Photo Essay - Driving 948Km Just To Buy Some Wheel

[Jake F6]

Great read. The taxi looks really good, if only other cabbies looked after their cars in this way.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Correct me if I missed something, but out of curiosity why are you fitting Brembo's to a taxi?

- in a normal week, the car does around 4,000km, 2,500km of which is done by me. I spend a lot of hours each week driving that thing.

- I do a lot of stop/start/stop/start stuff and the brakes and fluid get very hot. I've cooked them very well several times. Brembo stuff will handle the heat much better and will require less brake fluid flushes (ie less heat corruption of the fluid).

- the Brembo stuff is a long term investment. I'll most likely be driving BF MkII Falcons for another five to six years, and the kit will get transferred from car to car. Additionally, if I switch to Commodore some day (ie no more Falcon wagons) then hopefully I'll be able to get mounting brackets and keep using the Brembo calipers. It's possible that I'll be using the calipers in 20 years time, on the umpteenth car (that's what I'm hoping for).

- safety for myself (crash injury prevention). I regularly have to brake suddenly for foxes/rabbits/cats/dogs/drunk dickheads. If I hit one it's gonna cost me a lot of money.

- crashing a taxi is incredibly expensive. The excess on the insurance policy is $2,000. Plus loss of income for both myself and my day driver. I've done a heap of homework to decide on what braking system and tyres will give me the best braking ability to avoid crashes.

- I want the best possible performance from the vehicle. It's not about engine power (ie I need low running costs and good reliability), but I want/need good suspension, steering, ergonomics (ie Recaro seats going in soon), brakes, etc. These things make the car better to drive and less fatiguing.

- coz I felt like it. I was gonna go with a 322mm XR6 Turbo front setup and 328mm Territory rear setup, but the Brembo is the ultimate. My taxi will have the best braking system of any taxi in Australia.

My car for personal use is a 2000 Alfa Romeo 156. I bought the thing in August, 10 months ago. I've driven it 2,000km that time - it's not worth throwing cash at a vehicle that only gets occasional use. I'm better off investing in something that I'm going to use on a daily basis.

Because I'm the coolest taxi driver in Aus, got a problem with that..???

(quote edited by me,....)

Phil any interest in a semi permanent booking from the airport to the easternburb's? tues am to airport, thursday Pm to Ellenbrook? Send me a PM if your interested. Cheers

[mummba]

^^^ haha just realised this really is a taxi

[South]

Brembos on the steet aren't going to be of great benefit over the factory fitted brakes, especially for a car doing moderately low speeds.

I have 4 pots all around and for normal stop start there is no difference to what I had with factory brakes. If I brake hard there is a marginal improvement, if its continous hard braking (race track) then there is a significant improvement.

Pads and Rotors cost significantly more aswell, they don't last any longer, usually less. So you have increased your running costs with larger brakes and larger tyres...

[Pazzo]

when are you going to do a T conversion, then you will have the safest and fastest taxi in aus.

[PhilMeUp]

Brembos on the steet aren't going to be of great benefit over the factory fitted brakes, especially for a car doing moderately low speeds.

Who said anything about moderately low speeds? The car does get to move at a good pace, in certain locations, very late at night.

I have 4 pots all around and for normal stop start there is no difference to what I had with factory brakes. If I brake hard there is a marginal improvement, if its continuous hard braking (race track) then there is a significant improvement.

It's the heat factor that's caused me some drama so far. Lots of constant stop/starts through backstreets - I actually do stop at every single stop sign, so there's a big heat build-up. It's extremely irritating, but a good habit to have. My licence is my job, so copping a three demerit point ticket every so often from a bored cop doing suburban patrol is going to bother me a lot.

I almost t-boned another taxi last year. It was a two-car job, going from the same pickup location to the same destination. We got "competitive", and when I came up to a t-junction I had no brakes left. The other car was coming down the road and I had to make the turn because of brake fade. Luckily, the other car was about 50 metres from the intersection, but it could have gone bad.

I also cooked the brakes early this year, coming down the hill from Darlington late one night. Had a pick-up in Herne Hill to get to urgently. Half way down the hill I had major brake fade, which I didn't expect as I had done a thorough service on the brakes three weeks earlier (ie new pads all round, flush fluid, etc).

Everyone that I've spoken to that drives a car with a Brembo setup raves about how well the car stops when you suddenly jump on the brakes. That's what I need. A fox or rabbit runs across the road (happens several times a week). Drunk dickheads run out on to the road and stand there (happens all the time). I need to know exactly what braking response that I'm going to get so that I can make the split second decision what to do.

Pads and Rotors cost significantly more aswell, they don't last any longer, usually less. So you have increased your running costs with larger brakes and larger tyres...

Hopefully, the braking force spread over a bigger area/device will mean that pads and discs will last longer between changes than the current setup. I'm tough on brakes, and I'm certainly pushing the standard stuff well beyond what it's capable of doing.

The Brembo front calipers will be much easier to do brake fluid flushes on, compared to the impossible-to-access nipple on the standard front caliper.

If all this stuff means that I miss just one crash some day then it all pays for itself at that exact moment. One thing I'm looking for is not having to be aware of the condition of my brakes after a bunch of stops in a row. I want to know that I can jump on the brake pedal and get the same response every single time.

Tyres: I've gone with Neuton NT5000 tyres, for $160 each. A bit more expensive than the Accelera Alpha 17" tyres that I was paying $125 each for, but I'll tolerate the difference of $140 per set.

There is an element of pride and ego in all of this. I want to know that I've got the best equipment setup possible. Driving a base-model Falcon around constantly is just soooooooooooo bloody boring! You can easily lose concentration, and that's when very expensive stuff-ups can happen. I've got new Koni shocks on there, with new front springs and reset rear leaf springs. Now I've got good tyres. I'm loving the Parrot MKi9200 phone kit that I had put in a few weeks ago. Soon I'll have good brakes (calipers, rotors and braided lines). Soon I'll have Recaro front seats, which will result in less fatigue and back pain from sitting in a crap seat for 12 hours at a time.

I've spent years riding and racing motorbikes off-road (ie enduros) and it's all about bike setup and machine preparation. There's a lot of attention to detail involved. I'm applying the same attitudes to my taxi. It's not about racing, but it is about preparing a vehicle that will perform reliably, consistently and efficiently. If I can make the vehicle perform better then I'll also perform better, which results in a higher money income.

Edited 24/06/11 07:07 AM by PhilMeUp

[baf6]

omg!! who needs horse power when you have stopping power

I thought it was illegal to go 2" over rolling diameter not rim? could be wrong

[jsmith]

what brand pads have you been using on ya taxi?

this would have a major bearing on fade too

[PhilMeUp]

what brand pads have you been using on ya taxi?

this would have a major bearing on fade too

QFM Taxi 69 pads - http://www.qfm.com.au/index.php/taxi/

I'll be trying out Hawk ceramic pads when I put the Brembo calipers on.