the piston caliper demands most of your attention. If you need clarification about whether you need a single-piston caliper or dual-piston calipers, you must read the article below. This guide comprises all the details you might be looking forward to.
What Is a Piston?
The role of the piston in the brake caliper is significant. These make contact of brake pads with the brake discs, and hence it helps stop the car or slow it down. Therefore, pistons are an essential part of the entire brake system.
As soon as the foot is, kept on the brake, the brake fluid from the master cylinder moves down the brake pipes, after that, to the brake caliper. At the brake caliper, this fluid gives the piston a push. This fluid is a push friction material found at the back of the brake pads. Due to this fluid, the pads move towards the disc to offer stopping power to the car.
Similarly, when the foot is removed from the brake pedal, the pressure from the piston is released, so the pads retract, dripping the brake fluid back and the piston returns to its initial state. Therefore, when the brake pedal presses fluid, it activates or deactivates.
When to Change the Brake Piston Calipers?
Upgrading the brake calipers and changing them are two different things. Upgrading is done intentionally where people prefer having the pistons according to their choice and how they drive.
For instance, if someone drives faster, they need a more powerful piston to stop the car. On the other hand, when someone takes more people in the vehicle, they need six pistons to manage security.
However, there are instances when you might need to change the brake pistons as well, and these cases will comprise of the following conditions:
Leaking Fluid
The brake fluid might be leaking; if this happens, you can conclude that there is a problem with the hydraulic pressure system of the brake system. You can identify this issue if you come across oil or fluid leaking onto the ground where the car is parked.
Worn Out Break Pad
The brake pad wear might wear out; if you find the brake pads going thinner, you might have to change the calipers because this indicates that the caliper has gone bad.
Noise from Brake Pedal
When you hear some noises while you press the brake pedal and you hear some noises or feel that the brake is frozen, then you must look forward to changing these calipers because this might freeze too much at one point, making it difficult for you to drive the car even.
What are the Types of Piston Calipers?
These pistons are present in two different calipers. You have floating calipers and fixed calipers as well.
Floating Calipers
In the floating calipers, there are pistons slightly larger in diameter. The brake pads move towards the brake discs when the floating calipers are activated. It comprises the larger rotor to the brake pads.
Fixed Calipers
On the other hand, fixed calipers have a small diameter asked piston. This piston lies on both the disc side. These are very common in most cards, and there are four or six-piston calipers in each caliper.
What are Four-Piston Brakes?
Four pistons comprise a single brake pad and two pistons on the sides of the disc. The brake system is also powerful when there are more brake caliper pistons. The power offered by four pistons is more than the power provided by just one piston.
In addition, the brake fluid also has more area in the four-piston caliper because of the multi-piston calipers present. In a four-piston caliper, the rotors also tend to increase modulation and decrease the brake fade. The larger rotors can offer more power to stop.
Many brands even offer a smaller piston size; in this case, more gradual force input is created with the brake pads.
When to Choose Four Pistons?
Choosing a four-piston brake is one of the best brake upgrades to opt for. These multi-piston brakes are suitable when moving down a steep mountain. Choosing these brakes is ideal if you have a route to follow that is usually backed with a mountainous steep.
In addition, when you have to drive fast, even choosing multi-cylinder brake calipers, the four-piston caliper could be suitable. These piston calipers are ideal when you have to cover a long distance and, at the same time, have to use consistent brakes due to the steep nature of the track.
For example, this white Civic received an upgrade and contains large four-piston calipers. These calipers are suitable for this owner because he drives faster, and the single-piston calipers that were initially present needed to meet his requirement. Now, these four-piston calipers will meet his speed, as they comprise brake discs the size of 330mm.
What are the Benefits of Four Piston calipers?
Four-piston caliper comes with various benefits. These pistons offer larger brake pads and larger brake discs; hence, the area is also larger for the brake fluid to disperse.
Since the number of pistons is more, the force is distributed evenly on the pad wear. These powerful brakes are suitable for situations where more stopping power is needed.
Overall, these are much more powerful pistons, and whether it is about the control of the linear speed or the rotational speed, the operating performance of the four-piston calipers is always excellent.
What are Six-Piston Brakes?
Another common piston in the braking system amounts to a 6-piston caliper. This kind of braking system comprises six opposed pistons. Out of these, three are inboard, and three are outboard. The structure of these pistons follows a twin-opposed piston setup.
The six-piston brake gives a larger area; hence, the safety of using this brake system is better than the protection offered by fewer pistons.
When to Choose Six Pistons?
It is suitable to choose the six-piston caliper when you have to cater to more people in a car. When the passengers in a vehicle are more, the brake caliper pistons must apply more force. Hence, the six pistons prove to be a safer selection.
If you consider the example of this red Civic, the car’s owner requires taking the entire family, in this case, with optimum safety. When the vehicle is filled, the brake involves a lot of force. So, rather than opting for the original brakes, the owner has chosen brakes with six pistons.
These six-piston brakes offer a large area and more friction material offering pistons an equal amount of force to apply. Therefore, while driving the car with these brake pistons, the driver would have safety because despite offering lesser force on his own, the vehicle will have more stopping power. This car has wheels 18 inches, so the brakes with 355m discs provide a better choice than the four pistons.
What are the Benefits of Six Piston calipers?
Choosing a six-piston caliper is equally beneficial as that of four pistons. However, one main benefit this kind of piston offers is that it is backed with more area and more line pressure. When the area is more, the force applied by the brake is also more; hence, it is suitable for security purposes.
Which One is good?
Comparing the two pistons, you cannot conclude which is the best choice. Each kind of piston has its pros and cons. also, and it is wrong that more pistons make the braking system more performance-oriented.
If you look at the six pistons, the rear brake limit offered by it is more than that of four pistons. At the same time, the power of the four pistons is better. In addition, according to people, when they have to pull the lever hard, they think that the brakes and not so powerful.
Therefore, in this case, you can either get the hydraulic pressure in the brake system to have force multiplication, or the brake pads would come with more friction.
In order to have an upgrade to the piston, there is more than one thing that must be taken into consideration which is the calipers. In fact, the area of the tires and other components of the vehicle are also equally important and need to be considered.
Therefore, we cannot conclude which kind of piston is better, either 4 or 6, and it depends on which type of brake is suitable depending on your vehicle and the speed you drive your car, followed by the surroundings you will be driving your car in.
If you are looking for a reliable brakes manufacturer, Edisonracing is one of them. Based on our years of experience in the braking kits, we can provide you with high quality brake products. To have your hands on the different piston calipers, you can get in touch with us by calling us at +86-13925275431, or you can send us mail at sales@edisonracing.com