Brake pressure gauges

[RoadRacer]

I’ve been wanting to install some brake pressure gauges in my dash for a while.

Eg https://a.co/d/cCMuH17

Why? Because it seems the best way to monitor brake performance, and front/rear bias in a data-driven way.

I’m trying to get my head around the best way to fit these into the braking system. I initially thought I’d ideally measure pressure near the calipers and put a t-fitting in the line.. but wouldn’t the pressure be equal even at the MC? Regardless of where any air was present.

If anyone has any thoughts or ideas let me know.

[F500guy]

It is common to measure the pressure at the master cylinder for front/rear when brake bias is controlled at the master cylinder adjustment. It would kind of fall apart if you adjusted bias with a proportional valve, then you would need to measure down stream of the valve. Not sure there would be any gain to measure at the wheel, besides since those require the brake fluid to be plumbed all the way back to the dash, introduce a lot of connections in the system and places to fail. An electronic sensor plugged into each wheel would be better, but not sure what you would do with that unless you measured other wheel parameters to make a determination of the value of that pressure at each wheel. I think even placing a sensor at the master cylinder, using electrical instead of pluming the gauge would be better.

[F500guy]

These work pretty good for set up information, I have a set that I use to baseline settings and you can replicate in the shop for each wheel pressure after making adjustments or changing brake parts., not real time of course, but valuable.

https://www.amazon.com/IPA-Tools-Innovative-Products-7884/dp/B000850MZK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3R892K7QPYCLM&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.W7Vr1un-ej0NPddY1qKbeQcJNIRL5RRkByv_NV579nigi-SBjNTUujLJwor3AFc8ynvXz6Giy6qn-fW3ocIaiqnj2GJuW42cEZ0L7G7u6pVMrz8WIek6i8A-zYphjKSxn8FFu_LWT2DXdFNmsgv_VZYeyUWxc74uQnz2KMKvB4 VEwlBj8WMBXMH1DdjuXX_x-0qcIoyQsRlmLeOsGc5CH75v9_TP8iikX9tuQNRQbfZz4WeKqiZ fXtQ1ue0LXsSesrJTmJepAQGlikUo97g3_7Iv2UCegbKjdUkQv USc3As.Sy1wewjGYOBZeFghaUH-cSGqHcFJvHVGdECKv-QakpA&dib_tag=se&keywords=disk+brake+analyzer&qid=1716090892&s=automotive&sprefix=disk+brake+analyzer%2Cautomotive%2C161&sr=1-1&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.f5122f16-c3e8-4386-bf32-63e904010ad0

[Jeff Kleiner]

… I initially thought I’d ideally measure pressure near the calipers and put a t-fitting in the line.. but wouldn’t the pressure be equal even at the MC?…



Yes. That’s Pascal’s Law which concludes that pressure in a closed system is equal throughout. So if you measure at the RF caliper or the LF caliper or the master or anywhere along the lines it will be the same.

Jeff

[RoadRacer]

These work pretty good for set up information, I have a set that I use to baseline settings and you can replicate in the shop for each wheel pressure after making adjustments or changing brake parts., not real time of course, but valuable.

https://www.amazon.com/IPA-Tools-Innovative-Products-7884/dp/B000850MZK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3R892K7QPYCLM&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.W7Vr1un-ej0NPddY1qKbeQcJNIRL5RRkByv_NV579nigi-SBjNTUujLJwor3AFc8ynvXz6Giy6qn-fW3ocIaiqnj2GJuW42cEZ0L7G7u6pVMrz8WIek6i8A-zYphjKSxn8FFu_LWT2DXdFNmsgv_VZYeyUWxc74uQnz2KMKvB4 VEwlBj8WMBXMH1DdjuXX_x-0qcIoyQsRlmLeOsGc5CH75v9_TP8iikX9tuQNRQbfZz4WeKqiZ fXtQ1ue0LXsSesrJTmJepAQGlikUo97g3_7Iv2UCegbKjdUkQv USc3As.Sy1wewjGYOBZeFghaUH-cSGqHcFJvHVGdECKv-QakpA&dib_tag=se&keywords=disk+brake+analyzer&qid=1716090892&s=automotive&sprefix=disk+brake+analyzer%2Cautomotive%2C161&sr=1-1&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.f5122f16-c3e8-4386-bf32-63e904010ad0

Yeah I have a similar setup gauge that I used to diagnose an issue. Thanks

[RoadRacer]

Yes. That’s Pascal’s Law which concludes that pressure in a closed system is equal throughout. So if you measure at the RF caliper or the LF caliper or the master or anywhere along the lines it will be the same.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff, I kinda knew it but always good to bounce ideas around! I’ll plumb straight out of the MC and have them in the dash, I’m always thinking about the brakes in this car.. probably because I’ve had a few MC seals start leaking which is so hard to quantify. Plus another fun experiment:)