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All we have is anecdotal evidence. The only way to scientifically suss it out is to test different systems under the same circumstances in the same car.
Even then, you have to define what you are looking for in the test. Do you want to test for:
(1) one emergency stop from 60?
(2) one emergency jam from 60 to 30?
(3) a series of stops from 60?
(4) a panic stop from 60 after a series of jams?
(5) stopping ability over the course of ___ months?
(6) ability to panic stop in a straight line?
(7) ability to panic stop within a given curve?
... and one can change or combine any of the above for new parameters.
And then there is cost effectiveness. There is little doubt one reaches a point of diminishing returns -- especially if one is talking about an 1800-pound vehicle. (There may even be a point of negative returns but I won't even go there. Oops, already did.)
If a $300 brake set-up allows one 110-foot stop from 60 MPH and a $1,000 set-up produces one 106-foot stop at the same starting speed, which is better? (That becomes rhetorical question. If one says that $700 is worth that extra four feet, though, how far would you go? Would you pay $2,500 for 103?)
(Sorry to the Rest-of-the-Worlders for my use of the American dollar and standards of measurement.)
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