norcal_cyclist

My guess is looks (I like it anyway) - however staggered or not the car will under steer since it's naturally much easier to recover from. The car is rotationally stable unlike an over steer situation where you've got the back of the car swinging out like a pendulum. Do not confuse this with power induced over steer which is what drift cars do. Rallye cars are setup (even with front or 4wd) to oversteer as it helps to point the nose of the car more quickly and sharply..

BM2BZ

Tjdehya

If a cars hydraulic fluid leaked and you were rolling down a hill. You could use the Hand/Parking brake thus the name "Emergency brake."
And yes the E/H/P brake can stop any car...

Also all of us E-class drivers know there is no such thing as a Hand brake.

norcal_cyclist

Actually - not really, it's meant to prevent the car rolling from a stop. Yes it MIGHT stop the car after some distance if your moving but don't think for a second that it's a viable option to stop the car.

Look, 70% of your braking is performed with the front wheels. Very little actual braking occurs at the rear. This is why front brakes are replaced about 2:1 to the rears.



You're operating the rear brakes under these conditions:

• The brake is being applied with a flexible STRETCHABLE cable - no bueno
• You'll have less weight on the rear wheels under braking as the weight shifts forward while stopping

So you're depending on a system by design at BEST only delivers 30% stopping power, operating with a cable that stretches, AND weight is coming off your braking wheels.

While I agree that in a true emergency situation anything is better than nothing, this is pretty close to nothing. Why is it you think your owners manual says to trun your wheels to the curb on steep hills despite the car being in park and setting the park brake?

BTW one thing I REALLY REALLY HATE

... is when I see someone jerk the brake handle or jam the foot pedal all the way to the floor. All you're doing is stretching the cables and stressing the latch system.

gawd I'm way to serious!!

Tjdehya

What? Really? LMAO
Go out in your car get up to a decent speed, engage your parking brake and come back and tell me how useless it is...
It wont be like stomping on your brake pedal, but I can guarantee you that its a lot closer to something than it is to nothing.

norcal_cyclist

What makes you think i haven't been in a runaway car? What is a decent speed? 10, 20 30 mph? I've been in a drage car at 130+ and no brake. I've also been headed down a one way alley in San Francisco with a stuck throttle. No park brake in the drag car, ran it against the rail to slow it and dropped through the gears. 67 Mustang alley runaway? Killed the ignition while applying foot brake.

It is next to useless at anything over a crawl and add to that most people's park brakes are usually out of adjustment. I reiterate that it isn't my primary choice for slowing a car. If its yours good for you, wave as you go over the cliff...

EDIT: We are talking emergent situations, not oh my car is rolling... that's next to impossible in your E350, try it sometime.. leave it in drive and open the driver door.

Tjdehya

I have no idea where you are going with this.
I came into this thread explaining where the term "Emergency brake" came from. Emergency... as in its a last resort. My example was in the case where your hydraulic brakes lost its fluid. You can use the parking brake because your parking brake is a direct link to your rear brake and does not use hydraulic fluid.
You pretty much said that the rear brake is useless, "close to nothing."
I never said that it was a primary brake. All i said was that it is available and it WILL stop your car. Obviously it wont be as good as your pedal brakes but it is far from useless/nothing!

And FYI if you are in an emergency situation and going faster than about 15mph, the only way opening the door of our E's will help us will be to enable us to jump out of the car, because not even Mercedes if dumb enough to have our cars shift from D to P at that speed.

Also, we have official hijacked this thread!

norcal_cyclist

It is not an emergency brake and I explained why. We basically disagree on what an emergency is... yes thread is officially hijacked by our hijinx

one for you

one for me

now go out and

RobbieRob

Sooo, I'm Thinking that the poor OP still has no idea if he should go with staggered wheels or not, but learned alot about that little peddle(dare I say emergency or parking) to the left of the brake peddle...lol,,,, whew, just was a long thread. BTW, does anyone really ever use that little peddle anymore?

norcal_cyclist

I do every time I park, flat or not. It's not good to allow the car to rest against the parking prawl in the transmission. Slow even medium pressure on the pedal...

El Cid

I always use the parking brake if on an incline. Probably should use it all the time, but don't.
Just looked in the manual. It's a "parking" brake. In fact, there is a warning to never use the parking brake when vehicle is in motion. May lock up the rear wheels and brake lights do not come on.

norcal_cyclist

hmmm thanks! 'nuff said

hyperion667

wait................ we have E brakes?

alanme123

You... just couldn't drop it LOLOL

So guys, about the wheels..

norcal_cyclist

whhels? what wheels... this is the "I'm going to counter everything you say thread"

Tjdehya

Cool, So there is the proof that the Ebake can stop the car... thus the nick name "emergency" brake.

norcal_cyclist

No where did he mention "emergency" all it said was don't use it if the vehicle is in motion...

mnje350

Because the look cool? Be,tater traction in the wet? Better stopping power wet or dry? All just guesses. Some of the more knowledgable posters may correct my guesses, except maybe the first.

brauhaus313

You do sound like a braggart. Talk about egos.

It's always the ones who like to think they know so much that get offended the easiest.

With all your experience, you think wider rear tires on a RWD car is just for looks? People don't ever drive in straight lines and give it enough gas from a stop to lose traction? Wider rear tires help in that situation, and it can be very important in accident avoidance. Maybe it's not really so much a 0-60 or cornering traction/balance issue.

norcal_cyclist

quote=brauhaus313;5367212]You do sound like a braggart. Talk about egos.

It's always the ones who like to think they know so much that get offended the easiest.

With all your experience, you think wider rear tires on a RWD car is just for looks? People don't ever drive in straight lines and give it enough gas from a stop to lose traction? Wider rear tires help in that situation, and it can be very important in accident avoidance. Maybe it's not really so much a 0-60 or cornering traction/balance issue.[/quote]

Braggart, no...

and I don't know wtf your post is about

What would you be more concerend about? Doing a burnout and losing traction in a straight line or losing control in a corner? Besides traction and stability control will overcome ANY acceleration the engine can dish out on our cars. HOWEVER you can still over drive the traction and stability control in corner...

Here's more from the braggart - while hosting and instructing at Mini Thunder 2 years or so ago I took my prepped Cooper out onto Thunderhill. I get the tires warmed up and fly into trun 8, the one that bites when you get it wrong...

The car began pulsing the brakes and warnings were flashing all over the dash. The car was headed right off the track... I wresltld it under control, fought all the nannies (more bragging). I realized at that time that I had left them all on.

What was telling about this was that I had overdriven the nannies by a wide margin. You can't do this in a straight line...

I had a stage 2 supercharged E46M3 w/ 540hp, the traction control could stop that from spinning the tires. Modern cars do so by closing the throttle boddies, no getting over that imo.

flamesuit on, yes I actually own one

EDIT: Braggart out, and btw I have yet to feel offended, my CV was only to illustrate that in fact I do know what I am talking about from experience not some assumption or Internet knowldedge, on that note Arrie was bragging about driving on snow for 20 years? No more than I was.

Arrie

Braggart, no...

and I don't know wtf your post is about

What would you be more concerend about? Doing a burnout and losing traction in a straight line or losing control in a corner? Besides traction and stability control will overcome ANY acceleration the engine can dish out on our cars. HOWEVER you can still over drive the traction and stability control in corner...

Here's more from the braggart - while hosting and instructing at Mini Thunder 2 years or so ago I took my prepped Cooper out onto Thunderhill. I get the tires warmed up and fly into trun 8, the one that bites when you get it wrong...

The car began pulsing the brakes and warnings were flashing all over the dash. The car was headed right off the track... I wresltld it under control, fought all the nannies (more bragging). I realized at that time that I had left them all on.

What was telling about this was that I had overdriven the nannies by a wide margin. You can't do this in a straight line...

I had a stage 2 supercharged E46M3 w/ 540hp, the traction control could stop that from spinning the tires. Modern cars do so by closing the throttle boddies, no getting over that imo.

flamesuit on, yes I actually own one

EDIT: Braggart out, and btw I have yet to feel offended, my CV was only to illustrate that in fact I do know what I am talking about from experience not some assumption or Internet knowldedge, on that note Arrie was bragging about driving on snow for 20 years? No more than I was.[/QUOTE]


Dude,

You have no idea how to drive a car in slippery conditions in normal highway driving. You seem to be a big trac driver. Leave it out from here as it is totally different kind of driving. You probably stop the race when it rains anyway.

norcal_cyclist

Yeah you're right, physics change when you reach maximum grip whether it's from wet, snow or dry conditions. Cars will defy all logic and act differently. BTW we don't call races due to rain... that's NASCAR dude. Rain racing is my favorite.... srsly you know so much you must be a physics professor.

hyperion667

lol

brauhaus313

The point was that you failed in not sounding like a braggart, and for all of your self-professed knowledge and experience, you think wider rear tires are just for looks.

Your question of what I'd be more concerned with confounds the issue. Typical. I don't do burnouts in my Mercedes, btw.

I do however occasionally punch the gas to get out of the way of what seems like a dangerous situation. If I have more traction at my drive tires in the rear, it would help keep the traction/stability control from nannying me into staying in place for perhaps a bit too long while another car is about to hit me.

mnje350

Buzz kill brauhaus strikes again.