erich wrote:Yea, cast iron calipers are heavier, keeping your car in firm contact with the ground.
Actually more unsprung weight keeps a tire less firmly planted. Adding any weight of course puts more weight over the tires, but the fact is not only does more weight not put a proportianate amount of grip, but more unsprung weight means the springs and shocks must work harder to control the movement of the suspension. Say you hit a bump in the road. The suspension is pushed up towards the chassis. The heavier this weight is, the more resistance is needed from the spring and shock to slow it down. And the heavier the suspension is, the more the tire and wheel will not want to be pushed up towards the chassis in the first place. If the spring and shock can not slow it down sufficiently or as well if the suspension was lighter, the car will start to drop back down towards the road and more of the initial bump will be transmitted to the chassis. So the solution would be to run a stiffer shock and spring, but then you have to contend with giving up ride quality, especially on the initial bump.
But to put it simply, less unsprung weight is better. And looking more at a over all picture, less weight in general is always better.