Wilwood disc brakes-front

[STalon89]

Anyone running these? Love to hear some feedback on them

 

[68ford]

I have the 15in wheel kit with 6 piston calipers. Pistons are small. Honestly not much of an improvement over stock. Wilwood rep told me you can order the same calipers with larger pistons and then have greater clamping force than stock and even the T bird calipers. If those are available, then I would recommend them. Others hard to justify the cost. I will say when they get hot, they seem better. Likely due to performance pad compound. Still not worth the money in my opinion.

 

[jmhend]

I think there are better options for less unless you just like the wilwood colors

 

[markw]

We run Chevy conversion brakes on our race truck. Work fine. No advantage to have Wilwoods on a stock Bronco that I can see unless you want to spend the $$ on bling and there's better bling to spend it on.

 

[Apogee]

Anyone running these? Love to hear some feedback on them

What diameter wheels are you planning on running?

 

[Broncobowsher]

I would only consider them in the larger diameter rotor options. I don't see value in the little rotor kit, the Ford/GM factory stuff is pretty good. I'm still impressed they managed to stuff a 12" rotor into a 15" wheel, many cars these days need at least a 17" wheel to package a 12" rotor.

 

[68ford]

I would only consider them in the larger diameter rotor options. I don't see value in the little rotor kit, the Ford/GM factory stuff is pretty good. I'm still impressed they managed to stuff a 12" rotor into a 15" wheel, many cars these days need at least a 17" wheel to package a 12" rotor.

I don't think it's a 12in rotor. I think it's 11.5. it definitely could be bigger. There's a pretty good gap between the caliper and the wheel on my bronco.

 

[Apogee]

The only kit Wilwood offers that will fit inside of a Ø15" wheel is their Dynapro 6-piston kit with Ø11.75 x .81 rotors, Wilwood #140-13303-**. These kits technically have less thermal mass in the rotors than the standard Ford and GM kits and less caliper piston area, so they require higher operating pressure to produce the same level of brake torque when compared to the GM/Ford kits, assuming similar brake pad coefficients of friction. Due to the aluminum 6-piston calipers, they shed heat more readily and provide better brake pad support, which is good considering the higher average rotor temps in operation.

The larger kits they offer are based on their Forged Narrow Superlite calipers and can be supplied with either Ø12.88 x 1.25 (140-13304-**) or Ø14 x 1.25 (140-13329-**) rotors, corresponding to either an Ø17" or Ø18" minimum wheel diameter respectively. While these kits still have less caliper piston area than the GM or Ford factory disc brake calipers, they have more thermal mass where it counts (and less where it doesn't), decent pad volume and would be an overall increase in brake performance so long as you can supply adequate pressure to them. To maximize performance, doing a similar rear brake swap would be ideal, as that would address the front/back hydraulic balance issue with the front brakes wanting more pressure and the factory rear drums not really being able to handle that. A fixed proportioning valve is just that, fixed, and an adjustable proportioning valve is really only meant for fine tuning, not offsetting major component mismatches.

Tobin

 

[Broncobowsher]

Don't forget that the larger diameter also improves the leverage. So less force is needed for the same level of braking. The smaller calipers on larger rotors isn't necessarily a bad thing.

If you are not understanding the better leverage concept, think about spinning the tire while the axle is on a jackstand. If you grab a tread block (big rotor) it is easy to stop. But try and grab the hub to stop the spinning tire and that's pretty tough (small rotor). The surface speed is lower but the torque is trying to twist your hand off your wrist.

 

[STalon89]

Thanks for all the info gentleman

 

[Broncobowsher]

Thanks for all the info gentleman

So what did you decide?

 

[SteveL]

Just get t-bird calipers and paint em red. The add hydroboost with an adjustable proportioning valve.

 

[STalon89]

So what did you decide?

I ended up going with the 15" wilwood kit and hydroboost. Truck has a stock 302 and I don't do any wheeling with it, so the smaller kit is fine. Big improvement over the stock drums and the hyrdroboost adds the extra umph needed.

 

[DirtDonk]

I don't think it's a 12in rotor. I think it's 11.5.

I think you're both right there. If I remember the recent research with some overhanging pads, the original size was specified to be 11.72. Again, "if I remember" being the key here.
But I agree and seem to remember a fair bit of clearance on my 15" wheels too.

I've only run into a clearance issue in one instance with the GM conversion, but that was quite the surprise at the time. Very thick cross-section aluminum wheels were probably half to blame as was perhaps a slightly mis-formed (or just bent out of shape) caliper bracket. A few smacks with a hammer and it fit.
Based on just that though, they're already pretty close to some wheels.

My big Camaro brake conversion on my '04 Regal is totally stuffed inside the largest of the stock wheels. But boy howdy, did they make a big difference!

Paul