More infomation on the Wilwood Brakes (long)
10-02-2002, 10:30 AM
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More infomation on the Wilwood Brakes (long)
<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/13826/wilwood_billet_superlite_6_caliper.jpg"></center><p>I sent a note to Wilwood (the distributor) with all your concerns about the Quality of Wilwood brakes...
For one, I really have a hard time believing a company that is selling a boat load of brake kits (and designing new kits) is having a lot of quality problems. Perhaps back 15+ years that was an issue. Quality improves or most usually the company goes away.
OK... The calipers needing yearly mantenance. I will cut and paste a direct quote "I most certainly
do not believe the 'rebuilding calipers every year' story. I spoke with our
rep at Wilwood - he rebuilt his caliper after 6 years. There was no leak or
anything - the pads weren't retracting like they used to when the caliper
was new. You may remember that the Wilwood caliper has square o-rings that
distort when pressure is applied and then spring back to retract the piston
so there is no drag on the rotor. He felt a slight drag when he spun the
wheel and that is why he rebuilt the caliper. The Wilwood calipers are
basically excellent. Many, many people trust their lives to them when
racing at 200 mph with red-hot rotors and have been for 29 years. They do
not fail.
Wilwood do recommend rebuilding the calipers every year *for a race car*.
Calipers subjected to sustained 450 degree temperatures and barely an inch
away from a 1000 degree rotor endure stresses that a street car is not
exposed to. It is not unreasonable to assume o-ring degradation in a
situation like that. I did not mention caliper maintenance because there
isn't any. Should it ever become necessary to rebuild a caliper, we have
access to all the rebuild kits. With the caliper off the car, a rebuild
should take between 3 and 5 minutes per caliper."
OK, now the 6 Piston (not enough Master Cylinder volume issue).. Another direct quote "Do people not have anything better to do than post negative statements about
something about which they do not have sufficient knowledge????? Is it all
sour grapes because he spent too much on a four piston setup? We are
careful when we replace calipers to not exceed a 20% increase in piston area
to avoid this very issue. If the pistons were huge, then this may be the
case. The pistons in the six piston caliper that we use are restrained when
it comes to size. You would already know if the master cylinder was not
moving sufficient volume because the pedal would be soft, close to the floor
and generally be sending alarm signals. When we do a front and rear kit
where this would be a problem, we provide a larger capacity master cylinder.
Just as an aside, the Superlite IIa (4 piston) actually has more piston area
than the Superlite 6."
The picture I've attached shows the different sizes of the pistons. 1 large and two small on each side.<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/tt/msgs/696283.phtml">https://forums.audiworld.com/tt/msgs/696283.phtml</a</li></ul>
For one, I really have a hard time believing a company that is selling a boat load of brake kits (and designing new kits) is having a lot of quality problems. Perhaps back 15+ years that was an issue. Quality improves or most usually the company goes away.
OK... The calipers needing yearly mantenance. I will cut and paste a direct quote "I most certainly
do not believe the 'rebuilding calipers every year' story. I spoke with our
rep at Wilwood - he rebuilt his caliper after 6 years. There was no leak or
anything - the pads weren't retracting like they used to when the caliper
was new. You may remember that the Wilwood caliper has square o-rings that
distort when pressure is applied and then spring back to retract the piston
so there is no drag on the rotor. He felt a slight drag when he spun the
wheel and that is why he rebuilt the caliper. The Wilwood calipers are
basically excellent. Many, many people trust their lives to them when
racing at 200 mph with red-hot rotors and have been for 29 years. They do
not fail.
Wilwood do recommend rebuilding the calipers every year *for a race car*.
Calipers subjected to sustained 450 degree temperatures and barely an inch
away from a 1000 degree rotor endure stresses that a street car is not
exposed to. It is not unreasonable to assume o-ring degradation in a
situation like that. I did not mention caliper maintenance because there
isn't any. Should it ever become necessary to rebuild a caliper, we have
access to all the rebuild kits. With the caliper off the car, a rebuild
should take between 3 and 5 minutes per caliper."
OK, now the 6 Piston (not enough Master Cylinder volume issue).. Another direct quote "Do people not have anything better to do than post negative statements about
something about which they do not have sufficient knowledge????? Is it all
sour grapes because he spent too much on a four piston setup? We are
careful when we replace calipers to not exceed a 20% increase in piston area
to avoid this very issue. If the pistons were huge, then this may be the
case. The pistons in the six piston caliper that we use are restrained when
it comes to size. You would already know if the master cylinder was not
moving sufficient volume because the pedal would be soft, close to the floor
and generally be sending alarm signals. When we do a front and rear kit
where this would be a problem, we provide a larger capacity master cylinder.
Just as an aside, the Superlite IIa (4 piston) actually has more piston area
than the Superlite 6."
The picture I've attached shows the different sizes of the pistons. 1 large and two small on each side.<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/tt/msgs/696283.phtml">https://forums.audiworld.com/tt/msgs/696283.phtml</a</li></ul>
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10-02-2002, 10:45 AM
#9
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dude he's the 1st, as in Test bed for new development
same as Brembo, Forge etc when the TT 1st hit so my thanks to Chris for doing a great job in investigating.
I mean if they can offer a 4 wheel system (6 pot / 4 pot) for scoobies for under $3k and it's pukka then you can't go wrong
I mean if they can offer a 4 wheel system (6 pot / 4 pot) for scoobies for under $3k and it's pukka then you can't go wrong
